The commander of a task force of the U.S. Sixth Fleet that is currently making a routine visit to Israel said he is prepared to help secure the release of a senior U.S. Marine officer abducted in Lebanon last week.
Vice Adm. John Reed, commander of the aircraft carrier Coral Sea and her seven escorting vessels, which are anchored in Haifa port, told reporters the visit was arranged some time ago and had nothing to do with unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or developments in Lebanon.
But Reed said he was prepared to intervene, if necessary, in Lebanon to secure the release of U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins, abducted Feb. 17 by unknown gunmen.
Higgins was serving with a United Nations truce supervision organization in Lebanon. He was seized near the port of Tyre.
U.N. forces, assisted by members of the Amal, the mainstream Shiite militia, have searched in vain for Higgins for the past four days.
Reed said the 7,000 American seamen of the task force will be given shore leave while their ships are in port, but Jerusalem has been declared out of bounds because of recent unrest there.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
