Reagan: Marines to Stay in Lebanon ‘while There’s Hope for Peace’

President Reagan stressed again today that the U.S. will remain in Lebanon “while there’s hope for peace.”

But the President, responding to questions at a brief news conference before he left for a vacation in California, added that the U.S. is “stepping up our diplomatic efforts” to bring about “not a military but a political solution” in Lebanon.

“There is reason to believe that the presence of the multinational force has made some progress,” Reagan said. “We have now an agreement between Lebanon and Israel which has Israel’s agreement to withdraw. I don’t believe that it’s impossible to have a similar kind of agreement with Syria, which would recognize some of Syria’s interests.”

He added that the various factions in Lebanon which met in Geneva recently achieved a “kind of tacit recognition” that the governments of President Amin Gemayel “was the government of Lebanon.”

The President called the brief news conference to issue a statement in which he said the local marine commanders in Beirut should not be blamed for the terrorist bombing that killed some 240 American servicemen at the marine headquarters in Beirut.” If there is to be blame, it probably rests here, in this office and with this President,” he said. “And I accept responsibility for the bad as well as the good.”

Reagan stressed that terrorism today is not just a deed of fanatical individuals but is sponsored by various political groups and even some countries. “We have never before faced a situation in which others routinely sponsor and facilitate acts of violence while hiding behind proxies and surrogates which they claim they do not fully control,” he said.

The President called for “civilized countries” to work together, to share intelligence, improve training and security, deny haven or legal protection to terrorist groups and “most important of all to hold increasingly accountable those countries which sponsor terrorism and terrorist activity around the world.”