Buckley, William (1928–1985)

William Francis Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut during the Lebanese War, was one of the most crucial hostages abducted by Shiite Muslim extremists during the hostage crisis in Lebanon. The arms-for-hostages deal struck between Iran and the Reagan administration was largely orchestrated to secure Buckley's release.

Buckley had been employed by the CIA from 1955 to 1957, and again from 1965 until his kidnapping in 1984. Buckley's role as station chief in Beirut was significant. He was charged with rebuilding the intelligence network in the area, which had been shattered by the April 1983 embassy bombing. In addition, because the United States then lacked embassies in both Iraq and Iran, Buckley was to head all CIA operations for the northern Persian Gulf area. In an era when simply being an American in the Middle East was reason enough to be kidnapped, Buckley was a prime target.

On the morning of March 16, 1984, kidnappers seized Buckley just steps from the front door of his apartment and stuffed him into the trunk of a white Renault. The CIA believes that Buckley was betrayed by a female Shiite CIA agent named Zeynoub, whom Buckley had trained. Unbeknownst to him, Zeynoub was also an “official” of Hezbollah, the umbrella organization that encompassed Islamic Jihad, which had already taken three other American hostages in exchange for 17 prisoners in Kuwait. Zeynoub and Buckley were having an affair at the time. Three weeks before he was taken, Buckley confided to a friend that he suspected he might be kidnapped. By that time, however, Zeynoub already had access to his apartment. The decision to take Buckley came on March 15, 1984, and he was abducted the following morning. Many Lebanese informants vanished or were killed immediately following his abduction, and CIA agents therefore believe that Buckley was carrying a document listing CIA assets in Lebanon at the time of his capture.

Though there are no conclusive reports, it is believed that Buckley was tortured repeatedly over the next 10 months, and that the intensity and length of these interrogations destroyed his health. By the spring of 1985, other hostages, such as Father Martin Lawrence Jenco and Reverend Benjamin Weir, became aware of Buckley's presence in another cell in the room where they were being held. On February 14, 1985, Jeremy Levin, the bureau chief for CNN, escaped from captivity and reported that Buckley was seriously ill, racked by coughs and vomiting and delirious with fever. Fellow hostages listened closely on the night of June 3, 1985, when the coughing finally stopped. Buckley had died in captivity.

During this time, Buckley's rescue was a top priority for both the CIA and the Reagan administration. In August 1985, the first delivery of arms—100 antitank missiles provided by Israel—was sent to Iran. The following month, 408 more missiles arrived. Father Weir was released on September 18, 1985, the first hostage to be set free under the arms-for-hostages agreement. The CIA had requested Buckley, not knowing he had already died.

Four months after his death, on October 4, 1985, Islamic Jihad announced Buckley's execution, claiming to have killed him in retaliation for Israel's raid on the PLO's headquarters in Tunisia. The United States continued to barter arms-for-hostages, now requesting Buckley's remains along with the remaining Americans.

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