Thatcher Calls Mrs. Higgins, Lauds ‘Strength’
WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher telephoned the wife of Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins and lauded her for “strength and courage,†a Pentagon spokeswoman said today.
“She just wanted Robin to know that she is in constant contact with President Bush and that if there is anything they can do, they will. She also said she admired Robin’s strength and courage in this crisis,†Maj. Kathy Wood said of the Wednesday call.
The spokeswoman described Mrs. Higgins as “touched that the prime minister would call her†to express her concern.
A Shiite Muslim group claimed that it killed Higgins on Monday because of Israel’s refusal to release a Shiite Muslim clergyman it kidnaped last week.
Higgins, of Lexington, Ky., was part of a United Nations observer force in Lebanon when he was kidnaped in February, 1988. His captors, the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, accused him of being a spy and said in July, 1988, that he had been sentenced to death.
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