Terry Waite

Terry Waite was the special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the efforts to free the Western hostages held in Lebanon in the 1980s.¹

Iran-Contra

In November 1985, at the time of the HAWK shipment to Iran, Oliver North was in London "meeting Terry Waite and, separately, Ghorbanifar" (Manucher Ghorbanifar). North's memorandum of December 5, 1985, stated that "There are numerous indications including reports from the special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Terry Waite, that time is running out for the hostages," that the former Beirut station chief William Buckley was believed dead, and that "from Waite's November 14 visit to Beirut and a separate contact through Canada" the other five American hostages (Anderson, Jacobsen, Jenco, Kilburn and Sutherland) were known to be alive. After returning from London on December 8, North wrote the next day: "Terry Waite, our only access to events in Lebanon, readily admits that his influence is marginal at best." A memorandum to John Poindexter of July 29, 1986, after the release of Lawrence Jenco, recorded that "Waite is accompanying Father Jenco to meetings with the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury."¹

In January 1986 officials of the State Department learned of an initiative to free Shi'ite detainees held by Israel in south Lebanon in exchange for the hostages, which involved religious figures including Waite, Pope John Paul II and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Damascus, together with General Antoine Lahad of the South Lebanon Army.²

Captivity

Waite was kidnapped in Beirut about a year before January 1988.³ He was freed on November 18, 1991.⁴

Remote Viewing

The Defense Intelligence Agency's remote-viewing unit, Sun Streak, ran a session on Waite on January 26, 1988, in which viewer 079 used "a 'pen to write' in a form of channeling" with a source "identified as 'George'" and predicted that Waite would "be returned to neutral territory in August 1988 with two other hostages"; its Project 8806 then tasked viewers from February to September 1988 to "Access and describe the location and structure where Terry Waite is currently being held captive," and three viewers placed him in the Burj Hammud, Ad Dawrah and neighbouring districts of the city.⁵ Viewer 079's later summaries held that Waite "will come out alive based on his own lie."⁶