The Improbable Warlord

He is an unlikely leader for a band of bearded, wild-shooting, anti- American militiamen. Nabih Berri, 46, is invariably clean-shaven and speaks softly in the precise phrases of the lawyer he was trained to be. He regularly visits a former wife and six children, who live in Dearborn, Mich. He carries a green card entitling him to permanent residency in the U.S., apparently to allow him to visit his American family freely. In Beirut he has often attended the private get-togethers held by U.S. Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew for Lebanese factional leaders.

But does all that make Berri, leader of the Shi'ite Amal militia, the ideal man to negotiate release of the American hostages? Not by a long shot. President Reagan declared last week, with a snap of his fingers, that Berri "could be the solution that quickly." Berri, however, seemed closer to the mark when he told CBS's Dan Rather that he was in "a very delicate situation." He seems, indeed, to be a man riding a tiger, a leader scrambling to talk and act as radically as his followers.

Born in 1938, the son of a Lebanese merchant in what was then the British colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa, Berri moved to Lebanon as a boy. "He was a dynamic student, a very good leader and a passionate person," says lifelong Friend Nasib Fawaz, chairman of the Islamic Center of America in Detroit. "He enjoyed literature, sports and had lots of friends." Berri studied law at the Lebanese University, where he was elected head of the student union for four years. He later practiced law in Beirut without | drawing much attention. Separated from his American wife, he met and married a woman in Beirut in 1982 without seeking a divorce, which is not necessary in the Muslim tradition.

As leader of Amal, Berri at first did little to oppose the Israeli invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. As a Minister in Lebanon's so-called government of National Unity, he participated in negotiations aimed at getting Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon although many Shi'ites felt that Lebanon should not even talk to the Israelis. He and his Amal militiamen helped secure the release of one American and a Frenchman kidnaped by extremists early last year. Berri has continued to attend Lebanese Cabinet meetings, even though many of his followers have wanted nothing to do with the central government. But the government exists primarily on paper, and moderation was no way to power in the anarchy of Lebanon.

Accordingly, Berri led Amal in armed clashes against Israelis, Maronite Christians, Palestinians, Sunni Muslims and former allies, the Druze. "Berri the moderate? That's absurd!" scoffs Joyce Starr, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University. Agrees a U.S. Government source who has dealt with Berri: "He may be in the center but only because the center moved. He's not an extremist, but he's shown that he's quite willing to escalate his language -- and his actions -- to retain his position of authority in the Shia community." Still, there is no doubt that Berri feels deeply about the Shi'ites held by Israel and is as determined as his followers to get them released.

Berri's display of radicalism has not made his hold on power any more secure. Despite being a devout Muslim who prays daily and shuns alcohol, he believes in separation of church and state. That puts him at odds with the Shi'ite Party of God, which advocates an Islamic state. Many of his own Amal militiamen carry pictures of Iran's Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini on leather thongs around their necks. Says one Washington intelligence source with expertise on the Lebanese Shi'ites: "Berri may be well known and popular among Shi'ites, but if you ask, 'Does he have control?' the answer is no." If Berri were to order the unconditional release of the hostages, it is by no means certain that his followers would obey. And if they did, Berri's days in power, and perhaps even his life, might come to an early end.