Former hostage: 'Terrible sense of helplessness'
 |  Anderson: "If you don't have to be there, don't." |
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 Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refuses to withdraw troops from Iraq in the face of public calls for him to rescue hostages by meeting insurgents' demands. CNN's Atika Shubert reports. (April 9)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Terry Anderson was the chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press when he was taken hostage by Shiite militants in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1985. He was held captive for almost seven years, one of dozens of Western civilians held during Lebanon's civil war.
As the specter of hostage-taking began to surface in Iraq, Anderson spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about his experiences.
BLITZER: When you hear what is going on in Iraq now, this new tactic -- kidnapping, hostage-taking -- what goes through your mind?
ANDERSON: Well, it's not surprising. The same kind of conditions [are] in Iraq today as were in Lebanon then: total chaos, no central government authority, no effective police force or army. Dozens of groups of militia wandering around. I'm not surprised that they are trying this tactic out again.
Look, this is not for practical gain. The kidnappers in general learned in Lebanon eventually that they couldn't get a government to bow to their wishes, just as the Japanese prime minister is saying he can't give in [to demands that Japan withdraw its forces from Iraq or three of its captive citizens will be executed]. Nonetheless, they are putting terrible pressure on people. Look at that film. Look at those terribly scared young people. One of them is 18 years old. It's just horrible. How would you like to be the government that has to say no, we will not trade for you? That's terrible pressure they are putting on.
BLITZER: All of us, of course, remember [that] among these people who have been taken hostage ... there are aid workers, humanitarian workers, but there are also some journalists, and how can we forget Daniel Pearl, who was an American journalist who was kidnapped in Pakistan and eventually executed?
ANDERSON: I don't want to draw that parallel because it's too frightening. The people that went after Daniel Pearl had no intention of trading him for anything. They knew they were going to kill him from the beginning. It was a pure terror tactic. I'm with the Committee to Protect Journalists, and we worry about the journalists in Iraq. They are professional. They are there because they have to. It's the biggest story in the world. It is vitally important that people see what is going on there and learn what is really going on there.
We try to help them, we support them, we try to give them training. We have a book out on how to report from dangerous places, and Iraq right now is the most dangerous place in the world for a journalist. I worry more about the civilians. The aid workers, the construction workers, all the people who have been brought over there to help in the so-called reconstruction effort. What are they supposed to do? How can they operate? Then you always get in a situation like this: young, idealistic people who want to help with the Red Cross or with some well-meaning organization. All I can tell them is go back to your hotel and pack a bag and sit on it until you can get to the airport, because this is not going to get better, not that I can see.
BLITZER: The argument, the other argument, is, if that happens, the terrorists will have then won?
ANDERSON: Well, no, it's a matter of personal safety. If you don't have to be there, if you are not a professional, don't do it. This is not a game. This is terrible. What is it doing to the families of those Japanese civilians? These are terrible people. When they threaten to burn these kids alive, we have to take that seriously. These are terrorists in the true meaning of the word, and you have to take that seriously. If you don't have to be there, don't.
BLITZER: I know that you -- I know that you relive the horror of what you went through 20 years ago or so in Lebanon. And you thought a great deal about it. Take us to those first few days when you were taken captive. What were you going through? What might ... the kidnapped people [in Iraq be] ... going through?
ANDERSON: Well, of course, there's a fear and that terrible sense of helplessness, [that] there's nothing you can do or say that will help the situation. You know, most adults have never been in that situation. They have never been in a place where they are completely helpless to affect their own fate or anybody else's. You are just a piece of meat. Hundreds of humiliations, when you go to the bathroom, when you eat, when you get a drink of water. Plus these people seem to be deliberately trying to frighten those students, those aid workers.
I mean, I don't know whether that was an act for the camera. They are certainly capable of that. Or whether that is really the way they are being treated. I hope not. I hope that was just an act for the terror effect on the tape. But, yes, it's a horrible situation. You feel guilty that you have done something so stupid as to get kidnapped, and you know it's devastating your family, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, nothing.
