Former hostage Terry Anderson
looks for hope, renewal in Beirut

August 6, 1996
Web posted at: 6:50 p.m. EDT (2250 GMT)

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Former American hostage Terry Anderson can remember clearly his days as a captive in Beirut, which makes his return to the Lebanese capital and warm greeting at the airport quite remarkable.

Anderson, who was held captive by Islamic militants from 1985 to 1991, is visiting Beirut for the first time since his release to make a documentary for CNN about Lebanon and its recovery from civil war. The former journalist (Anderson was The Associated Press' Beirut bureau chief when he was kidnapped) is also visiting the country to renew his personal relationship with the small Mediterranean nation surrounded by Mideast powers Israel and Syria. (272K AIFF or WAV sound)

At Beirut's airport, Anderson was met not by guns or angry faces but by his Lebanese wife and his daughter Sulome, who traveled ahead of him. (774K QuickTime movie)

Sulome is along with her parents, Anderson said, so that she can meet her relatives and make contact a with part of her heritage that she has only known from afar. He also hopes she will sharpen her Arabic.

One of the first sights Anderson saw upon his return to Beirut was the street where he was abducted. Anderson, however, expresses no fear at being back in the city of his imprisonment.

"I'm not afraid. There is no danger and no reason that anyone has to harm us in any way," he said.

Before leaving for Lebanon, Anderson said his memories of his days in captivity remain quite clear. He and former hostages John McCarthy and Terry Waite recently talked about their days of imprisonment. The reminiscences shared with McCarthy and Waite prompted Anderson to wonder whether seeing Beirut today would quell the images of a captivity only five years in the past. (213K AIFF or WAV sound)

Islamic militants still control the southern suburbs of Beirut where Anderson, and others, were held in scattered dungeons.

Anderson plans to enter the once-dangerous suburbs during the taping of his documentary and talk to the Islamic powers who still hold sway.

But the former captive says that he has no intention of tracking down the men who held him. Anderson says that he could not find them even if he wanted to, because he was blindfolded during his entire captivity. To Anderson the war is part of the past, and his interest is in the present -- both his and Lebanon's. (128K AIFF or WAV sound)

Anderson has returned, not to exorcise the demons he shares with Lebanon's violent past, but to fill himself with the hope and renewal of Beirut's present calm.

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