Re: Terry Anderson on Captivity

Date: April 17, 2004

"Former Hostage Terry Anderson on Captivity

(CNN) -- Terry Anderson, a former Mideast correspondent for The Associated Press, was kidnapped in Lebanon in 1985 by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah. He was held captive for nearly seven years.

Anderson joined CNN's Renay San Miguel to discuss what it was like right after he was captured as family and friends of hostages held now in Iraq wait nervously for word of their loved ones.

SAN MIGUEL: When you first heard through the media that hostages were being taken in Iraq -- civilian and now military personnel -- what were your first thoughts?

ANDERSON: Well, I wasn't particularly surprised. ... Conditions in Iraq are very similar to the conditions in Lebanon in the 1980s. ... There are large numbers of armed radical men running around ... without any control. In those circumstances, it was inevitable that sooner [or] later some of them were going to try to take hostages.

SAN MIGUEL: Several groups -- Saddam [Hussein] loyalists and Islamic party followers ... -- all seem to be working together and passing the hostages from one group to another. Your thoughts on that tactic?

ANDERSON: Well, it seems to me, apparently a number of different groups [are] doing the same thing, just reaching out and grabbing all the Westerners they can get. Whether or not there is any cooperation among them is an open question.

There doesn't seem to be any central direction or any coordination of demand. Some of them are making ridiculous political demands and some are making military demands, so there isn't any one agenda going on here. There's a whole bunch of them.

Some seem to be very dangerous indeed. They murdered that Italian [hostage] ... Others are more reasonable -- hostages have been released over the last week or so, one by one, two by two. So I don't think anybody's really in charge here. I think there's a whole bunch of small groups.

SAN MIGUEL: Which leads to my next question -- you were able to confront an official with Hezbollah, the Shiite group in Lebanon responsible for your detention. The official said at that time that the kidnappings were short-term actions to achieve short-term goals. Now, this appears to be a new strategy with these groups in Iraq. Your thoughts on this strategic change?

ANDERSON: I don't think that they have any expectation of achieving the demands that they're bringing forward -- withdrawal of some of the countries' troops, halt of the fighting. I think those are theater. Vicious theater, but theater.

I think probably the taking of hostages is more simply a way to strike at America and the coalition, to humiliate, to engender fear, and even perhaps a competition among the different groups there. Holding hostages somehow makes you look more powerful and more organized.

I don't think there is any rational plan behind it. There can't be because there isn't any way they can achieve their stated goals, their demands. We know that. There's no country that's involved that's going to give in to any kidnapper and grant any of those demands. Period.

SAN MIGUEL: You know, it's hard for us to imagine what those first hours and days following an abduction are like, following a kidnapping of this sort. What were those first hours and days like for you?

ANDERSON: Well, you can almost say, "Thank God for shock." Because you are in shock, scared of course and totally frustrated and helpless. There is nothing you can do. You're just a piece of meat that somebody is going to use to bargain with.

You're angry, of course, [about] the humiliation and the bad treatment and the capture itself. You're sorry, sorry for your family, sorry you were dumb enough to get captured. There's always a certain amount of guilt even though it's irrational, it's there anyway. So, you just have to get from hour to hour.

© 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP."