Word: jihadization
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...longtime sponsors of terrorist activities as Iran and Syria now regard the hostages as a bothersome obstacle to the renewal of ties with the West. The faceless abductors themselves are reaping diminishing returns from the hiding, feeding and clothing of captives. One of the initial impulses that guided Islamic Jihad's first seizures back in the early 1980s -- the freeing of 17 fundamentalists jailed in Kuwait -- is now a moot point; after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the remaining 15 prisoners were set free...
...bargain. It is not known, however, how many of the seven are dead. Last week Hizballah announced that at least one, Ron Arad, is alive. Israel is demanding a strict accounting of the seven -- confirmed by the International Red Cross -- before any deal is made. If Islamic Jihad agrees to those terms, there is still no guarantee that it is in a position to deliver all seven, dead or alive...
That leaves the bargaining power of Islamic Jihad weakened at a time when the organization is finding itself increasingly politically isolated. McCarthy's and Tracy's release may have been a desperate attempt to remind an inattentive international audience of the fundamentalists' agenda. But as the Leyraud abduction demonstrated, that agenda is fragmented and riddled by competing demands. Islamic Jihad may also have acted in hopes of preventing a Syrian disarming of fundamentalist camps in Lebanon and of gaining new respect from disaffected Shi'ites. Says Richard Murphy, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs...
McCarthy also said mildly that his first two years as a prisoner were "very difficult." In fact, the years after he was kidnapped in Beirut in 1986 were hellish. Brian Keenan, an Irish teacher released last year who spent part of his captivity with McCarthy, described life with Islamic Jihad: "Tiny, tiny cells, constant blindfolds, prolonged days in the dark, sometimes weeks without light." The guards, he said, "just could not control the urge to beat very badly." When he and McCarthy were moved from one vermin-infested flat to another, they were covered with tape and stuffed under...
...freedom of other hostages when he was kidnapped in January 1987. British diplomats and friends in Lebanon had warned him not to return, saying the situation was too dangerous. Waite ignored them. He vanished while waiting in a go-between's home to meet representatives of Islamic Jihad. For years no faction claimed to be holding him, and nothing was heard of him. Many Western officials privately concluded he had been killed, possibly because he was suspected of working with the Reagan Administration in the arms-for-hostages swap with Iran...