Don’t Forget Terry Anderson

Somewhere in the bloodstained rubble of Beirut our colleague Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of the Associated Press, has begun his sixth year of captivity. His cruel confinement is the longest yet endured by the 17 Western hostages still being held in Lebanon. Anderson’s captors are Shiite Muslim extremists thought to enjoy some degree of Iranian patronage.

Anderson, now 42, has a daughter he has never seen, born after he was abducted. During his barbarous imprisonment, his father and a brother have died; it is believed that his kidnapers have kept knowledge of the deaths from him.

According to his fellow hostages who have been restored to freedom, Anderson is being held under harsh circumstances, frequently blindfolded and chained to his bed. He apparently is moved from place to place under restraint. Yet those who have seen him say that he continues to courageously defy his captors. He frequently has mocked them and has gone on hunger strikes. He marked his 1,000th day of imprisonment in 1988 by banging his head against his cell wall until he bled. He has demanded reading material and access to a radio.

Terry Anderson was in Lebanon solely so that the rest of the world might know the truth concerning that tragic nation’s suffering. Whatever they may say, his kidnapers know that. hatever real or imaginary grievance they may hold against the West, however selfless or noble they believe their own struggle to be, there is no justification for the savage wrong they have inflicted on Anderson, his fellow hostages and their friends and families.