Reed Is ‘Very, Very Angry’ Other Hostages Aren’t Free

Former hostage Frank Reed said today that he was held for months at a time with four other Westerners, including two Americans, and that he is angry they have not been freed.

Reed was released to Syrian officials in Lebanon on Monday after 3 1/2 years in the hands of Shiite Muslim fundamentalist kidnapers. He is at the U.S. Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden for medical tests and debriefings.

“I tell you, I’m very, very angry that Anderson . . . Tom and Terry . . . are not free,” 57-year-old Reed said from a hospital balcony.

Reed referred to Terry Anderson, the Associated Press chief Middle East correspondent and the longest-held hostage in Lebanon, and Thomas Sutherland, an American educator. Anderson was kidnaped March 16, 1985, while Sutherland was seized June 9, 1985.

“For God’s sake, it’s nearly the sixth year for these men. I’m absolutely embarrassed I’m out before they are,” Reed said. “I spent two years with Tom and Terry.

“I have not seen Tom and Terry for a while, and I don’t know where they are.”

Reed also said he spent three years in the intermittent company of John McCarthy of Britain and Brian Keenan of Ireland. Reed said he had been kept in the same house with them since October, and the three were also together periodically for three years.

McCarthy, 33, a journalist for the London-based Worldwide Television News agency was kidnaped April 17, 1986, and Keenan, 39, disappeared six days later. No group has claimed to be holding either McCarthy or Keenan.

Earlier, Reed’s wife, Fahima, said her husband was kept with up to six other Western hostages during his captivity.

Fahima (Fifi) Reed, a 39-year-old Syrian Muslim, said that whenever a hostage was taken away, her husband thought that captive was being freed. She said that upon his release, Reed was surprised and angered to learn others remained captive.

“Our joy will not be complete until every single one of them is free,” Fifi Reed told a news conference.