Ex-Hostage Says Soviet Threat Led to Release

With talk of war mounting all around him, Gene Lovas spent four months holed up in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, grimly trying to set his life in order in case he never made it back to the United States.

“We made preparations for that,” Lovas said, recounting occasional long-distance telephone conversations with his wife. “We made sure that all the loose ends were tied up.”

Sunday, just a few days after reuniting with his family, the 45-year-old construction engineer from Westminster returned to his church with praise for American and Soviet officials whom he said helped bring him and thousands of others home for the holidays.

“I think the Russians scared them to death,” Lovas said during one of the Crystal Cathedral’s Sunday services. “I really think that they put the fear of God in them,” he said later.

Lovas’ remarks won applause from a congregation of several hundred. Some of the parishioners dabbed tears from their eyes when the Rev. Robert Schuller grasped Lovas’ hand and beamed.

“We prayed for you,” Schuller said. “We didn’t expect you home for Christmas.”

Although he had been in Iraq to help build an oil refinery, Lovas’ appearance on the nationally televised broadcast gave him the chance to play foreign policy analyst for the day, and he used his pulpit to urge parishioners and viewers to support President Bush.

“Stand behind him,” Lovas said. “What the government of this country is doing is really important.”

But Lovas’ kind words were not only for Bush: He also credited the Soviets with helping to free the hostages.

After months of resisting demands that the hostages go free, the Iraqis reversed field this month after Soviet diplomats interceded, Lovas said, repeating rumors that circulated among hostages and embassy personnel in Baghdad. According to Lovas, many Americans in Baghdad heard that Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze had sternly warned his Iraqi counterpart, Tarik Aziz, that unwillingness to release all hostages could bring a strong Soviet military response.

It was after hearing that warning that the Iraqis finally backed down, Lovas said: “I honestly believe that made the difference.”

Although Lovas said little about his time in captivity during the service, he briefly elaborated on it later, speaking to reporters and a stream of curious congregants. Despite uncertainty and frustration, conditions were not bad, he said.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, Lovas was staying at the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad, where he was part of a Bechtel Corp. team helping to build an oil refinery.

Even after the invasion and escalation of tensions, Lovas stayed in the hotel for a while. It was not until Aug. 18 that U.S. officials were able to escort Lovas to the embassy’s grounds, and in the rush, he paused just long enough to grab a Bible and a ceramic cross that his 8-year-old son, Jeffrey, had made in Bible class.

At the embassy, there were not enough beds to go around, Lovas said, but as some Americans were allowed to leave, space opened up.

“Generally speaking, my personal conditions were fine,” he said, as a line of parishioners strained to hear. “We were treated well, and I have the highest regard for the embassy staff.”

Despite the relative comfort of hostage life inside the embassy compound, Lovas and his wife, Holly, said they were forced to confront the possibility that he might never return.

“It was trying,” said Holly Lovas, who was occasionally able to speak to her husband during his captivity. “I think we gained some strength from it, but it wasn’t easy.”

Adding to the tension were repeated disappointments. Lovas had hoped to leave with former Texas Gov. John Connally, who had come to free a group, but “that arrangement fell apart,” Lovas said.

“It was high anxiety right up until we left Baghdad Airport--Saddam Hussein Airport,” Lovas said. Even then, the hostages’ problems were not behind them: The plane carrying Lovas and other hostages to Frankfurt, Germany, nearly crashed on arrival, he said.

On Sunday, surrounded by his family and well-wishers, Lovas wearily put all that behind him. Lovas said he and his family were looking forward to a quiet Christmas: “I’m just going to relax and take a couple months off.”