The Tactical Political God That Failed : Hostage-holding achieves no useful or constructive purpose

The hostage ordeal, it would appear, is coming to a close; certainly there is a momentum to end it speedily. American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released Monday, and various Middle East and U.N. officials have suggested that the four remaining Western hostages, two Americans and two Germans, may be released by the end of the year.

The era of hostage-taking may finally be passing, thankfully, as did airline hijackings, into the terrorist dustbin under the category of “Tactics that work better on paper than they do in real life.”

Upon his release in November, Anglican envoy Terry Waite said one of his captors told him of the realization that holding hostages achieves no useful or constructive purpose.

That realization, as one analysis put it, was a terribly expensive lesson both for Iran, under whose tutelage the fundamentalist groups that took the hostages were set up, and for Syria, which has had a considerable presence in Lebanon for years. Both have influence with many factions in Lebanon, and both found themselves isolated politically and economically by the rich Western nations whose citizens languished in Beirut.

So what have the kidnapers accomplished over these last several years by seizing American, British, German, French and Italian citizens from the streets of Beirut? The kidnapers might suggest that hostage-taking is what persuaded Israel Sunday to release 25 of its Lebanese prisoners held by a client militia in a prison camp in Israel’s self-declared security zone in south Lebanon. Or the kidnapers might suggest that the anticipated release of all the hostages was linked to the recent settlement of a financial dispute between Washington and Tehran. Iran will be repaid $278 million for weapons impounded by Washington 12 years ago. But U.S. officials denied any linkage between the hostages and the agreement.

No observer should be naive enough to suggest that all of the aforementioned events occurred in complete isolation. But to suggest clear cause and effect in a situation complicated by the different agendas of Islamic fundamentalists, Arab moderates, the United States, Europe and Israel is incredibly simplistic. Yet there can be no doubt about one thing: The taking of hostages has proven over time to be unredeeming--both in human costs and in the public persuasion department.

The kidnapers sought not only the release of compatriots jailed for bomb attacks in Kuwait but also a global stage upon which to air their grievances. The United States, and other Western nations, by refusing to overreact to every shift in demands and threats, decided that they would not provide the kidnapers with that forum. As horrible as that was for the hostages, Western coolness could have helped build the foundation for the quietly effective intervention of U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and his aide, Giandomenico Picco, who has the trust of Iran. Perez de Cuellar’s term ends at the end of this year--providing another incentive for a timely release of the hostages.

It’s still too soon to roll out the welcome mats for remaining American hostages Terry Anderson and Alann Steen, who is expected to be released next. But as political time runs out for their captors, these two may finally have an advantage.