INTRODUCTION
15 On kidnapping in Mexico: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/kidnappings-in-mexico-surge-to-the-highest-number-on-record/2014/08/15/3f8ee2d2-1e6e-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html?utm_term=.af22822fa868.
16 According to a December 2015 study: “Analyses of Kidnapping Across Time and Among Jihadist Organizations,” Seth Loertscher and Daniel Milton (The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point), December 2015.
CHAPTER ONE
20 Most of this chapter was reported in July 2017, while I was based in Paris. During this period I interviewed Florence Aubenas, Georges Malbrunot, Laurent Combalbert, Didier Le Bret, Hala Kodmani, and many others who asked to speak on background. Aubenas declined to speak in detail about the circumstances of her own kidnapping and so the account is based on news reports and other public sources, as cited below.
20 On the kidnapping of Florence Aubenas: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jan/14/Iraqandthemedia.iraq; http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2005/06/2008410115226711527.html.
21 On activities carried out in support of Aubenas: http://www.liberation.fr/courrier/2005/04/21/que-tous-les-moyens-soient-mis-en-oeuvre_517152.
22 Aubenas pleads to Didier Julia for help: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/02/pressandpublishing.media.
22 Didier Julia told to butt out of DGSE activity: http://www.liberation.fr/evenement/2005/06/13/cinq-mois-de-tractations_523153.
22 Details of Didier François’s bureau in Baghdad: http://www.europe1.fr/international/aubenas-didier-francois-est-un-journaliste-de-plain-pied-1603201.
24 Times of London on ransom payment: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-dollar45m-secretly-bought-freedom-of-foreign-hostages-j8vlt00znzx.
25 Global rise in kidnapping: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/global-rise-kidnappings-ransom.
26 The kidnapping data from 1970s to 2013 is drawn from the Global Terrorism Database (available at http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/).
26 Description of political kidnapping in in the 1970s and ’80s from Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping by Ann Hagedorn Auerbach (New York: Henry Holt, 1998). See also “Does the U.S. No Concessions Policy Deter Kidnappings of Americans?” Brian Michael Jenkins, RAND, 2018 https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE277.html.
27 Rise of interconnected Jihadi movements after 9/11: See “Held Hostage: Analyses of Kidnappings Across Time and Across Jihadist Organizations.” https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Held-Hostagereportc2.pdf
27 Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and killing: I was involved in responding to the Pearl kidnapping in my CPJ role and wrote about it in The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014). See also A Mighty Heart and The Pearl Project, both referenced in Additional Reading. For a summary of the Pearl Project’s conclusion see below. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/20/AR2011012000057.html
27 Nick Berg kidnapping and killing: http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/nick-berg-beheaded-iraq-2004-10062350.
28 Thomas Hedghammer’s FFI report: https://www.ffi.no/no/Rapporter/04-03105.pdf.
28 2017 New America study: https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/hostage-paper-final.pdf.
29 2003 German ransom payment of 5 million euros: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/ransoming-citizens-europe-becomes-al-qaedas-patron.html.
29 Italian aid workers freed: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/29/italy.iraq
29 “During a decade-long period, from 1982 to 1992, cells linked to Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and ultimately the revolutionary regime in Iran, took more than a hundred hostages in Lebanon”: Robert Worley, Orchestrating the Instruments of Power, https://books.google.com/books?id=yuDBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=lebanon+hostage+crisis+1982+1992&source=bl&ots=j1GW4Z6bwx&sig=g-nkHiqvCaUPi-1BBgm5i5FlU_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcttyaoNXYAhWnQt8KHXhYDEsQ6AEIajAN#v=onepage&q=lebanon%20hostage%20crisis%201982%201992&f=false.
29 “Among them was the U.S. journalist Terry Anderson, and the British envoy Terry Waite”: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/world/terry-anderson-hostage-rewind/index.html; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/terry-waite-i-spent-five-years-as-a-hostage-in-beirut-but-i-ne/.
29 Jean-Paul Kauffmann and Michel Seurat held captive in Lebanon: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/11/world/beirut-captivity-a-frenchman-s-story.html.
30 French hostages freed in Beirut: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/05/world/french-hostages-freed-in-beirut-boon-for-chirac.html.
34 Times of London on ransom payment: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-dollar45m-secretly-bought-freedom-of-foreign-hostages-j8vlt00znzx.
35 Ransom demand for Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1470558/Paris-panic-after-journalists-kidnapped-in-Iraq.html.
36 Qatar’s ties to terrorist groups: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40246734.
38 AQIM’s pledge to be “a bone in the throat of American and French crusaders.” https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/08/the_press_quickly_learned_that.php.
38 “The number of French nationals abducted overseas quintupled from 11 to 59 per year between between 2004 and 2008”: https://www.msf-crash.org/en/publications/saving-lives-and-staying-alive-humanitarian-security-age-risk-management.
38 Kidnapping of Pierre Camatte: http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2013/03/18/otages-la-france-ne-veut-plus-payer_1849987_3212.html.
38 Eduoard Guillaud’s comments on Spain: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10PARIS30_a.html&sa=D&ust=1514567703988000&usg=AFQjCNFgsfIKCBpxUqc55o6ZxRiRuladSg.
39 Camatte released: http://www.france24.com/en/20100223-al-qaeda-releases-kidnapped-frenchman-pierre-camatte.
39 Kidnapping of Hervé Ghesquière and Stephane Taponier: http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2012/09/21/le-livre-de-l-ancien-otage-herveghesquiere-ravive-la-polemique-avec-l-armee_1763671_3210.html; http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2010/06/29/herve-ghesquiere-et-stephane-taponier-nous-devons-parler-d-eux-chaque-jour_1380291_3232.html.
39 Ransom paid to Taliban for release of Ghesquière and Taponier: https://www.thedailybeast.com/talibans-french-hostages-how-they-were-freed.
CHAPTER TWO
41 I interviewed General Sanz Roldán in the CNI headquarters outside Madrid on July 17, 2017. Most of the interview was on background. I have included only a limited number of quotes that he agreed to put on the record. I made a follow-up visit to the CNI in October 2017.
41 Appointment of General Félix Sanz Roldán: https://www.cni.es/en/biographicdetailsofthesecretaryofstatedirector/.
41 “CNI had been wracked by allegations of fraud”: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/world/bombings-madrid-election-outcome-spain-grapples-with-notion-that-terrorism.html.
42 “deployment of Spanish troops in Iraq was opposed by 90 percent of the Spanish public”: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/29/sprj.irq.spain/.
42 “Zapatero waited only one day after taking office”: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/15/spain.iraq.
42 Condoleezza Rice’s comment to Fox News: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/world/spanish-premier-orders-soldiers-home-from-iraq.html.
42 Altercation between Donald Rumsfeld and Spanish Minister of Defense: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/world/spanish-premier-says-troops-will-not-return-to-iraq.html.
42 Appointment by Zapatero as head of the Estado Mayor: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/06/25/espana/1088122047.html.
43 Alakrana held hostage by Somali pirates: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-piracy-incidents-factbox/factbox-ships-held-by-somali-pirates-idUSTRE5A83KF20091109.
43 “about four hundred nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles”: http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20091117/53826265705/el-secuestro-del-alakrana-uno-de-los-diez-mas-largos-sufridos-en-el-indico.html.
43 “operating out of a ‘mother ship’”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8364530.stm.
43 “Two smaller skiffs carrying thirteen pirates”: https://elpais.com/diario/2009/10/04/espana/1254607207_850215.html.
43 “toward the Somali city of Harare”: http://cadenaser.com/ser/2009/10/04/espana/1254613812_850215.html.
43 Crew members aboard the Alakrana: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/world/europe/07spain.html.
44 I interviewed General Julio Rodríguez in Madrid on July 19; I spoke to Congresswoman and former Minister of International Cooperation Soraya Rodríguez on July 20. I spoke with El Pais reporter José María Irujo by phone on July 31. I spoke with Alain Juillet on July 4 and Didier Le Bret on July 27, both in Paris. I interviewed Jamal Osman by phone on July 21. Former U.S. Ambassador Vicki Huddleston is now retired and lives in ew Mexico. I spoke with her by phone on November 9, 2017.
44 “reportedly for a ransom of $1.2 million”: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-04-27/spanish-fishing-boat-freed-for-128m/2417098.
44 On the prowess of Basque fishermen: See Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky.
45 “Canarias … steaming at top speed toward the captured fishing boat”: https://elpais.com/diario/2009/11/15/espana/1258239601_850215.html.
45 “2:20 a.m. on October 4, Judge Baltasar Garzón”: https://elpais.com/diario/2009/11/15/espana/1258239601_850215.html.
46 Account of ransom delivery and attempted recovery based on interview with General Rodríguez.
47 “Zapatero congratulated all those who had worked to free the Alakrana”: https://elpais.com/elpais/2009/11/17/actualidad/1258449418_850215.html.
47 Judge’s verdict, Alakrana case: http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2011/05/03/sentencia_alakrana.pdf
47 Kidnapping of Albert Vilalta Cambra, Alicia Gámez Guerrero, and Roque Pascual Salazar in Mauritania: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/30/spanish-aid-workers-kidnapped-mauritania/.
47 Details of Acció Solidaria kidnapping: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/12/08/barcelona/1260272508.html.
48 Description of efforts to track the movement of the hostages from Mauritania through Mali via a senior CNI official who asked not be identified.
49 Mustafa Chafi: http://www.catalannews.com/society-science/item/the-2-catalans-kidnapped-by-al-qaeda-are-back-to-barcelona; http://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/491459/politique/sahel-quels-sont-les-liens-entre-les-jihadistes-et-moustapha-chafi-ex-conseiller-de-compaore/.
49 Release of Alicia Gámez: https://elpais.com/elpais/2010/03/10/actualidad1268212618_850215.html; https://elpais.com/diario/2010/03/12/espana/1268348402_850215.html.
50 “millions of dollars in ransom was paid”: https://elpais.com/elpais/2010/08/22/actualidad/1282465020_850215.html.
50 “may have been fronted by the government of Burkina Faso”: http://www.dw.com/en/al-qaeda-releases-spanish-hostages/a-5936175.
52 “voters returned the conservatives to power”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/spains-conservative-declare-victory-in-election/2011/11/20/gIQADBpZfN_story.html.
52 Spanish hostages that have come home alive: https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/hostage-paper-final.pdf.
53 “Held Hostage: Analyses of Kidnapping Across Time and Among Jihadist Organizations.” https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Held-Hostagereportc2.pdf.
54 “To Pay Ransom Or Not To Pay Ransom? An Examination of Western Hostage Policies.” 2017 New America Foundation study https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/hostage-paper-final.pdf.
55 Graeme Wood, “Ransoms: The Real Cost.” http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/11/19/ransoms-real-cost/
55 Edwin Dyer: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jun/03/edwin-dyer-hostage-killed-al-qaida
56 “Taliban claimed they used the $10 million ransom”: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1566163/Taliban-use-hostage-cash-to-fund-UK-blitz.html.
56 “Karzai then went on television to declare he would never negotiate again”: The Fixer, http://www.thefixerdocumentary.com/
56 “kill the hostage with ‘the lowest rank’: https://abcnews.go.com/International/osama-binladen-letters-show-paranoid-micromanager-hiding/story?id=37297647.
57 “A New York Times analysis put the number at $125 million over the same period”: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/Africa/ransoming-citizens-europe-becomes-al-qaedas-patron.html.
57 “The group … expanded its smuggling operations using existing routes”: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/14/trafficking-in-terror.
59 MRTA: https://dialogo-americas.com/en/articles/peruvian-armed-forces-ready-amazonlog.
59 Sendero Luminoso: http://www.dw.com/es/despu%C3%A9s-de-25-a%C3%B1os-qu%C3%A9-queda-de-sendero-luminoso/a-40476915.
CHAPTER THREE
62 I interviewed Doug Milne in London on July 28, 2017, and then again on October 24. Additional background on the relationship between the British government and the London-based security industry is drawn from contemporaneous news accounts, cited below, and Ransom by Ann Hagedorn Auerbach. For Thatcher and K & R, see pp. 215–217. For the police official quoted in the Guiness case see p. 216.
64 “Julian Radcliffe, an insurance broker with Hogg Robinson”: https://www.theguardian.com/business/1999/mar/02/14.
64 “In 1982, Control Risks became an independent company”: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/mar/14/kroll-control-risks-bidding-war.
65 “By the early 1980s, hostage-taking was exploding in Latin America”: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-18754-6_14.
65 pesca milagrosa: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/03/world/fishing-for-ransom-colombian-rebels-cast-net-wide.html.
66 Special Contingency Risks: https://blog.willis.com/2012/07/piracy-in-south-east-asia/; https://www.economist.com/blogsschumpeter/2013/06/kidnap-and-ransom-insurance.
67 Hiscox/Control Risks: https://www.hiscoxspecialrisks.com/control-risks
67 AIG/NYA: http://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/america-canada/us/documents/business/management-liability/nya-crisis-prevention-and-response-brochure.pdf.
67 K & R Market: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/25/murky-world-hostage-negotiations-price-ever-right-insurance; https://www.cognizant.com/whitepapers/Kidnap-and-Ransom-Insurance-At-an-Inflection-Point-codex1575.pdf.
68 Doug Milne’s clients’ killing in Colombia based on personal account.
69 Margaret Thatcher’s no concessions policy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3702574.stm.
69 Jennifer Guinness kidnapping: http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-10/news/mn-3446_1_jennifer-guinness; https://books.google.com/books?id=S2SNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27&lpg=PT27&dq=guinness+jennifer+control+risks&source=bl&ots=IozKnWMji0&sig=kSDUkJ8dJ4NWnvIeIznuB2vl8SM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB56u5vcTYAhVQkeAKHZoZAf4Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=guinness%20jennifer%20control%20risks&f=false; See also Ransom, cited above.
69 The study cited by Milne was published in The Post, an insurance industry trade magazine, in May 1986. It argued that “the existence of an insurance policy ensures that the authorities are informed as soon as the kidnap takes place.… Kidnap insurance is thus more likely to result in less money getting into the hands of terrorists organizations.”
70 “Italy, for example, passed a law in 1991”: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/01/world/italian-ban-on-paying-kidnappers-stirs-anger.html.
70 “like the more than $20 million ransom allegedly paid to win the freedom of Mexican banker Alfredo Harp Helú in 1994”: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/25/world/family-of-kidnapped-mexican-financier-agrees-to-ransom.html.
71 Proscribed terrorist groups in the U.S. and UK: https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations—2.
72 Masefield AG vs. Amlin Corporate Member: http://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1703482/35_2_14.pdf.
73 David Rohde kidnapping: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/asia/18hostage.html?pagewanted=all; https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/held-by-the-taliban/#part-5; See also A Rope and a Prayer.
75 Amanda Lindhout kidnapping: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/26/kidnapped-journalists-freed-somalia; See also A House in the Sky.
75 Through my work at CPJ, I was involved behind the scenes in the Lindhout case, and some of my observations are drawn from that experience. Additional detail is from a Planet Ransom interview, https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=548026545; See also: http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/i-owe-my-life-to-the-peoplewho-paid-my-ransom-but-should-our-government-pay-ransoms-noi-dont-think-so/wcm/eb6f2bfbbc94-498a-993e-ab3f77b28575.
75 While Canada and Australia are firmly in the no concessions camp, both appear to take a more flexible approach than either the U.S. and U.K. Australia will facilitate private ransom payments of up to $250,000, according to the New America study. Canada has offered economic assistance in exchange for the release of its nationals and is reported to have facilitated a ransom of the over $1 million for the release of the two Canadian diplomats taken captive by Al Qaeda in Niger in 2008 (see Chapter Two, page 56). Following the beheading of a Canadian hostage in the Philippines in 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared “Canada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly” because doing so “would endanger the lives of every single one of the millions of Canadians who live, work, and travel around the globe every single year.” But a former senior official, Gar Pardy, was dismissive. “It’s just something governments say,” Pardy declared. “You always pay. It’s as simple as that.” See Terry Glavin, “Canada Does Not Pay Ransom … Except When We Do,” National Post, April 27, 2016. http://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-canada-does-not-pay-ransom-to-terrorists-except-when-we-do.
76 “Cameras caught him telling Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ‘good job tonight’”: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-good-job-a-public-wink-on-seal-secret/
76 “The kidnappers had initially demanded $10 million, and had recently rejected a $1 million offer”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-forces-rescue-kidnapped-aid-workers-jessica-buchanan-and-poul-hagen-thisted-in-somalia/2012/01/25/gIQA7WopPQ_story.html?utm_term=3415d5bad9ef
77 Michael Scott Moore kidnapping: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/02/my-977-days-held-hostage-by-somali-pirates; additional detail from a personal interview with a source close to the Moore case.
77 Steve Farrell raid: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/world/asia/09rescue.html
78 Detail about a ransom having been negotiated prior to the rescue attempt via a confidential source.
78 I interviewed Ollie Tebbutt on November 9, 2017. Additional details are drawn from Jude Tebbutt’s A Long Walk Home.
81 All of the dozen or so security consultants I interviewed—in the U.S., UK, Canada, and a number of European countries—asked to speak on background, meaning I cannot quote them by name. I agreed because of the sensitivity of their work and because I wanted them to speak frankly. This section represents a consensus of their views.
CHAPTER FOUR
85 I interviewed David Cohen on December 18, 2017 and January 12, 2018. I interviewed Brian Jenkins on September 27. I had various meetings and phone interviews with Gary Noesner over the course of 2017. The account of the formulation of NSPD-12 is based on interviews with several sources with direct knowledge who asked not to be identified.
85 “administration officials called David S. Cohen their ‘financial Batman’”: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/business/international/enforcer-at-treasury-is-first-line-of-attack-against-isis.html?_r=0.
85 FARC, Al Qaeda, and Islamic State funders: https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/07/farc-cocaine-colombia/489551/, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/islamic-charity-officials-gave-millions-to-al-qaeda-us-says/2013/12/22e0c53ad6-69b8-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?utm_term=.58e80984dee2, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/why-there-is-no-stopping-_b_7518012.html.
86 David Cohen’s speech at Chatham House: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1726.aspx.
87 Black September’s 1973 kidnapping in Sudan: David Carlton and Carlo Schaerf, International Terrorism and World Security https://books.google.com/books?id=vXJKCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=march+1973+black+september+pakistan+saudi+embassy&source=bl&ots=_da_kOsAEF&sig=wUp8J7UW_GqfoEcD1TFjqBXvrng&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAyt-FwsbYAhVJUd8KHb9LAPkQ6AEIMzAC#v=onepage&q=march%201973%20black%20september%20pakistan%20saudi%20embassy&f=false; https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Mt0qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HXwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1650,637152.
87 President Nixon’s press conference: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4123.
90 It’s worth noting that American policymakers have been engaged to a certain extent with the concessions/no concessions debate since the birth of the Republic. When American sailors were captured by Algerian pirates in 1785, Thomas Jefferson spoke out against paying ransom because he believed it would encourage further kidnappings. Yet in 1791, Congress authorized $40,000 in ransom. The pirates rejected the offer and continued to seize American vessels. Finally, after years of arduous negotiation, the U.S. Congress agreed to pay $585,000 for the release of American sailors. Some were held in deplorable conditions for over a decade.
90 For history of the U.S. no concessions policy see “Does the U.S. No-Concessions Policy Deter Kidnappings of Americans,” by Brian Michael Jenkins. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE277.html.
91 TWA Flight 847 account and Iran Contra description from Buhite, Lives at Risk, p. 195.
91 Geneva Conventions’ rule on prisoner exchanges: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e63bb/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68.
91 Federal Kidnap Act: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sIo1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=w6sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2635%2C754661.
91 New York Times Gary Noesner profile: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/us/nation-challenged-hostages-fbi-veteran-hostage-negotiations-helped-reshaping-us.html.
91 “President Reagan declared, ‘America will never make concessions to terrorists’”: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/inde.php?pid=38789.
92 NSPD-12: https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/index.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/us/nation-challenged-hostages-fbi-veteran-hostage-negotiations-helped-reshaping-us.html.
94 “Abu Sayyaf kept the $300,000 but the hostages were not released”: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79955&page=1
94 “In 2007, fourteen Abu Sayyaf members were convicted in a Philippine court”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120502923_pf.html.
96 John Otis, Law of the Jungle; See also Hostage Nation: Colombia’s Guerrilla Army and the Failed War on Drugs by Jorge Enrique Botero, Karin Hayes, and Victoria Bruce.
96 Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/18/ingrid-betancourt-i-still-have-nightmares.
96 Vice President Francisco (Pacho) Santos was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, and his experience was chronicled in Gabriel García Márquez’s News of Kidnapping. Santos went on to help found a civil society organization, La Fundación País Libre, to advocate for the rights of hostages and lead public mobilizations to denounce the crime. The organization was disbanded in 2017 as the peace process with FARC and the overall reduction in the crime rate led to a dramatic reduction in kidnapping. The father of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was killed by FARC in a botched kidnapping attempt carried out in 1983.
97 February 2003 kidnapping of American contractors by FARC: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1735671,00.html.
97 “the French government tried to negotiate a ransom for Betancourt”: https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/ingrid-betancourt-la-france-aurait-paye-une-rancon-en-2003_525532.html.
98 “France dispatched a hospital plane”: https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/le-calvaire-d-ingrid-betancourt_471888.html.
98 Betancourt’s release: http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-monde/2008-07-02/reactions-florence-aubenas-c-est-noel-en-juillet/924/0/257472.
99 Botched raid for Michel Germaneau: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2006463,00.html.
99 Execution of Michel Germaneau: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2006463,00.html; Stephen Harmon, Terror and Insurgency in the Sahara-Sahel Region https://books.google.com/books?id=htm1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=abu+zeid+execution+michel+germaneau&source=bl&ots=pWu098xnOV&sig=4ftVBhYTR_ZAhl6TOMW-FOYo-hM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja9KKn2LTYAhXSSN8KHVCSA-8Q6AEINZAE#v=onepage&q=abu%20zeid%20execution%20michel%20germaneau&f=false.
99 Kidnapping of Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier: http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2011/06/29/herve-ghesquiere-et-stephane-taponier-sont-libres_746058; http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2012/09/21/le-livre-de-l-ancien-otage-herve-ghesquiere-ravive-la-polemique-avec-l-armee_1763671_3210.html; http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/hauts-de-france/2014/12/08/herve-ghesquiere-ancien-otage-candamne-en-appel-pour-diffamation-609068.html; http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2011/06/30/la-joie-d-herve-ghesquiere-et-stephane-taponier_1542832_3224.html.
100 Aubenas’s appeal: http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2010/06/29/herve-ghesquiere-et-stephane-taponier-nous-devons-parler-d-eux-chaque-jour_1380291_3232.html.
100 RSF Action: https://rsf.org/fr/actualites/liberation-dherve-ghesquiere-et-stephane-taponier-apres-un-et-demi-de-captivite.
101 Tour de France: http://www.programme-tv.net/news/tv/10072-200-jours-de-captivite-pour-les-journalistes-otages-en-afghanistan/.
101 “Detailed account in The Daily Beast”: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/01/taliban-s-french-hostages-how-they-were-freed.html.
102 UN Security Council Resolution 1904: http://www.un.org/press/en/2009/sc9825.doc.htm.
103 “Cameron secured a pledge from all its members not to pay ransom”: https://www.ft.com/content/10cc2546-d832-11e2-b4a4-00144feab7de.
103 “In January 2014, when the UK followed up on the consensus it had built at the G-8 Summit”: https://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11262.doc.htm.
CHAPTER FIVE
104 The account of Motka’s kidnapping is based on several interviews with Federico Motka, both in person and by phone, which took place in July 2017. I did a follow-up interview in October 2017. I spoke to Mike Haines via skype in October 17. The description of the rise of ISIS is from Black Flag by Joby Warrick and numerous journalistic accounts cited below.
105 “Haines, a forty-four-year-old former British soldier”: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11095290/David-Haines-obituary.html.
106 Atmeh refugee camp: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/18/syrian-refugee-camp-township-atmeh.
106 “several masked fighters with Kalashnikovs”: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl/middle-east/david-haines-exclusive-witness-describes-the-moment-isis-militants-seized-british-aid-worker-9712916.html.
108 “two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad were ransomed”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55850-2004Sep28.html?referrer=email.
109 “The following year, a well-known Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, was also freed”: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/06/italy.iraq/index.html.
109 2013 release of an Italian and a Belgian: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-syria-journalist/italian-and-belgian-freed-afte-being-kidnapped-in-syria-idUSBRE9870EG20130908.
111 Kidnapping of Didier François and Eduard Elias: https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2014/04/21/1867363-ex-otages-didier-francois-raconte-des-simulacres-d-executions.html.
111 “described his eloquent reports as ‘written radio’”: https://laregledujeu.org/2013/07/16/13799/pour-didier-francois/.
111 Eduard Elias: http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/edouard-elias/.
112 Mehdi Nenmouche: http://www.france24.com/en/20161103-belgium-extradition-france-brussels-jewish-museum-shooting-nemmouche.
113 I interviewed Javier Espinosa and Mónica Prieto in northern Spain on July 15, 2017. I relied also on their book, Siria: El pais de las almas rotas, along with The ISIS Hostage by Puk Damsgård.
114 The jailer that the hostages called “George” was later identified as Mohamed Emwazi. He was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2015. Confusingly he was dubbed “Jihadi John” in the media. Another member of the “Beatles,” Aine Davis, a British national, was arrested in Turkey and is currently serving a seven-year sentence. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/09/british-isil-jihadist-member-beatles-terror-cell-convicted-turkey/.
114 On February 16, 2018 the families of the American hostages murdered by ISIS published an op-ed in The New York Times entitled “Justice for Our Children, Killed by ISIS.” The article was written in response to the capture of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. Two members of the “Beatles” who had been detained by Kurdish forces in Northern Syria. The families called for the men to be brought to the U.S. to face trial. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/justice-isis-trial.html.
115 While in custody, ElSheikh was interviewed by journalist Jenan Moussa, who asked him to respond to the accusations of his involvement in kidnapping, torture, and murder of hostages. ElSheikh expressed no remorse, defended slavery, and said he would only answer specific questions in the context of a legal trial. https://www.memri.org/tv/british-isis-beatle-dont-denounce-slavery-nothing-beats-west-for-corruption/transcript.
116 I interviewed Pedro J. Ramírez in Madrid in July 2017.
116 “Espinosa had survived the shelling of the press center in Homs”: http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/edouard-elias/.
116 Assassination of José Luis López de Lacalle: https://cpj.org/data/people/jose-luis-lopez-de-la-calle/.
116 Death of Julio Anguita: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/04/07/sprj.irq.journalists.killed/
116 Death of Julio Fuentes: https://cpj.org/data/people/julio-fuentes/
116 “he left in 1989 to found a new daily, El Mundo”: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/09/el-mundo-pedro-j-ramirez-departure-spain.
116 “In 1989, officials in Spain’s Socialist government leaked a sex tape”: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/media/ousted-el-mundo-editor-assails-government.html.
116 Agatha Ruiz de la Prada: https://www.vanitatis.elconfidencial.com/tags/temas/divorcio-agatha-ruiz-de-la-prada-y-pedro-j-ramirez-19079/.
118 Prieto’s press conference in Beirut: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/spanish-journalist-javier-espinosa-kidnap-syria.
118 “Pedro J. Ramírez was forced out as editor of ElMundo”: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/media/ousted-el-mundo-editor-assails-government.html.
120 Assassination of Sergei Gorbunov: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/world/middleeast/horror-before-the-beheadings-what-isis-hostages-endured-in-syria.html?_r=1
121 Release of Espinosa and García Vilanova: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/30/spanish-journalists-javier-espinosa-ricardo-villanova-garcia-freed-syria.
121 “the hostages were lucky to be French”: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/we-re-lucky-to-be-french-say-journalists-freed-in-syria-1.1768352.
122 “Handled by MSF directly”: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/24/world/middleeast/the-fate-of-23-hostages-in-syria.html.
122 “the Italian government paid an estimated $11 million”: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/15/two-italian-aid-workers-freed-syria.
122 Al Jazeera’s “Hostage Business” details ransom paid for Italian aid workers http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/hostagebusiness.html.
123 Failed raid to save Foley and Sotloff: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-failed-raid-free-foley-sotloff; additional information from several sources knowledgeable about the events.
124 Foley execution: video https://leaksource.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/graphic-video-islamic-state-beheads-american-journalist-james-foley/.
125 ISIS demands for Kayla Mueller: http://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-kayla-mueller-isis-captivity/story?id=41398733.
126 Death of Kayla Mueller: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/world/middleeast/isis-claims-american-hostage-killed-by-jordanian-retaliation-bombings.html.
126 May 2015 raid to kill Abu Sayyaf: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/16/middleeast/syria-isis-us-raid/index.html.
126 Testimony from Umm Sayyaf: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wife-isis-figure-charged-american-woman-kayla-muellers/story?id=36796458.
126 Mark Mitchell’s comments to hostages’ families in May 2014: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/20151117/104202/HHRG-114-FA18-Wstate-FoleyD-20151117.pdf.
128 “Bradley and former FBI agent Ali Soufan traveled to Qatar”: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/06/five-hostages
128 Theo Padnos’s release: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/world/middleeast/peter-theo-curtis-held-by-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-is-freed-after-2-years.html.
129 In the May 2018 interview with Al Arabiya. Padnos said his kidnappers told him they were hoping to get a $20 million ransom and spoke openly about their relationship with Qatar. Following his release, Padnos met with senior Qatari officials in Doha, and told them that by financing Al-Nusra Front they were destroying Syria. Qatar’s Foreign Minister was unperturbed, according to Padnos, telling him. “we know them very well and we have confidence in them.” See http://english.alarabiya.net/en/webtv/programs/death-making/2018/05/14/Ex-Nusra-Front-hostage-Theo-Padnos-Qatar-ransom-payouts-tactic-to-fund-terror.html.
130 2015 LSE Lecture: http://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2015/03/20150305t1830vOT/Why-We-Should-Talk-to-Terrorists.
CHAPTER SIX
132 The description of the meeting with President Obama comes from Diane and John Foley. I interviewed them on several occasions, including during a visit to their home in Rochester, New Hampshire on March 31, 2017.
133 Foley family goes public: https://cpj.org/2013/01/family-of-seized-us-reporter-seeks-his-release-in.php.
134 Lecture from Mark Mitchell, May 2014: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/20151117/104202/HHRG-114-FA18-Wstate-FoleyD-20151117.pdf; I reached out to Mitchell, who during 2017 served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense, but he did not respond to requests to be interviewed. He told Al Jazeera in a 2015 interview that he did not threaten the families, but wanted to make them aware of the legal risk of paying ransom. “It’s a always a priority to recover American citizens,” Mitchell said.“But it’s not always the highest priority.” http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/hostagebusiness.html
134 Obama’s response to the Foley murder is described by Ben Rhodes in his memoir, The World As it Is (New York: Random House, 2017), pp. 294–296.
136 “I want to continue Jim’s work”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IwdVKXgGJg
136 Doug Frantz at the Newseum: http://www.newseum.org/event/the-news-we-could-lose-new-threats-to-journalism-and-press-freedom/
137 The account of the Hostage Policy Review is based on interviews with four participants, including Lisa Monaco, who I met on May 17, 2017 at her office at NYU Law School. See also Jere Van Dyk, The Trade.
137 2014 U.S. hostage policy review: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/24/fact-sheet-us-government-hostage-policy
138 “Fusion cell”: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/hostage-recovery-fusion-cell-established.
138 Kidnapping is a federal crime: https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-1034-kidnapping-federal-jurisdiction.
140 Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/us/politics/in-policy-shift-us-includes-families-in-hostage-rescue-efforts.html.
141 “our top priority is the safe and rapid recovery of American hostages”: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/24/statement-president-us-governments-hostage-policy-review.
142 Bowe Bergdahl exchange: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/bowe-bergdahl-american-soldier-is-freed-by-taliban.html?_r=0.
142 “National Security Advisor Susan Rice claimed Bergdahl had served with ‘honor and distinction’”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp3fDThUlRY.
142 Bergdahl family in Rose Garden: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/06/04/after-bergdahls-release-a-sickening-spectacle-in-the-rose-garden/?utm_term=.2a885bcd31b7.
143 “Then there was the Jason Rezaian case in Iran”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/post-reporter-rezaian-flies-to-us-after-release-by-iran-checkups-in-germany/2016/01/22/b47273ba-c09e-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html.
144 Mike McGarrity named fusion cell director: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/hostage-recovery-fusion-cell-established
145 Terry Anderson: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/world/terry-anderson-hostage-rewind/index.html.
145 I interviewed Jim O’Brien in Washington, D.C. on March 16, 2017.
145 “Jim O’Brien was appointed as the first Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs”: https://diplopundit.net/2015/09/01/president-obama-appoints-james-obrien-as-first-special-presidential-envoy-for-hostage-affairs/.
145 Release of David Rohde: https://www.csmonitor.com/1995/1121/21015.html
147 Hostage UK: https://hostageus.org/about/our-people/.
148 New America Foundation, “To Pay Ransom Or Not To Pay Ransom”: https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/policy-papers/pay-ransom-or-not/.
EPILOGUE
153 “Kidnapped: The Ethics of Ransom Payment,” by Jeffrey W. Howard in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, May, 2017 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/japp.12272. See also “Does the U.S. No Concessions Policy Deter Kidnappings of Americans,” by Brian Michael Jenkins, RAND, 2017 https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE277.html.
158 “Qatar paid hundreds of millions of dollars”: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-27/qatar-denies-trying-to-pay-ransom-money-to-free-hostages-in-iraq
161 Former FBI agent, author and security analyst Ali Soufan suggested the National Security framework.
162 For a more detailed discussion of media blackouts see my 2015 book, The New Censorship.
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