September 13, 2012

  • Terry Waite

    The book I read to research this post was Taken On Trust by Terry Waite which is an excellent book which I bought from a carboot sale. Terry was the envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury and had to negotiate the release of any hostages in Lebanon prior to being kidnapped himself. He negotiated the release of many hostages and because the job was so dangerous no one really took over the job. He was in solitary confinement for more than 4 years and begged his captors to get him some books to read. He was tortured and often he was kept in cramped conditions a particular problem because he was 6ft 7ins in height. He was often blindfolded as well. Eventually they did give him a radio but forbade him to listen to the news which he rebelled against. The news was what he most wanted to hear. Eventually he was put in adjacent cells to various other hostages but he had to tap on the radiator and use a code to communicate which was particularly problematic as he couldn't write anything down. Also if he had been caught he'd have been shipped off somewhere else. When he was negotiating the release of hostages all he could offer was to put pressure on Britain and America for the release of islamic POW's in Kuwait and they'd pay what they called blood money to people who had lost sons and daughters in the conflicts. This was quite legal. He would ask to see the hostages which they would usually refuse but they would take a newspaper which he dated and photograph them holding it to prove they were alive. When he was a captive he would plead with them to let him go and they would agree he was a good man but unfortunately he has been caught up in their war.

oldscratbag

Categories