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American Morning

If an American Has Been Kidnapped in Afghanistan, What Would It Take to Get Him out?

Aired January 16, 2002 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now if (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has indeed been kidnapped in Afghanistan, what would it take to get him out? And, is that the job of the United States? Joining us now from Washington, Kelly McCann, CNN Security Analyst and President of Crucible Security. Thanks again being with us again, Mr. McCann.

J.KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Anderson.

COOPER: Does this -- does this seem like a plausible story to you?

MCCANN: It's an odd story; that's for sure. But there has been an increase in adventure tourism and war tourism; we call it, globally. Our company's international in some of the worst places you can imagine. And we are always amazed at some of the people that we stumble over in those places and question why they're there at all.

He must have had means to be able to get airlift capability out of Istanbul to actually fly into Kabul. So there's obviously some means behind him in order to move material, equipment, et cetera. But if you're not with an NGO -- a non-governmental organization -- and certainly acting alone, the U.S. government has absolutely no responsibility to mount an effort to get this guy rescued. So it's an odd situation.

COOPER: Yeah, I don't mean to sound harsh, but there are people who would say, you know, you buy your ticket and you take your chances.

MCCANN: That's exactly right. I mean, the bottom line is that, for instance, why would we commit U.S. forces, millions of dollars of aircraft? Why would we potentially lose sources of sensitive information to use intelligence the way you need to when you mount a hostage recovery exercise or hostage recovery operation for someone who is really kind of unconfirmed why he's there at all, when there are legitimate non-governmental organizations there? So it's -- it's definitely a strange case.

COOPER: If you can give me a sense, globally, how many Americans are kidnapped at any one time around the United -- around the worlds, and how are the kidnappings usually resolved?

MCCANN: Well, typically, we know that there's normally anywhere between 30 and 50 or so Americans who go missing during the year. Some of them are criminal abductions similar to this case, where criminals abduct you and it's for ransom. Clear, there's no political ramifications at all. Other ones are held by guerrilla groups like Abu Sayyef (ph) down in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) area, et cetera.

So there are people out there, and there are also companies that actually go in and will negotiate the successful release of these people, and also kidnap and ransom insurance. C.H.U.B. (ph), one of the largest insurance companies involved in it actually gives you a package where they'll pay the ransom and they will also negotiate the price down. So those are valuable services -- services to people who travel at risk.

COOPER: So this isn't like you see in the movie "Proof of Life," or you might read about in, you know, sort of a -- or see in "Rambo" movies? There's generally not big commando raids to go in and rescue these hostages?

MCCANN: Not at all. In fact, "Proof of Life" was based on factual circumstances, but not certainly the exercise that went and got these people. Remember that you are an outlaw -- if American citizens, for instance, my companies say, was to be contracted to carry weapons in a foreign country and had no authorization by the U.S. government or by the host nation, you are a felon. And so you really start to cross the line into people who are more mercenary than, you know, patriotic or anything else. There's an awful lot of international rules when you start involving guns and force. So this is a strange case, and I'd be very, very surprised if any kind of operations mounted at all.

COOPER: All right. Kelly McCann, CNN Security Analyst, thanks very much for joining us this morning -- also, President of Crucible Security.

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