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American Morning
Former Hostage Journalist Charles Glass Discusses Pearl Killing
Aired February 22, 2002 - 08:23 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Journalist Charles Glass knows personally the terror and uncertainty of being held captive. In 1987, while working for ABC News, Glass was kidnapped in Beirut. He was held for 62 days before he escaped, and he joins us on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning, from Paris.
Charles, nice to have you with us.
What is your opinion of this apparent change in U.S. policy toward these kidnappings and the policy now possibly of more active intervention in these situations.
CHARLES GLASS, JOURNALIST, FORMER BEIRUT HOSTAGE: I don't think the change is as great as people seem to believe it is. During the hostage period in Lebanon, which was from the early 1980s until 1990, the United States did consider commando operations. Secretary of Defense Weinberger actually put commandos into Beirut.
Bob Darrow (ph) of the CIA has written a book about it. But they never had good enough intelligence to arrange a rescue in which a hostage could safely be rescued. I don't think, if the Bush administration is considering something like this in the future, it has been considered in the past. It's just that the intelligence wasn't there.
In Lebanon, at the time, there was no government, so there was a good reason as opposed that the intervention would have to be by American forces to get American hostages. In the case of Pakistan, the United States is working closely with the Pakistani authorities where there is a government in power, where there is -- where there is an active police force. In theory, any rescue would have had to be done by them.
CAFFERTY: The Pakistanis have been an ally of the United States ever since the war against terrorism in Afghanistan was undertaken, and yet there have been incidences along the way when the extent of Pakistani cooperation certainly has been opened to question. There were reports of flights out of Afghanistan of Pakistani nationals across the border at the time of the early phases of those -- the military action in Afghanistan.
And now the particularly violent ending to the -- to the Daniel Pearl story. What effect is this particular instance likely to have on relationships with Musharraf's government? To what degree is that government perhaps going to be held accountable while maybe not publicly, privately for what happened here?
GLASS: Well certainly Musharraf's government was in charge at the time. Whether or not they were able to penetrate this group sufficiently to arrange a proper rescue or even to pressure them to release him has to be -- has to be thoroughly investigated. Also, the United States' own actions have to be thoroughly investigated. What went wrong? Why was Pearl kidnapped in the first place? Why were these e-mails allowed to get out without anyone being able to trace them back to their source?
Why was a member or leader of the kidnapped group actually arrested by the Pakistanis and why wasn't he able to provide better information on the exact location of Pearl. All these things are going to have to be looked into because I have a terrible feeling this won't be the last kidnapping of an American abroad by Muslim groups who are disenchanted with American foreign policy.
One of the -- one of the things that I do worry about in this regard is the treatment of Muslim prisoners or Muslim detainees by American forces, which should be exemplary. I remember when I was a hostage, the mistreatment of me was often justified by my kidnappers in terms of the way the Israelis treated the people that they were holding in South Lebanon in the Khiam prison.
CAFFERTY: Right.
GLASS: Where people were tortured and mistreated on a daily basis. And the excuse that they used for mistreating me was we're treating you better than the Israelis are treating our people who are held in South Lebanon.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's an interesting point. Violence seems to be getting more violent.
Mr. Glass, I appreciate you joining us this morning from Paris. Charles Glass, a former hostage in the city of Beirut, Lebanon, talking about the horrible end to the Daniel Pearl situation. Thanks for being with us this morning -- appreciate it.
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