Feeling Good About the Released Hostages

By Andrew I. Killgore and Richard H. Curtiss

The publisher and editor of this magazine are feeling especially good about the freeing of Iraq's foreign hostages. So, we're told, are King Hussein of Jordan, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and a lot of other persons of many nationalities who earnestly advised President Saddam Hussain, or his trusted advisers, to come to their senses on the matter.

They, no doubt, have their stories to tell. But this is ours:

It started with a telephone call from one of those trusted advisers, whom we won't name, about something in the magazine. Ascertaining that, although the magazine is critical of his government, we were being civil with him, the adviser noted an opportunity to meet that wouldn't take us far from home and suggested we bring with us anyone who might have something useful to say.

We both have declined invitations to join groups going to Iraq. With thousands of lives at stake, we've felt that too many unofficial emissaries can thoroughly confuse those on both ends who will, ultimately, make the war or peace decisions. This was an invitation from an old friend, however, to an off-the-record talk. For it we were joined by another retired diplomat with lengthy experience in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Nov. 23 conversation was long and, sometimes, heated. The publisher suggested that the over-the-border aggression of one Arab country against another, followed by the seizing of innocent hostages, were the two most shattering blows to the Arab image in his lifetime. The editor suggested that the seizure of hostages, instead of protecting Iraqis, had made war virtually inevitable.

Had the American fugitive one of your soldiers shot in the arm in Kuwait been killed instead, the war probably would have been over by now, we said.

We told him about Pearl Harbor, an event of which he was vaguely aware. One of us suggested that, had the Japanese not shed American blood there, the US might have stood aside for additional crucial months or years while Japan's ally, Nazi Germany, bloodied and perhaps eventually defeated England and the Soviet Union.

"But we aren't hurting the foreigners," he protested. "We're really treating them as our guests."

"Suppose a Mossad agent or a Kurdish nationalist in Kuwait locates some foreigners in hiding, reports their presence anonymously to the Iraqi authorities, and then stations himself nearby with a gun to ensure that shooting begins when the soldiers arrive?" we asked. "When the dust settles, some foreigners will be dead. Aircraft might attack your forces in Kuwait, or perhaps Baghdad, before the end of the same day."

"What do you propose we do?" he asked, taking out a pen and a notebook for the first time.

"Send your soldiers with all the food they can carry to the US Embassy in Kuwait. Then announce that foreigners who assemble there will be flown out as rapidly as they arrive. There are some there already, so you can send them out immediately. As more and more come home, the VOA and BBC will carry the news and they'll keep coming. When all of the hostages everywhere are gone, at least the danger of war by accident will have receded.

"But we've announced all of the hostages will be released between Christmas and Ramadan," the Iraqi official protested.

"If you don't move immediately, by Christmas the war could well be over," our friend declared vehemently. "George Bush would soar in the polls, and the resulting century of Middle East instability will only be a problem for his successors, and all of you who live there.

The conversation moved on, but before it ended our interlocutor had us go back over some initial points and added our answers to his notes.

Back home, we speculated on the meaning of the notebook. Would he discuss these points with Saddam Hussain, who clearly wouldn't want to hear them?

Only a few days later, Iraqi soldiers appeared at the American Embassy in Kuwait with fruit and vegetables. We shook hands all round. Later the same day, when someone called to ask for advice on how to send a delegation to Iraq to bring back hostages, the editor suggested he forget it.

"They'll all be home for Christmas, " the editor said optimistically. We repeated the prediction to so many callers that, we noticed, people were eyeing us strangely.

At 7 am on the morning of Dec. 6, the editor's phone rang. "I didn't take your prediction very seriously until right now, " an American friend told him jubilantly.

"What are you talking about?" the editor asked sleepily.

"The hostages!" the friend replied. "I just heard on the radio they're all coming out. Congratulations!"

Although we're deeply concerned at the massive buildup of American forces in the Gulf, without their presence we know our Iraqi interlocutor would not have listened so carefully to what we said. Nor, we suspect, would the hostages be free. Perhaps, instead of leading to war, the Desert Shield buildup will lead to a last-moment Iraqi withdrawal from devastated Kuwait, and free the Kuwaitis too. That is our prayer.

Meanwhile, we're delighted the hostages and their families were together for the holidays. We're also pleased for all the world leaders who said the right things to Saddam Hussain and his minions and who must be feeling very good about it. We know just how they feel.