Terry Anderson: The World is Fresh and Bright and Beautiful

Q. Did you ever know for sure who your kidnappers were?

A. We had our guesses. They would always deny being connected with the Hizballah ((Party of God)), but I don't think it's surprising that kidnappers should lie. We believed Hizballah was the umbrella organization, although it's not a unitary group but an assemblage of factions or family-connected groups. All had different names.

It was very strange. There were Brian Keenan, John McCarthy, Frank Reed, Tom Sutherland and I, all in the Bekaa Valley in one underground secret prison, all of us being held under different names. We would laugh about it, wondering which hat they were wearing when they came in to talk to us. Was he going to wear the Islamic Jihad hat and talk to Tom ((Sutherland)) and me? Or was he going to wear the Islamic Dawn hat and talk to Frank Reed?

Q. Did you ever meet the person who seemed to be in charge of all the hostages?

A. Yes. There was a gentleman called the Haj who was the chief of our particular faction, and I guess one of the senior members of Hizballah. He was actually a very pleasant man.

He was a rather stocky man. I never saw his face, of course, was not allowed to, but my biggest impression is of his hands. He has big, thick hands, and he's paunchy. He would come in, and he'd take my hand, and he'd say, "Essalamu alaykum ((Peace be with you))." I'd say, "Wa alaykum essalam, Haj." He'd say, "Keef halak ((How are you))?"

He was unquestionably in control. I mean, they jumped when he came. He almost always spoke softly, and he almost always seemed reasonable. He was not vicious to us, as some of the guards were, particularly when he wasn't there.

Q. If he came into the room now, what would you say to him?

A. Ooh, that's much, much too difficult. I have no reason to like the man. He was responsible for having me kidnapped and for chaining me to a wall. I don't ( want to see him ever again, and I have no idea what I would say to him.

Q. You were with Terry Waite for a long time. What was he like as a fellow prisoner?

A. Terry Waite is a very positive man, a very strong personality. There were disagreements in the room. I have nothing bad to say about Mr. Waite. I think he's a very, very courageous man, and I admire what he tried to do. About half the year we were together, he had extreme asthma, to the point where I thought he was going to die on us. He would hyperventilate himself to unconsciousness. It's very difficult to live in a small room with a man who has got asthma, because you don't get any sleep. He's gasping all night long and having crises and attacks.

Q. What were the disagreements about?

A. You can't lock five men in a room for 24 hours a day without fighting about something. Sometimes it would be something as small as "Stay off my cot, or my mattress," or "I don't like the way you play bridge," or something like that.

Q. You were moved to different locations about 20 times. How did they move you?

A. Usually in the trunk of a car or quite often in a secret compartment built under the bed of the truck and bolted in. They would come in, and they'd take this wide plastic tape, shipping tape, and they'd tape you up. Then they would wrap a towel around your head this way and over your eyes. You were just like a mummy.

Q. How could you breathe?