The Next American Hostages The U.S. Won’t Pay Ransom But it will ‘Assist’ Those Who Do.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-american-hostages-1435186105
President Obama on Wednesday announced a new U.S. government policy for dealing with Americans who are kidnapped abroad, and as always he stressed compassion for the hostages and their families. The danger of Mr. Obama’s good intentions is that he is giving terrorists even more incentive to snatch more Americans.
Mr. Obama made the announcement after a government-wide review of U.S. hostage policy, which has drawn criticism for inconsistency and lack of coordination. “The families of hostages have told us—and they’ve told me directly—about their frequent frustrations in dealing with their own government: How different departments and agencies aren’t always coordinated,” Mr. Obama said in remarks at the White House.
This will surprise no one who has dealt with any part of the federal bureaucracy, but it is infuriating and heart-breaking when a loved one’s life is on the line.
And on that score much of what the President announced is an improvement—such as a new Hostage Response Group in the White House to coordinate policy throughout the government. Mr. Obama will name a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, “who will be focused solely on leading our diplomatic efforts with other countries to bring our people home.”
The President also announced that a new “fusion cell” within the government “will include a person dedicated to coordinating the support families get from the government.” As always in Washington, this person’s clout will depend on how much he is heeded by senior White House aides, but at least hostage families will have a single point of contact. This will help families who say they hear one thing from the FBI, another from the State Department, a third from the White House, and perhaps a fourth from someone who knows someone in government.
More troubling is the signal Mr. Obama is sending about how the U.S. will handle hostage communications with kidnappers going forward. “I am reaffirming that the United States government will not make concessions, such as paying ransom, to terrorist groups holding American hostages,” Mr. Obama said.
But he went on to say that “we are clarifying that our policy does not prevent communications with hostage-takers—by our government, the families of hostages, or third parties who help these families. And, when appropriate, our government may assist these families and private efforts in those communications.”
So while the U.S. government will pay no ransom, it will facilitate the efforts of others to pay ransom. And while the FBI or State Department might assist in connecting kidnappers with American ransom-payers, no one should think they will do any negotiating on behalf of the U.S. government. Don’t be surprised if terrorists fail to appreciate this fine distinction. If their goal is kidnapping for money, they won’t care who does the paying. And if the FBI is involved, they’ll assume the effort has the U.S. imprimatur.
The entire point of the longstanding U.S. policy not to negotiate was to make Americans less inviting targets for hostage-taking, in contrast to the French or Italians who are well known for paying. The chief take-away from this new policy will be that kidnapping Americans is now more likely to lead to a payday than a raid by U.S. Special Forces.
Private ransom payments may not even facilitate a hostage’s release. That was the case with Warren Weinstein, whose family paid $250,000 in 2012 to al Qaeda in Pakistan. The Journal reported in April that the FBI had facilitated that ransom payment despite the previous U.S. policy. Weinstein died in a U.S. drone strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan earlier this year.
Perhaps the worst message of Mr. Obama’s new policy is that it implies a resignation that there isn’t all that much the U.S. government can, or is willing, to do to rescue Americans—so the families will have to do what they can to bring hostages back, and someone may have to pay up.
Mr. Obama reported that more than 80 Americans have been taken hostage since 9/11, but he cited by name only two who had been rescued. This is what happens when our enemies don’t fear American retribution. They won’t be any more fearful with this new hostage policy.
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