Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 7, 1990 TAG: 9005070068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Long
"Thank God they didn't kill me," he said. "I was one of their pet whackers."
He said his Hezbollah guards hit him more than 200 times in the head, body and feet after his first attempt to gain freedom and that he suffered minor fractures in his feet.
"They tried to break my feet," he said. "They hit my feet many times with iron rods and my feet had been slightly broken."
Two days later, he tried to escape again and was hit in the back with such force that his kidneys bled, he said.
"This kind of treatment went on and on and on for a long time," he said. "Then sometime about a year later, one pig of a man who constantly haggled me broke my ribs, kicked my ribs in on the right side. I'd managed somehow to push them back lying on my back."
Despite the pain and "hell" he went through, he said, "I did everything in my power not to cry out and not let them think they were ever going to get a single advantage on me. And I didn't."
Reed said he was chained either to a wall or radiator and that the first time he sat up on his own was when he was released after 44 months in captivity. He said he and other hostages slept on thin foam rubber mattresses.
Reed said he lay on his back for the more than 3 1/2 years except when he was exercising, eating or making trips to the toilet.
"We were blindfolded 24 hours a day. We slept with our blindfolds on because if we had any collateral with our keepers, we didn't want to lose it by letting them see our eyes.
"We were kept in very familiar places to you, apartment houses for the most part, in bedrooms. Our bedroom doors were locked, and when they [the guards] were out, we raised our blindfolds. We were always on guard when they did come in."
Sen. Bob Dole, the Republican minority leader from Kansas who spoke at the news conference, asked for the help of every foreign leader, "everyone who can make a difference" in bringing about the release of the remaining six American hostages and 10 Westerners. "They know who they are," he said.
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., who also appeared at the news conference, urged Israel to release the Moslem prisoners it holds.
"It is in their interest to do and if they're part of the world nations seeking legality and decency they should now act to bring it about in Lebanon," Moynihan said.
Syrian and Iranian officials said Sunday the release of any more American hostages likely hinges on Israel's willingness to free hundreds of Moslem prisoners, including Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid, a Shiite cleric kidnapped from his home in 1989.
Last Thursday, President Bush again appealed for the release of "all hostages," but sidestepped commenting on whether that should include 400 Shiites held by Israel.
Joining Reed at the news conference was Robert Polhill, a fellow American educator who was freed April 22. Polhill said he was shocked when he heard of the brutal treatment of Reed. "I can't say I was maltreated," Polhill said.
For the first time, Reed gave graphic details of his days in captivity. The 57-year-old educator said, "Our routine was breakfast, a cigarette, up on your feet. . . . After we came back from the toilet, we were allowed to exercise."
When he was first kidnapped, Reed said, he would just lie around not doing anything but worrying.
"I was a layabout trying to wonder about this and wonder about my school and wonder about my family and worry about my friends. I said if I don't worry about [myself], I'm in trouble. There ain't going to be any Frank Reed. I got up and started doing my pushups."
He began with just six and worked his way up to a record 103. "It was part of my will."
With some matches he had, he drew a picture of his 9-year-old son, Tarek, on the back of the door of his cell so that when his guards opened the door they couldn't see it. On the ceiling, he drew a picture of his Syrian-born wife, Fahima, known as Fifi. He was admonished for this.
"This is one of the ways I had to kind of remind me to keep myself going. But I knew in the final analysis if I didn't keep my life going there certainly wasn't going to be any Fifi or any Tarek."
He said American hostage Terry Anderson looked wonderful, physically. He last saw Anderson more than a year ago. Anderson, 42, chief Middle East correspondent of The Associated Press, was abducted March 16, 1985.
Reed said fellow captives John McCarthy and Brian Keenan were kept together and were in good physical condition.
"They've been fortunate. I spent probably 2 1/2 years in solitary confinement while they were fortunate to have the two of them together at all times," Reed said. He said McCarthy and Keenan developed "one of the unique relationships in the history of human relationships."
Reed talked with reporters after he joined other former hostages and their families for a brunch and reunion at a hotel in this Washington suburb. His two daughters by a previous marriage, Marilyn Langston and Jacqueline Reed, both of Malden, Mass., were among those present.
Reed had said he hoped the gathering would focus international attention on the plight of the remaining hostages held by Islamic militants in Lebanon.
Reed revealed details about McCarthy and Keenan.
"Both of them physically, in terms of muscle development, are probably in the best shape they've ever been in in their lives, unlike myself, who kind of in one silent protest, I ended up just exercising by walking," Reed said.
He said McCarthy and Keenan have been doing an excessive number of pushups, situps and other exercise. "In fact, I looked at John the other day and he looked beautiful. I wished I looked like he does," Reed said.
by CNB