In Name of the Disappeared

With an eye on the fate of Alan Johnston, the BBCcorrespondent who disappeared in Gaza on March 12, 2007, CNNrecently interviewed Olaf Wiig. In August 2006, the Fox News journalist had been kidnapped at gunpoint by an obscure Islamist group that demanded the release of all Muslimprisoners in the United States. Wiig related that he had not been mistreated and that hisbiggest torture was facing the uncertainty, the not knowingwhere he was, why he was there, and for how long he had tostay there before being released, if he was to be releasedat all. Wiig was eventually set free after two weeks incaptivity. Uncertainty was also the word that constantly popped up ina series of interviews I did with Lebanese mothers whosesons and husbands had disappeared during or after the CivilWar. All of them said it was the uncertainty over the fateof their loved ones that tormented them the most.