Margaret Hassan was seized several days ago by Iraq-based terrorists. She is the Iraq director of Care International, an aid organization. According to "The Beeb", she "has dual Iraqi and British citizenship and has lived in Iraq for 30 years.":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3946673.stm
Ms. Hassan appeared on a video broadcast by al-Jazeera, urging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save her life by withdrawing British troops from Iraq. The depressingly familiar pattern in these situations is that the terrorists threaten to cut off the hostage's head if their demands are not met.
I was wondering what I would say on the videotape if I were held in a similar manner. This is a bit more than idle speculation - my group has a project in the United Arab Emirates, and I have volunteered to travel there. A lot of things would have to go wrong at once for me to get snatched, but it's more dangerous than staying home under my bed.
Angelo de la Cruz pleaded for his life, and the Philippine government pulled their troops. I don't think George Bush or John Kerry or Tony Blair would pull thousands of troops from Iraq just to save the life of some budding meteorologist. So what I say doesn't really change what's going to happen to me. A few other hostages have pleaded for their lives, but Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi was defiant: "I'll show you how an Italian dies!"
So here's the situation: The terrorists are going to cut off your head. But first, they want a videotaped statement. You have no guarantee that they'll actually show it, but maybe they don't understand English well enough to censor anything they don't like. Here are some things I thought of saying (some are more sanctified than others):
1. "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."
2. "Vote for Bush!"
3. "My family, I love you."
4. "Bomb Fallujah!"
5. Sing "A Mighty Fortress is Our God".
6. "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a horse's rump!" (but I wouldn't say 'rump')
7. "Vote for Kerry!"
8. "How do I know you guys are really going to show this thing?"
Bear in mind that your choice of words while sitting comfortably there at your computer might not be the same words you would actually say after getting captured, beaten up, frightened, tortured, and threatened by some very nasty people. The question is what you would intend and aspire to do, if you had the courage and strength at the crucial moment to do it.
What would you say?
There are some subjects I don't care to think about. I'd probably go with "I want my mommy."
It's a good question, and one that I have wondered about for myself as well. I find Albert Camus' injunction
to be a useful transform for dealing with our own personal doomsday. I think the harder problem is how to make sure that the way that you have lived our life gives your life meaning, not the way that you negotiate your death.