Prof. Loftis on Whether to Pay Terrorists for Hostage Release
In a ‘POV’ opiniopn essay published in BU Today (September 24, 2014), former US Ambassador Robert Loftis, now a professor of the practice of diplmacy at the BU Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, tackles the harrowing question of whether countries should pay terrorist organizations for the release of hostages.
Published in the wake of the brutal murders of two American journalists and a British aid worker by the terrorist group ISIS, Amb. Loftis begins by acknowledging that “these situations are among the most wrenching that any policy maker can face: every decision will be second-guessed and even the ‘right’ decision may well end with the death of the prisoner.”
Amb. Loftis argues that we should refuse to reward kidnappers, but also explains that there are no easy answers to the question:
“While it might be tempting to treat each terrorist kidnapping the same, each must be treated on its own merits, depending on the nature of the group, the possible location of the captives, the group’s aims vis-à-vis the United States and its allies, and the existence of possible intermediaries. All of these factors, and more, should enter into the decisions on the right tactic. The only constant, however, should be the continued refusal to pay a monetary or political price for release.”
Read the full Op-Ed: “To pay or not pay terrorist hostage takers: Why we should refuse to reward kidnappers.”