Former hostage shares lessons with terrorism conference attendees

3/13/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- “They came to the door dressed as plumbers, claiming they needed to fix a leak,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. James Dozier.

But, that was only the beginning of the general’s six-week ordeal as a hostage. He described his ordeal to group of conference attendees here March 10.

“I didn’t know at the time that I or any member of NATO was being targeted,” the general said. “Later I learned they had been observing me and other NATO officials for some time.”

Italian police officials became aware of some of those surveillance efforts by interviewing his wife after his capture.

“Some of them had come into my apartment building in groups of three posing as meter readers,” he said. “When the Italian police heard this, they knew something was wrong because the meter reader worked alone and was authorized to read all the meters in that building.”

As he described each step of his journey, he passed on the lessons he learned to help those in attendance -- hoping they will better understand how terrorists operate.

“After hitting me from behind, they then placed me in restraints and in a box marked to look like it contained a small refrigerator,” he said. “I was taken downstairs, into a van and then later transferred into another car.”

Over the next six weeks, he worked to gain the confidence of his captors. He hoped they would see him as a reliable hostage and relax their security around him. He credits this with possibly saving his life when the Italian authorities rescued him.

“I did the same things at the same time every day. I asked for and was given a deck of cards, which helped them to see me as more human rather than just a hostage,” he said.

“I also continually asked about my wife,” he said. “Later, they started bringing me news clippings about her and international versions of American news magazines.

“While using the cards, I kept scores by scratching my fingernail on a piece of cardboard. They later brought me some paper and a pencil, which I used to keep a diary and track the time,” the general said. “By the time I was rescued, my count of the days I had been held was only off by two.”

“Of the five people they arrested for my kidnapping, one was later linked to 17 murders, while another one was using his expense account to steal money from the group,” he said. “Some of them were very hard core, while others were just ordinary criminals.”

According to the general, the lessons he learned about the Red Brigades still apply to terrorist groups today.

“They were broken down into regional organizations or columns, a strategic control section and an executive committee, which was the controlling body,” he said. “The columns carried out the decisions passed down from the executive committee, which isn’t very different from the way terrorist groups are organized today.”

His rescuers even used many of the same kinds of tactics used today, including interrogating suspected members, surveillance, creating a distraction, and using speed and surprise when executing the rescue.

General Dozier shared his experiences with 650 people attending the Dynamics of International Terrorism course here. Conference attendees included local, regional and federal law enforcement officials as well as military members from all branches including the U.S. Coast Guard.

General Dozier, then the highest ranking Army officer assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was captured Dec. 17, 1981 by members of the Red Brigades, a Marxist-Leninist group attempting to cause an Italian civil war forcing the nation to leave the NATO alliance.

The Dynamics of International Terrorism course is offered by the Air Force Special Operations School, which is part of the Joint Information Operations University, located at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The Joint Special Operations University was established in September 2000 as an institution of higher learning focused on joint special operations education.

Hopefully our generals are a little more security conscious these days. It's unlikely that any caught by Moslems will be giving lectures in 20 years. Real Generals surround themselves with their soldiers, live at the center of their army, and sleep with a loaded 45 under the pillow.

No body even THOUGHT of kidnapping Patton, thats for sure.

I heard somewhere that Reagan decided to try the Iranian arms deal after he saw a video tape of that CIA man being tortured. Buckley, I think was the man's name. Later murdered.

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