Games Captors Play

Amid power struggles and delays, a hostage is finally released

How many times has one of the shadowy groups that hold Western hostages in Lebanon dangled a wisp of hope for the release of a captive, only to snatch it away? This time hope was not in vain. On Sunday, kidnapers set free American hostage Robert Polhill, 55, one of three American teachers who had been seized more than three years ago from the campus of Beirut University College. Polhill, a New Yorker, was released to Syrian army officers near a seaside hotel in Beirut and then driven to Damascus, where he was handed over to U.S. Ambassador Edward Djerejian.

The...

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