European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 9, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 3 the Saga of Terry Anderson mental gymnastics kept sex hostage Alert by Mark Fritz the associated press Wiesbaden Germany a Terry Anderson desperately feared the blindfolds chains and dark cells of Captivity would kill the one thing he had left his mind. Tedium and isolation compelled the former hostage to bully and Badger both cellmate and captors into turning their Bleak surroundings into an eerie Oasis of imagination. A i was desperate to keep my brain alive a Anderson chief Middle East correspondent for the associated press said in an interview conducted when he made a Telephone Call to the a staff in Wiesbaden. A i was deadly scared that i would lapse into some kind of mental  Anderson 44, was freed wednesday after 2,455 Days in Captivity the last of 13 . Hostages to go free in Lebanon. He is resting and undergoing medical tests at the . Military Hospital in Wiesbaden. Military authorities have not allowed journalists to interview freed hostages in person at the Hospital. Anderson was opinionated eloquent Blunt and confident in the 40-minute interview Friday. The Stocky former Marine said he regrets that he initially saw fellow hostages such As american Thomas Sutherland and irishman Brian Keenan As potential learning tools instead of human beings. A i will be Blunt a he said. A i am a very domineering Man at times. I can be arrogant and i can be i guess. I can be very forceful. A Brian said to me once that he Felt like i was just kind of sucking everything out of his  he said he got Sutherland to teach him French until he became fluent. He badgered his captors for books until they brought them by the Box Load. He bullied Sutherland to learn the sign language Anderson half invented. He argued Long and passionately with his cellmate about selected topics then baffled them by abruptly pursuing the opposite View an exercise to keep his mind Limber and fit. A Tom  understand. He did no to know what the hell i was doing. He was trying to have a conversation and i was doing mental  last year Anderson taught a tedious language of taps against the Wall to a hostage chained in the next cell anglican Church envoy Terry Waite who was captured while trying to free the others. Then when Waite could understand the makeshift there ate assaults on your dignity As a human being. That you just can t accept. A Man throws you food on the ground throws a Sandwich on the floor. I mean i m not a dog. I m not going to eat off the floor a Terry Anderson language Anderson unloaded a in a stunning one hour burst a the news that Waite had missed during four years of solitary confinement communism fell in Eastern Europe. Germany was re unifying. Free elections were being held in the soviet Union. Apartheid was ending in South Africa. War had broken out in the persian Gulf. A fall at once a Boom Boom Boom a All through the Wall a Anderson said. A the told me later it All kind of numbed his  Anderson described the agony of a life in chains and blindfolds food Flung on the floor a prison for the innocent a sentence of unknown length empty Days evolving into years. It was a life of rigid rules enforced by brutal guards a life in a Small cell devoid of Daylight. He was allowed to go to the bathroom Only once a Day. A once i beat and hammered on the door. A couple of hours before someone would actually come a Anderson said. �?o1 Tell you what that a not Only humiliating its Damn painful. A probably the biggest impression All the hostages will take away that will not much be talked about is the Relief at being Able to go to the bathroom when you want  Anderson said that he constantly demanded better treatment and that the captors slowly gradually improved the hostages living conditions. A there Are assaults on your dignity As a human being. That you just can to accept a he said. A a Man throws you food on the ground throws a Sandwich on the floor. I mean in a not a dog. In a not going to eat off the floor a he said angrily. A these Are the kinds of arguments we  his captors finally a at least recognized that i was going to demand to be treated with at least a minimum amount of dignity and  Anderson and other Western hostages were moved 15 to 20 times during Captivity. Sometimes they were in solitary confinement and sometimes they were together sometimes in Small cells and sometimes in a fortified apartment. Some guards were relatively decent and some were a Vety vicious a kicking slapping or shoving hostages if they violated the strict rules of behaviour. A when somebody came through the door you put your Blindfold on a Anderson said. A you never Ever allowed your Blindfold to slip or to not be put into place immediately upon the first sound from the  that Rule continued a right up to the Day i  the hostages were not allowed to see their guards but knew their personalities. Anderson said the hostages gave them nicknames a pretty rough nicknames for the bad ones. British journalist John Mccarthy whom Anderson called a devastatingly accurate mimic skewered the worst guards with dead on impressions. The books that Anderson steadfastly demanded showed up about 2vi years ago a period when a treatment markedly  a we got boxes of books. Bad books cheap books thrillers Barbara Cartland political science textbooks. We must have got Over a thousand of them Over a period of a year a Anderson said. A you can imagine the difference it makes in your life when you re locked in a room 24 hours a  this was nirvana for Anderson who said he routinely read 300 to 400 books each year before he was captured. But the books and occasional radios also became powerful tools of punishment for the shiite muslims holding the hostages. A when we got in an argument with the guard they would take the radio the books and we would be left in the Bare room again a he said. Anderson and other hostages had a radio during the first year of Captivity. It was taken away then another one arrived three years later. A after a while they took it away again a he said. A we finally got the radio Back after much argument much discussion Many Many requests. I would ask every single Day. They would Tell me  in the last year the books stopped coming but the magazines began regular deliveries of time Newsweek the economist . News and world report and the occasional Fortune. Anderson was kept at various times with several hostages including an american presbyterian minister the Rev. Benjamin Weir american University of Beirut Hospital administrator David Jacobsen american Frank Reed roman Catholic priest Lawrence Jenco and William Buckley the former Cia station chief in Beirut. Anderson believes Buckley died in the room they shared. A David was there too a Anderson said. A we interpreted what happened by sound. He was at the time extremely ill. A i could hear him talking to the guards occasionally a he said. A the was delirious and i could hear him moaning and saying  Anderson spent most of his time with Sutherland sometimes chained together. During one period Anderson said he suddenly re sets div Dot to Terry Anderson foreground und or. Col Earl w. Ferguson commander of the air Force Hospital at Wiesbaden Germany take an Early morning jog around the Hospital grounds sunday. Called the rudiments of sign language he Learned in High school. He approximated what he could not remember to re create a full alphabet and Felt compelled to teach Sutherland. A we did no to need it. But for some reason i got fixated on it. Tom did no to want to bother but i sort of bullied him into  then the two were put in solitary confinement. Anderson said he was Able to see hostage Mccarthy and Keenan and taught them the sign language. For months the four looked at each other from their individual cells and silently continued their Long conversations. A i still have no idea to this Day what made my mind Light on that idea or what motivation i had. When Tom and i were in the same cell to almost literally Force him into learning this dumb language that i made up a he said. A but by god it sure saved our Butts. We talked for hours and hours and hours across the Way. We kept in Contact with each other while we were in solitary. And from time to time we All needed it. And that a a  Anderson said the bleakness of Captivity was frequently broken by bursts of laughter. He said Sutherland Keenan and Mccarthy were genuine wits with vast stores of jokes. Among the books the prisoners had were some volumes from a 1973 encyclopedia americana. While paging through the a a us volume Anderson said he came across Pope Urban i a Saint of whom there is a absolutely nothing  a that sent John and i off into absolute hysterics a he said. For weeks they created a comic history for the phantom Saint with Mccarthy supplying the voice. While Anderson lost a Large part of his life in Captivity he found his Muse. When Mccarthy was freed earlier this year Anderson Felt the hostage ordeal was ending and did something he had never done wrote poetry. A i wrote 32 poems various subjects including prison journalism my Faith my family lots of  he said he sent some out with Sutherland and Waite to give to family members and brought the rest out when he was freed. A that stunned me at the beginning when i began doing poetry a he said. A it was kind of a catharsis. The end was coming close All of a sudden it just came pouring