Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990                   TAG: 9005030396
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WIESBADEN, WEST GERMANY                                LENGTH: Medium

FREED HOSTAGE 'VERY ANGRY'

"For God's sake, it's nearly the sixth year for these men," Reed said. "I'm absolutely embarrassed I'm out before they are."

Reed said that he had spent many of his 43 months of captivity in the company of other American and British hostages, including Americans Terry Anderson and Thomas Sutherland, both of whom were seized in 1985.

Reed, kidnapped in September 1986, was released Monday. His remarks indicate that victims from different countries, allegedly kidnapped by different groups, were held together in Lebanon.

He said that he had spent time with Americans Sutherland and Anderson, Briton John McCarthy and Irishman Brian Keenan. At times, Reed said, he was separated from some of the other hostages, leading him to believe they were being freed. He was disappointed to learn otherwise Monday.

"I am very, very angry that Anderson, Tom and Terry are not free," he said. "I am very, very angry that John and Brian are not free. Those are the only people I knew."

It appeared from his comments that Reed might have seen both Terry Anderson and Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's mediator who was taken hostage in Lebanon.

He said that he had spent "a good part of two years" with Sutherland and Anderson, but had not seen them in some time. "I saw Tom a year ago last February."

"I spent almost three years either with John and Brian or having them somewhere in the house with me," he said.

Reed said that when he first arrived at Wiesbaden for medical tests and debriefing, he was impatient with America's failure to bring about the rapid release of the hostages. But, he said, his attitude had changed.

"I thought I was [angry at U.S. officials], but I don't think I am now," he said. "On the basis of information I have received . . . it appears to me perhaps we're on the right track to getting these people out."

At a news conference Wednesday, Reed's wife, Fahima, who is known as Fifi, said that her husband had seen up to six other Western hostages while he was held. She said that he spent all but 90 minutes a day blindfolded and bound during most of his captivity.

Contrary to reports from the U.S. Air Force hospital here saying that Reed had an erratic diet while in captivity, Fifi Reed said that the food was good, but that her husband had lost his will to eat. Reed, 57, years old, lost 60 pounds during his detention, she said.