Wednesday, January 29, 2003; Page C03
Administering a dose of grim reality in its ongoing "media boot
camp," Pentagon instructors in Fort Dix, N.J., staged a mock
kidnapping of a German television correspondent last week.
"I was very scared," Washington-based reporter Gundula
Koch yesterday told The Post's Richard Leiby, another of the
60 journalists on hand for the week of rigorous training to prepare for a
war in Iraq. "I was shocked because I did not expect it."
The caper was part of a course titled "Terrorist Ops/Individual
Protective Measures." Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, a trio of masked Air
Force instructors found the 44-year-old Koch smoking a Marlboro Light
outside her barracks. She was alone -- in violation of earlier
admonitions to always travel in pairs.
"They grabbed me and put goggles on my eyes, taped over so I
couldn't see anything, and asked me to go with them," she recounted.
"They put me in the back seat of a car, and we drove for about two
minutes, and then they led me into a building."
After leading Koch up a flight of stairs, they positioned her in front of
a wall and trained a video camera on her, ordering her to read a
communique from the "PWDFD Terrorist Organization." PWDFD,
natch, stands for "People Who Don't Follow Directions." On the
tape, Koch acknowledged her mistake and recited: "Keep a low
profile, be unpredictable, and stay mentally alert."
The ordeal lasted about 15 minutes, and afterward Koch managed to follow
instructions and keep the incident secret so the video would have maximum
impact when the trainers showed it to the group two days later. "We
could have snatched several of you," Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason
Parker told his charges. "There were several
opportunities."
Parker praised Koch for her cool performance -- she tried to draw
sympathy from her captors by making a human connection, as military
experts had advised. "My parents wouldn't like it if you hurt
me," she said on the tape. "I'm the only child."
Koch plans to do a story about her experience for viewers of Germany's
ZDF network. "After they released me I went straight back to that
spot and had a cigarette of relief," she said. But she learned her
lesson. This time, she was in the company of fellow trainees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58218-2003Jan29.html
David Hicks was kidnapped over a year ago by the rogue terror state
USA.
