Dan Shakal
Freelance journalist James Foley reads a magazine while riding a U.S. C-17 cargo plane from Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan on the way back to Ramstein Air Base, Germany last fall.
WASHINGTON – After more than two weeks with zero communication from captured American journalist James Foley, the reporter’s mother said Tuesday that Libyan authorities are alerting U.S. State Department officials to expect a phone call in the next day or so.
Foley, 37, was freelancing for the online publication GlobalPost when he was captured along with fellow U.S. freelancer Clare Gillis and Spanish photojournalist Manu Brabo on April 5th. The reporters were attacked and kidnapped by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi near the Brega. A fourth journalist, South African photographer Anton Hammerl, also was believed to be captured but his whereabouts are unknown.
Diane Foley said a state Department official contacted her to state diplomats had been told by Libyan officials that Foley and Gillis would be allowed to make a phone call to their families. Foley said even third-hand news of a possible phone call is huge.
“At least in a backwards way, that kind of tells us that the Libyan government at least has him,” she said.
Thus far the only confirmation of Foley’s and two other journalists’ whereabouts came nearly two weeks ago from another reporter freed from a Tripoli detention center. Their situation is consistent with the tales of over a dozen other reporters, detained or released on the ground in Libyan during the ever-evolving civil war.
Phil Balboni, founder and CEO of GlobalPost, said he’s had direct communication with Turkish officials in Tripoli and Washington, but little concrete news.
He said the ongoing civil war in Libya is proving particularly challenging for reporters. “The ease of access to direct front line situations is highly unusual. That opportunity for the journalist is somewhat irresistible.”
Balboni said Foley couldn’t resist the adventure and stories of the Libyan conflict, despite GlobalPost’s hesitance to cover such conflict zones. “In this particular case we did not ask James to go, but you know the life of a freelancer is often one in which you seek out opportunity and James is very courageous.”
Dan Shakal
James Foley at a firebase in Zhari District, Kandahar Province last fall. The Afghan flag was recently raised amidst the coalition’s fall campaign titled Operation Dragon Strike to drive the Taliban out of the province.
Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the speed at which the conditions can change in Libya poses the biggest problem for journalists. “Journalists often find themselves outpaced by events on the ground,” Abdel Dayem said.
He said Libyan officials are following a “deliberate strategy” of capturing and kidnapping both foreign and domestic journalists to use as political bargaining chips. Eleven foreign journalists are being detained in Libya as well as six Libyan journalists listed as missing, according to Abdel Dayem. He said most are seasoned veterans. “These are not guys who are wetting their feet for the first time.”
Foley isn’t new to the world of foreign correspondents. He’s filed stories for GlobalPost and other news outlets from both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In Iraq and Afghanistan James had a lot of close calls, his mother said. She used to worry more about her two other sons, John a captain in the Air Force, and Mark, a recent Army enlistee, but that changed.
“We became more and more aware that Jimmy was in a much more dangerous situation,” Mrs. Foley said.“He just took risks.”
She said Foley realized the danger in Libya and knew how worried his family and friends would be. He was in constant communication, with emails and through Skype, until his capture. “He told me he was being careful, but Jimmy’s fearless,” Mrs. Foley said.
Despite the dangers, she said, her son was enthralled by what he was doing. “I really thing he’s passionate about being a voice for people that don’t have a voice. I think he’s finally hitting his stride.”
Family and friends are continuing to keep the story in the public eye as much as possible with Facebook support pages, petitions, and a website FreeFoley.org.
Brian Oakes, a childhood friend, said he bought the FreeFoley web domain more than a week ago and launched the site over the weekend after consulting with the family. Oakes said Foley has a rabid curiosity about the world. “We grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, that sort of gets embedded in you that you want to see the world.”
State department officials said they are continuing to work through a variety of contacts to provide assistance, but acknowledged a lack of U.S. diplomacy with Libya makes the situation difficult.
Foley’s mother said she isn’t completely aware of what is going on in Libya, she just wants to keep her son’s plight, and that of the other detained journalists, in front of the public.
“Sometimes I watch the news, but sometimes I shut my TV off and I just pray.”