FREED HOSTAGE DESCRIBED AS 'VERY HUNGRY' DOCTOR SAYS ANGER, HUMOR KEPT POLHILL'S MIND SHARP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R000401020002-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 26, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 25, 1990
• Content Type: NSPR

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JJescribect as
Doctor Says Anger, Humor
` Kept Polhill's Mind Sharp
By Marc Fisher
Washington Post Foreign Service
WIESBADEN, West Germany, April 24-Freed hos-
tage Robert Polhill lost 25 pounds and much of his mus-
cle mass during his 39 months of confinement in Leb-
anon, but stayed sharp by maintaining his sense of hu-
mor and his anger at his captors, an Air Force doctor
said today.
Polhill continued to eat ravenously on his second day
away from the Shiite hostage takers who had fed him
irregularly and poorly. He is eating four meals a day and
has made special requests for spare ribs, as well as for a
.pair of decent shoes.
. "For a man who is 55, he looks a good deal older,"
said Col. Kenneth Koskinen, the Air Force surgeon who
has been treating Polhill. "The man is just malnourished
and very hungry. He's essentially emptying our kitch-
en."
- Koskinen said Polhill "has significant muscle wast-
ing," a result of having been kept from most exercise
for such a long time, but is in good spirits. "He was very
- -angry and is still angry. He said it was very difficult to
channel that anger."
Despite the uncertainty of his situation, his complete
isolation from the outside world and persistently un-
comfortable conditions, Polhill never thought he would
-,.be killed, U.S. officials here said.
In the past three years, Polhill and his fellow hos-
tages were given reading matter only rarely (he once
got a copy of the British magazine the Economist).
They had nothing with which to divert themselves oth-
er than each other's company and playing cards sup-
plied by their captors.
'Today, Polhill spent several hours with State Depart-
ment debriefers, who were eager to find out about his
fellow hostages and about the conditions in which he
was kept. He also spent private time with his wife and
two sons, who arrived this morning from the United
States.
Although Polhill seems clear and levelheaded now-
-surprisingly so, doctors say-it is still far too early to
know if he will suffer from the post-stress syndrome of
depression and fatigue that has affected many former
hostages. Many effects of a long period of confinement
take "several years" to emerge, Koskinen said.
The former accountant, who was a business profes-
sor at Beirut University College when he and three oth-
er instructors were kidnapped in January 1987 by pro-
Palestinian terrorists posing as campus police, will heal
physically quite quickly, doctors say. "In three months,
you probably won't recognize him," Koskinen said.
. Polhill, who came out of captivity knowing nothing
about events of the past three years, has peppered the
hospital staff with questions. He wanted to know who
. won the World Series and Super Bowl over the last few
yea e h tq be told i~t?te
Appro fl it- Qrs l&a$Qa
Polhill is joined by sons Brian, 19, left, and Steven, 22.
was going to be speaking with when he was told Sunday
that he would have a phone conversation with the pres-
ident of the United States.
Polhill is said to be deeply concerned about the future
of his fellow hostages, especially'Alann Steen and Jesse
Turner, the Beirut University Col e e mstructors Still
el i g held, with whom he shared a room for most of his
captivity.
In his initial conversations with U.S. officials, Polhill
has said that although he and his fellow captives were
moved frequently from one location to another, they
were always kept together in windowless rooms under
constant guard. They never knew whether it was day or
night.
U.S. officials here said that Polhill, Steen and Turner
were almost certainly kept in various places in Beirut,
possibly in a building with other hostages. But officials
could not say which other hostages were involved, nor
even if they were Americans.
Neither Polhill nor officials here have come up with
any explanation of why his captors, the Islamic Jihad for
the Liberation of Palestine, chose Polhill to set free at
this time.
U.S. officials here said that although Polhill has co-
operated with State Department debriefers, he has
measured his willingness to talk against his fear that
giving away details could harm his friends in captivity.
"He is very aware that if he says something negative,
it could have a negative impact" on Steen and Turner,
Koskinen said.
That is also one reason why Polhill has not spoken to
reporters here. Polhill, who is still speaking in the low,
iecj. plans to stay in
2-3