Steve & Olaf: The Constant Fear

By Brian 

Check out Broadcasting & Cable’s Q&A with Steve Centanni:

  What was your of level of fear?

Extremely high when we were first taken. I was panting, short of breath, and thinking ‘Oh my God, this is the worst possible nightmare you can think of.’ Frightening as hell. Things got better, but there were still moments of psychological torment. They were asking us to write things about our past lives as journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan, tell our whole story. Write a letter to President Bush, tell him ‘Islam is good.’ Then they said, ‘Can you tape a message, tell President Bush?’ And I said, ‘I can tell him, but I don’t think he’s going to listen.’

That was very scary. We didn’t know if they were going to call us back individually and just kill us. We couldn’t trust them completely, but we had to keep telling ourselves, ‘We’re no good to them dead.’ So you keep giving yourself little pep talks.
 

> Also: TV Week: “Every minute of every day, the possibility of being handcuffed again, or being deprived of food, or being beaten up, or tortured, or shot and killed, or detained for a month or years, always was in our minds…”

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