Earning Respect In The Muslim World

"They shouted at us to get out of the car in formal Arabic. They were wearing black masks and were so professional. They knew that two of us were Syrians and they knew who else was in the car. One of them put a gun to my head and threatened me not to tell anyone what I had seen. They put [Mr. Haines and Mr. Motka] in the boot of their car and shot out the tires of our car."
Syrian translator for British aid worker David Haines

The horrible end to David Haines' life represented the culmination of his experience helping people around the world. As a recognition of his selflessness, he spent a year and a half of his life as a hostage, a prisoner of a fanatical Islamist group which held all non-Muslims to be an unforgivable reproach to Islam; repugnant, undeserving of life. The gruesome drama of the Islamic State videoed presentation represented the epitome of disdain for life and for Westerners clinging to life.

"David is a Scot, a little stubborn, but very sturdy and well prepared psychologically and physically. I'm sure he will not have been broken by a year and a half in captivity", was the considered opinion of a former colleague of Mr. Haines, Boris Mijakovac, a psychologist. One can only wonder how Mr. Mijakovac himself would stand up after a year and a half of existence as a pawn of the Islamic State, under no illusion that his country would pay a ransom for his release.

On the other hand, it appears that Mr. Haines held the hope that the charitable humanitarian group for which he was working at the time of his abduction would see to a ransom to have him freed, if for no other reason than to have him, a seasoned aid worker, carry on with his dedication to improving the lives of the desperately oppressed. After all, he had plied his impulse for charity for sixteen years; his experience and capability a valuable commodity among foreign aid groups.

He had been abducted in the company of an Italian colleague, Federico Motka, as they drove toward the Turkish border from a three-day tour to assess potential locations for the establishment of new refugee camps. Their abductors, in fact, were sheltered by Turkey from the Syrian regime's forces determined to destroy the terrorists who busied themselves disrupting the rule of Alawite Shia President al-Assad.

Beaten by his captors, he informed his family through passing a message on by a freed hostage, that he was being well-treated And while Mr. Motka was released after his country paid a ransom of $8.6-million, Mr. Haines languished, yet believing that he would be saved, though not by his country whose policy was not under any circumstances to deal with terrorists.

Mr. Haines must have had ample experience with ruthless Islamists in the past through his work on projects in Libya, South Sudan and Croatia. Engaged in post-war reconstruction projects and organizing mine-clearing, he did the necessary clean-up after the brutalities of conflict. His most current agency was the Nonviolence Peaceforce. None of which in the end, saved Mr. Haines.