Hostage Working Group was organized by the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

at the

US Embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in the summer of 2004 to monitor hostages in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Reported as meeting "weekly to bring together officials from the ''FBI'', the Defense Department, the State Department and the Iraqi government. Officials do not publicly discuss the actions they can take against kidnappers
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In an interview in the magazine, Talk Through, of the UK's Ministry of Defence Police, April/May 2005, PC Peter Anderson, who was working with the Hostage Working Group (HWG) describes himself as: "the only non-American in this 30-strong group." Erik Rye was identified as the director of the Hostage Working Group at the US Embassy in Baghdad in an editoria
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in the International Herald Tribune on May 17, 2006. Rye's work in Baghdad was featured in the book "The Forever War" by Dexter Filkins. He then became the Advisor for Hostage Affairs for the U.S. State Department. That position was replaced by the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA). Based in part on his experiences in Baghdad, he went on to author a book that addressed the underpinnings of extremist violence and existential conflict, called "Death Sickness and the Need to Believe". Rye wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times in May 2006 while director of the hostage working groups that provided details about the nature of kidnappings in Iraq

A similar story appeared in the New York Times, also in May, 2006, that provided additional details about the tactics of hostage crises.

Rye was also cited in a 2007 State Department publication, written by a State Department translator.

A statement issued September 7, 2006 by the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

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identified another group working out of the US Embassy in

, the Office of Hostage Affairs. This is an alternative name for the Hostage Working Group.

External links

Hostages of War

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

, May 17, 2006
Fast Chat: 'She Came Home Alive'

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

, April 10, 2006
Job Description for the Coordinator of the Hostage Working Group
USAJobs.org, June 22, 2005
Talk Through (PDF)
The Magazine of the UK's Ministry of Defence Police, Living the Baghdad experience, May/April, 2005
U.S. Hostages Kept Low Profile In Ritzy Baghdad Neighborhood
Larry Kaplow,

Cox News Service CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company prim ...

, September 9, 2004
Victim's Tale...

, May 7, 2006
State Department Briefing
March 7, 2006

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

March 5, 2005
The Missing

, March 13, 2006 Iraq War Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) * Hostage taking {{Iraq-War-stub