Alabama man still refuses to discuss abduction in Afghanistan

By

Posted 9:03AM on Monday, February 11, 2002

HONOLULU - Despite advance publicity that Clark Bowers would discuss his abduction and torture in Afghanistan, the Alabama man avoided any mention of his ordeal in a weekend speech to Christian groups and Honolulu politicians. Bowers, who insists he is a private citizen who seeks no public attention, also refused to answer any reporters' questions after his speech at a Waikiki beach hotel. Bowers has said he does not want to be considered a hero for surviving capture by an unidentified Afghan warlord last month. Bowers' wife, Amanda, said he feels he has been treated unfairly by news media questioning his background and his disappearance during a "private humanitarian and fact-finding" trip that ended with his Jan. 9 release. "It has been a very stressful time," she said at the Hawaii Christian Coalition meeting late Saturday. The audience included Hawaii's two leading gubernatorial hopefuls, Democratic Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and Republican Linda Lingle, and other politicians. Bowers, 37, of Harvest, is a political consultant who has been giving speeches to Christian groups for years, including appearances in Hawaii. He avoided reporters entirely during this visit. Two of three events he had been scheduled to attend were canceled. An Internet announcement of the Saturday night gala had said Bowers would "recount his recent ordeal of being held as a hostage in Afghanistan. He was captured, tortured and eventually released for ransom." In his speech, he discussed terrorism and said some of the criticism of America by extremist Islamists is the same critique they are hearing from their pastors and local conservative Repubicans. "They are not just whistling Dixie when they talk about the decadence, when they talk about the corruption, when the talk about what we export in many cases throughout the world and how it undermines traditional family, traditional home," Bowers said. He mentioned Afghanistan only once, as a place he had visited. Coalition leader Garret Hashimoto introduced Bowers only as a close friend. Bowers said Americans need to support the war against terrorism on a national level but should apply Christian values on a personal level. "Our answer as individual people, as Christians, has got to be the response that to evil is unthinkable, and that, of course, is love," he said. "You have to pray for your enemies and you have to love them that do the things that these people do ... while simultaneously supporting the government." Bowers' 16-page written statement, some of which was reported when it was released last week, includes documentation answering questions raised about biographical material on his education, political experience and trips abroad. On the kidnapping, he said he and a "dear Afghan friend," whom he did not identify, were abducted "somewhere in the vicinity of the border" between Pakistan and Afghanistan "and held for private ransom." At least part of the time they were in Pakistan, he said, because his abductors needed to access the banking system to get what money they could from his credit card as well as to "receive any ransom money transmitted internationally." Bowers' family earlier said $5,000 ransom was paid after an original $25,000 demand. None of the money came from the U.S. government, Bowers said. In the statement, Bowers said he received 23 "individually administered second- and third-degree burns" from cigarets applied to his forearms. A doctor's statement attesting to the wounds was included with his statement. He said his Afghan friend was "severely beaten and tortured several times" but did not say what ultimately happened to him. "I am intentionally limiting all other details of my ordeal for the purpose of trying to protect all my Afghan friends ..." he said. Bowers said he fully cooperated with U.S. authorities who interviewed him after the incident, making suggestions how they might improve intelligence gathering in the Kandahar area. Both the FBI and the State Department have confirmed that they interviewed Bowers, but neither has released any information about his kidnapping, citing the fact that he has not waived his legal privacy privilege.