WASHINGTON — Five years ago, retired Air Force intelligence officer Kirk von Ackermann became the first of 39 Americans to be kidnapped in Iraq. He’s still missing, his wife fearing she’ll never see him again.
His disappearance and those that have followed have taken on a larger significance. They mark a turning point in terrorist tactics that U.S. intelligence officials say has produced a startling statistic: a 500 percent increase in foreigners taken hostage around the world as militants adopt the methods of the most violent figures in the Iraq insurgency.
Figures compiled by the Defense Intelligence Agency from classified and unclassified sources — provided exclusively to The Associated Press — show that in 2004, about 342 foreign and U.S. hostages were taken by terrorist and insurgent organizations.
By 2006, that number was 501. By 2007, it had jumped to more than 1,500, and it is on track to rise even higher this year, said Thomas Brown, director of the office that analyzes information about prisoners of war and those missing in action. The Associated Press
