An Open Letter On Al-Qaeda's American Hostage Warren Weinstein

Only days away from returning home, Warren Weinstein was abducted in August 2011 from his residence in Lahore, Pakistan where he had worked for seven years on a US AID project teaching Pakistanis how to start or improve their businesses. He has been held by al-Qaida for over two years, and his family appears to have given up hope that the Obama Administration is doing anything useful to get him home. The last video of him released in December shows him emaciated and missing a tooth...Warren made no secret of the fact that he is Jewish. Indeed, he had studied as a child at a yeshiva, and his wife taught at a Jewish school. Yet, in the Pakistani English language newspapers that reported on his abduction in August 2011 the Pakistanis he worked with praised him without exception...(When asked) what the Obama Administration is doing for Warren, Warren's older daughter Jennifer responds: 'We're on our own. They're aware of the situation, but we're very much alone.' A State Department spokesperson offers a formulaic answer: We're 'extremely concerned.' We 'work with the Pakistani authorities' and provide 'consular assistance as appropriate.'... 'The family finds itself helpless.'"