A reminder that the Americans anywhere or any time could be put in harm’s way by terrorists:

The Christian Science Monitor offers this story revealing that a retired FBI agent, 63-year old Robert Levinson, who vanished years ago in Iran, is still alive and held hostage.  Levinson, the father of 7, is pictured in this video frame grab from the Levinson family website showing Levinson in a hostage video they received from unidentified captors.  In the video Levinson begs, “Help me.”

Despite a lengthy investigation, the U.S. government has had no luck determining who is holding Levinson.

Please tell us your demands so we can work together to bring my father home safely,” says Levinson’s son David, seated beside his mother, Christine.

“The video plea represents a sharp change in strategy in a case that, for years, the United States treated as a diplomatic issue rather than a hostage situation. Christine Levinson, who lives in Coral Springs, Fla., has issued many public statements over the years, but she typically directed them to her missing husband or to the government of Iran.

In the hostage video, which the family received in November 2010, Levinson pleaded with the U.S. government to meet the demands of the people holding him, whom he did not identify.

The 54-second hostage video showed Levinson looking haggard but unharmed, sitting in front of what appeared to be a concrete wall. He had lost considerable weight, particularly in his face, and his white shirt hung off him. There were no signs of recent mistreatment. But Levinson, who has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure, implored the U.S. to help him quickly.

“I have been treated well. But I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for three and a half years,” Levinson says. “And please help me get home.”

His voice weakens and breaks as he speaks of “my beautiful, my loving, my loyal wife, Christine,” as well as his children and his grandson.

“I am not in very good health,” he says. “I am running very quickly out of diabetes medicine.”

The Associated Press saw the video soon after it arrived last year but did not immediately report it because the U.S. government said doing so would complicate diplomatic efforts to bring Levinson home.

Now, those efforts appear to have stalled, U.S. relations with Iran have worsened and Levinson’s family has stepped out of diplomatic channels to appeal directly to the kidnappers.

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Filed under: Economy, Featured, Inside The KC, Politics, Uncategorized by Sonja Eddings Brown, Dec 9, 2011