#freeaustintice

http://www.austinticefamily.com/photos

It has been awhile since a news story has moved me to tears. It’s more than just a news story. The story of Austin Tice is about a real person who is a real journalist, with a real family. Tice has been held captive since August 2012. No one really knows where he is, except that we do know that he was in Syria when he disappeared.

Two years, almost three…

The parents of Austin Tice, a former Marine and freelance journalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, have launched a campaign for his release.

Marc and Debra Tice say they’ve received little assistance from the Syrian and U.S. governments and they’re critical of the U.S. hostage negotiation process.

The Tice family is not in touch with Austin’s captors and they don’t know who’s holding him. A YouTube video shows him blindfolded and led by masked med through a countryside.

Here's part of what Marc Tice told us:

"We’re not asking for a new agency; we’re not asking for a change in national security policy. The fact of the matter is the State Department, the FBI, the intelligence services, they all have resources to deal with problems of Americans overseas, hostages, kidnappings – all those sorts of things. What we’re really hoping for through this policy review is that those resources start working together efficiently and talking to people in different agencies. There’s a recognition, you know, within the government, that the guidelines aren’t there, the accountability’s not there, the direction’s not there. We’re not looking for something new, we’re just looking for something to make the resources that already exist work well."

Read/hear the full interview with Marc and Debra Tice.