Scores of former American hostages are giving the U.S. government valuable information about conditions inside Kuwait and Iraq over the past four months, officials say. One former hostage says he made a diagram of the strategic site in Iraq where he was held as a ``human shield.'' About three-fourths of the hostages have voluntarily submitted to debriefing sessions with officials from the State Department and the military. ``Hundreds have been interviewed and hundreds more have agreed to be interviewed,'' Joe Reap, a State Department spokesman, said Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the government is interested in information on the Americans remaining in the two countries, and ``anything else they might have seen while they were there and they might want to pass on.'' Miles Hoffman, 33, of Roswell, Ga., said he spent eight to 10 hours earlier this month with Air Force intelligence officers who quizzed him about his captivity in Kuwait and Iraq. Hoffman, a money manager in Kuwait, was evacuated in mid-November because he needed a bone graft on his arm, which had been hit by a bullet. He said he had been one of the ``human shields'' confined to two strategic sites in Iraq. ``I diagrammed the actual site,'' Hoffman said. The State Department said the debriefing sessions are voluntary for the returning hostages who are private citizens. They have no obligation to submit to interviews with the government. On the airplane home, the evacuees were handed a piece of paper asking if they would like to provide information to the U.S. government. Special teams are sent to question those who agree. Some former hostages, however, said they have had no contact with the U.S. government. Bobby Parker, 49, of Vidor, Texas, said he was a ``human shield'' at a military installation about 25 miles north of Baghdad. Parker arrived in Houston on Sunday on a flight arranged by former Gov. John Connally. Parker said the installation was teeming with soldiers, rockets, helicopters and other military equipment. ``I think it was a repair facility,'' he said in a telephone interview. But Parker, who worked for Kuwait Drilling Co., said no one has approached him to tell his story. He received a call Sunday from Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Texas, who helped arrange for Parker's son, Eric, 25, to return home for a temporary leave from his assignment in Saudi Arabia with the Army. Dawn Bazner of Palm Desert, Calif., said U.S. officials were keen to talk to her about the ``attitude of the Iraqis'' and other Americans when she left the country in September. But she said her husband, Mark, hasn't talked with anyone since he returned Sunday. About 510 American citizens, most of them children with dual citizenship, have opted to remain in Kuwait and Iraq, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said today. The final American chartered flight is scheduled to leave early Thursday, with about 15 Americans from Iraq on board, including the last remaining person who was a ``human shield.'' The State Department has not made a final decision on whether five diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait will be on the flight, he said. That will be made when officials determine there are no other Americans who want out in Kuwait. After the U.S.-chartered flight end, Americans could presumably get out of Kuwait on regular Iraqi airways flights that have begun between Kuwait City and Baghdad, he said. Since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, the U.S. government has evacuated 2,520 American citizens and their family members on 13 chartered flights. Americans whose paychecks were halted after the invasion are eligible to apply for financial aid from the U.S. government. Congress passed a $10 million aid plan in October. The former hostages can draw the equivalent of $24,705 a year, pro-rated for the length of time they had been held captive. In addition, they and their families were granted federal health benefits and life insurance for the duration of the hostages' stay plus one year. The State Department released the regulations on how to apply for the money last week.
