Where is Austin Tice?: The driver
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What early memories do Austin’s friends share about his idealism and decision to go to Syria?
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I've known Austin since my freshman year of college and we met because we both did competitive debate. We would go to these tournaments all around the country every weekend and our teams were good friends and eventually it felt like I was, you know, another sister to him.
I'm sitting with Lindsay Hamilton, trying to understand more about who Austin is and what drove him to go to Syria.
I remember there was uh a moment when he was at Georgetown Law and there was a speaker that he disagreed with, and so he stood with his back to the speaker in the room.
Sort of an idealism then.
Oh, absolutely. You saw this carry through to him going to Syria.
When he was reporting there, were you ever worried about him?
Oh yeah. I tried not to be. I read his Facebook post. I know he didn't want us to be.
Do you have that Facebook post? I've never seen it.
Oh the um quit telling me to be safe? Hold on, let me find it. He says it's nice and all, but please quit telling me to be safe. People keep telling me to be safe as if that's an option. Keep asking me why I'm doing this crazy thing. Keep asking what's wrong with me for coming here. So listen. Our granddads stormed Normandy and Iwo Jima and defeated global fascism. Neil Armstrong flew to the moon in a glorified trash can, doing math on the clipboard as he went, because they thought it was the right thing to do.
Austin wrote this back in the summer of 2012 while he was reporting from Syria. I read this as part defense, part manifesto. He writes about bravery, about living for something bigger, comparing his journey to that of soldiers who fought fascism and pioneering astronauts. People who shaped the world we live in.
I think the most important part is probably this paragraph. No, I don't have a death wish. I have a life wish. So I'm living in a place at a time and with a people where life means more than anywhere I've ever been, because every single day people here lay down their own for the sake of others. Coming here to Syria is the greatest thing I've ever done and it's the greatest feeling of my life.
As somebody that's known Austin since he was nineteen years old, what do you see in that when you read it?
I probably remember rolling my eyes a bit at him because I'm like, oh Austin, you know, that's so big, right? There's it's it's a big post. And um I think he went to Syria because he thought he could really change the world and and impact things by doing it. But I also think he went there because he had developed uh comfort and war zones that frankly nobody should have to develop, but he did. I don't know. I hope I get to talk to him about it.
I've spoken to a lot of people about Austin. Friends, colleagues, even a Marine he served with. They describe him as smart, charming, physically capable. But I also hear about another side to him. Someone who's overconfident, who could misjudge risk for himself and sometimes for others. One friend even worried he was carrying mental trauma from Iraq and Afghanistan. From everything I've heard. Austin left America with a lot going on, and very high expectations of what his life should become. It feels like his decision to go to Syria was more complicated than simply wanting to be a war journalist. I've been retracing his route, and now I want to understand how Austin disappeared. I'm Josh Baker from BBC Radio 4 and NPRs Embedded.
This is Where is Austin Tice? Series three of I'm Not a Monster presents. Episode four. The driver. This is Ira
Glass. On this American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realise that it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts.
As the political landscape shifts beneath our feet, we're all vulnerable to a well-funded distraction economy, determined to take our eye off the ball.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What early memories do Austin’s friends share about his idealism and decision to go to Syria?
0:00–7:22
2
How did Austin’s 31st‑birthday celebration at the farm become a key clue in the investigation?
7:22–14:39
3
What new evidence challenges the long‑standing story that Austin was taken at a checkpoint?
14:39–21:37
4
Who is the mysterious “driver” and how did Josh and Sara first identify him?
21:37–27:33
5
What did Hamid’s brother reveal about the driver’s disappearance after the regime fell?
27:33–34:59
6
How did the investigators link the driver to the NDF militia and a senior regime commander?
34:59–42:19
7
What does the recorded conversation with the regime commander disclose about President Assad’s role?
42:19–44:26
8
What are the remaining unanswered questions about Austin’s fate and the driver’s whereabouts?
44:26–44:54