Former President George W. Bush recalled, in late January 2002, “terrorists in Pakistan abducted Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. They alleged he was a CIA spy and tried to blackmail the United States into bargaining for his release. America has a longstanding policy of not negotiating with terrorists, and I continued it. I knew that if I accepted one terrorist’s demands, it would only encourage more kidnappings. Our military and intelligence assets were searching urgently for Pearl, but they couldn’t make it in time. In his final moments [on February 1, 2002], Danny Pearl said, ‘My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.’ Then his al Qaeda captors slit his throat.”
– George W. Bush, Decision Points, Page 167