The Beatles were interested in obtaining ransoms for their hostages.[13] A former hostage reported that the Beatles bragged that they had been paid millions of dollars in ransoms by certain European countries; enough to retire to Kuwait or Qatar.[14] The group contacted families of some UK hostages, and are believed to have maintained links with their associates and friends in the UK.[10] James Foley's mother, Diane Foley, said in an interview: "their requests were impossible for us, 100 million Euros, or all Muslim prisoners to be freed. The requests from the terrorists were totally directed towards the government, really. And yet we as an American family had to figure out how to answer them."[15][16]