IRAQ RESCUE: TWO CANADIANS ARE FREED Introduction for Nearly Four Months, Each Day Began Occupying Force
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IRAQ RESCUE: TWO CANADIANS ARE FREED Introduction For nearly four months, each day began occupying force. Suddenly, an Iraqi Focus the same way: the peaceful refuge of group calling itself the Swords of After 118 days in sleep replaced by the conscious reality Righteousness Brigade kidnapped the captivity, two of captivity. Chained together to pre- four men as a means to advance their Canadians and one vent escape, the prisoners awoke to political agenda and/or to extort a Briton were res- cued in a British-led wonder if this would be the day that the ransom from the Western powers. Their operation involving monotony of their imprisonment would motive was never clarified even after Canadian and U.S. be broken. Would their captors release the crisis came to a close. forces in Iraq. This them, kill them, or be overrun by coali- This story captured the attention of News in Review tion troops? Did anyone know they had people around the world. Four men who module looks at been taken hostage? Did anyone care? had dedicated their lives to non-vio- the hostage crisis One-hundred and eighteen days in lence were suddenly forced to endure that caught the captivity gave them plenty of time to the violence of captivity. Chained world’s attention in the fall of 2005 and ask questions. together in a small room in a non- came to a peaceful But this day was very different. A descript building somewhere near end in the spring of sudden surge of thunderous commotion Baghdad, they had become pawns in 2006. enveloped the captives. They were someone else’s game. Kidnapping had aroused by the sound of British troops become a common tool in wartime Iraq. descending on the two-storey house on By the time Loney, Sooden, Kember, YV Sections the outskirts of Baghdad. They braced and Fox were taken in the fall of 2005, marked with this themselves for a dramatic and violent over 200 people had been kidnapped. symbol indicate entrance. And then it came . the door Some had been released but, tragically, content suitable for to their de facto prison cell burst open, almost one-third had been murdered by younger viewers. and several heavily armed soldiers their captors. However, the four men entered the room. One told them that had one thing going for them. Shortly they were safe while another shouted, after their capture, news leaked to the “Is Mr. Kember there?” It was the day outside world, and the media latched they were to be rescued. onto the story. Soon, influential people They were members of an organiza- from around the globe began calling for tion called the Christian Peacemaker their release. The Swords of Righteous- Teams (CPT). Canadians James Loney ness Brigade claimed that the CPT and Harmeet Singh Sooden were taken members were coalition spies; interna- hostage along with Briton Norman tional governments vigorously argued Kember and American Tom Fox in the contrary. In essence, Loney, November 2005. They had just finished Sooden, Kember, and Fox were good- meeting with the Muslim Scholars hearted men with a track record of Association in their efforts to build working with the oppressed. Both alliances with Iraqis struggling to cope Canadians had worked with Palestin- with life outside the heavily fortified ians in the West Bank to protest human coalition Green Zone in Baghdad. War rights abuses in the region. An under- had certainly taken its toll. The CPT standing began to emerge that sug- was convinced that the best way to gested that a grave injustice was taking serve the victims of war was to build place, and that the four men should be bridges of peace in the community and released quickly. The CPT pleaded for to demonstrate to the citizens of Iraq the liberation of the men as did each of that not all Westerners were part of an the captive’s families. Friends and CBC News in Review • May 2006 • Page 29 family of the hostages held prayer vigils ironically, he was as opposed to as were asking for their deliverance from cap- his captors. With Fox dead, people tivity. And, adding tremendous credibil- suspected that the worst would befall ity to the call for a speedy release, Loney, Sooden, and Kember. Muslims from Britain dispatched an However, less than two weeks after influential cleric to Baghdad to attempt Fox’s murder, coalition troops appre- to secure the release of the hostages. hended a man who had information Some of the CPT’s Muslim allies in about the location of the hostages. Palestine also spoke on behalf of the Within hours of interrogating the pris- men. Even Muslim clerics in Baghdad oner, 200 troops descended on the called for their liberation. location of Loney, Sooden, and Regardless of the pleas for the release Kember. Coalition forces met no oppo- of the hostages, the Swords of Righ- sition as the hostages were freed and teousness Brigade stuck to their game transported to the U.S.-controlled Green plan. They demanded that all Iraqi Zone in Baghdad. They were soon prisoners held by coalition forces be reunited with members of the CPT who released or the men would die. This had held a near-constant vigil for them ultimatum was accompanied by video- since they disappeared four months tape evidence proving that they had the earlier. At this reunion they learned of four men and a clear message that they the murder of Tom Fox. were willing and able to kill them. Two The hostage crisis was embraced by deadlines came and went with no some as a miraculous and inspiring prisoners released and no indication as story. It was denounced by others as a to the fate of the hostages. Days turned case of misadventure involving fool- into weeks, and people began to expect hardy idealists seeking to take the news of a tragic end to the story. volatility out of one of the most danger- In early March, a ray of hope ous regions in the world through non- emerged, reminding the world of the violent protest. No matter which side of plight of the hostages, when a videotape the story one supported, one conclusion surfaced showing only three of the four could not be disputed: Loney, Sooden, men. Tom Fox, the lone American in and Kember were free, and no one had the group, was not in the video. Hope been killed or wounded during the turned to despair days later when Fox’s rescue effort. Perhaps divided by the dead body was found on a Baghdad murder of Tom Fox, the Swords of street with his hands tied behind his Righteousness Brigade simply disap- back and bullet wounds to his head and peared, and coalition forces were able chest. Fox had become an unwilling to liberate the men without having to martyr, targeted for political reasons, resort to violence—an ideal end to the murdered for a U.S.-led war effort that, story for three of the four idealists. Analysis 1. What was the Christian Peacemaker Teams trying to accomplish in Baghdad? 2. Why did the story of the kidnapping of the four CPT members capture the attention of people around the world? 3. What did the Swords of Righteousness Brigade want in return for the release of the hostages? What did they eventually do when their demands were not met? 4. Describe the series of events that led to the release of the hostages. CBC News in Review • May 2006 • Page 30 IRAQ RESCUE: TWO CANADIANS ARE FREED YV Video Review 1. Describe James Loney’s feelings of joy upon his arrival home in Canada. Respond to the questions as you view the video. 2. What concerns did Loney’s parents have regarding their son’s mission in Iraq? 3. Besides family and friends in Canada, who else called for the release of the hostages? 4. What role did the Christian Peacemaker Teams play in Hebron? 5. a) What role did the British Special Forces or SAS play in the rescue of the hostages? b) What role did Canadians apparently play in the rescue? 6. Describe Harmeet Singh Sooden’s experience of life in captivity. 7. What role did worship play in the lives of the hostages? 8. How well did the captors treat the hostages? Use examples from the video. 9. What contradictions were the hostages forced to wrestle with as a result of the hostage crisis? 10. Do you think that the Christian Peacemaker Teams should continue to work in Iraq? Explain. CBC News in Review • May 2006 • Page 31 IRAQ RESCUE: TWO CANADIANS ARE FREED Christian Peacemaker Teams Founded in 1984, Christian Peacemaker 2004 they exposed prisoner abuse by Further Research Teams (CPT) promotes non-violent U.S. troops at the now infamous Abu To learn more alternatives to war. CPT members Ghraib prison four months before the about the ongoing undergo training that is similar to that of work of the Chris- mainstream press ran with the story. tian Peacemaker a soldier. The goal is to produce disci- CPT loyalists use the Abu Ghraib story Teams, consider a plined advocates for peace who will as an example of how its members live visit to their official practise non-violence in the hopes of up to the organization’s mandate and Web site at demonstrating the peaceful message how lives are saved by the non-violent www.cpt.org. modelled by Jesus of Nazareth in the efforts of team members. Christian Gospels. The CPT’s motto is By the time James Loney, Harmeet “Getting in the Way”—a maxim that Singh Sooden, Norman Kember, and illustrates the organization’s very spe- Tom Fox were kidnapped by the cific call to peacefully intervene in Swords of Righteousness Brigade in conflict situations.