Hostages were 'dupes,' Iraq says

Freed peace activists refusing to co-operate with British

Mary Vallis and Stewart Bell, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, March 25, 2006

TORONTO - Iraq's embassy to Canada lashed out at the Christian Peacemaker Teams Friday, calling them "phoney pacifists" and "dupes" after the antiwar group responded to the rescue of three of its kidnapped activists by condemning the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq.

The Iraqi embassy called CPT "willfully ignorant" and "outrageous," and accused the Chicago-based group of being on the side of anti-

democratic forces in Iraq.

"The Christian Peacemaker Teams practises the kind of politics that automatically nominate them as dupes for jihadism and fascism," the embassy's statement said.

A British-led special forces team on Thursday rescued three CPT members, who had been kidnapped in Baghdad nearly four months earlier.

They included James Loney, 41, of Toronto; Harmeet Singh Sooden, 33, a Canadian who had been living in New Zealand; and British national Norman Kember, 74. The body of a fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was found dumped earlier this month.

The day of the rescue, CPT issued a statement blaming the "illegal occupation" of Iraq for the kidnapping. The group said the hostages were "motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a non-violent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict."

"They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers," CPT's statement said. "We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by multinational forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end."

The Daily Telegraph in London is reporting today that the Christian activists refused to fully co-operate with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them. Based on an interview with a security source, the newspaper claims the activists said co-operating would contradict their Christian principles.

Kember, the British hostage, left Iraq for the United Kingdom Friday. The Canadians are expected to leave Baghdad today, according to Maxine Nash, a CPT worker in Baghdad. Sooden is headed to New Zealand, where his family lives, while Loney will return to Ontario.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed the hostages are headed home, but would not say when they would arrive.

"They're still in Iraq. I really can't tell you a lot more. They're coming home on the weekend," Harper said in Ottawa.

The prime minister refused to give more details of how the three men were freed.

"No length of time would allow me to release those details," he said.

New details did emerge Friday about the men's treatment during their confinement. Nash said the men struggled to communicate with their captors. Only Fox spoke a small amount of Arabic, so they used hand signals.

The men also said they had not been physically abused: They were given food and kept somewhat warm during the long winter. The main problem they encountered during 118 days of captivity, Nash said, was boredom.

"If you're sitting there day after day with nothing to do, that must be a pretty boring thing," Nash said. "There were certainly times when they were fearful, mostly because of the unknown -- for example, when Tom Fox was taken and not returned."

Fox, the American hostage, disappeared from the group on Feb. 12, Nash said. The hostages were initially under the impression he had been freed, but realized he may have met another fate after catching a glimpse of his face on television.

The hostages did not learn for certain Fox was dead until after their release.

CPT workers in Iraq are also denying rumours Fox was tortured before he was killed. Nash cited two unidentified "independent sources" who said the American had been shot in the head and chest, but had not been tortured.