MWR : Articles : CPT Iraq hostage crisis

Articles : CPT Iraq hostage crisis

A simple gift lives on

“Let’s listen in now to the Marine Corps Band,” the CNN commentator says. The camera pans across the Washington Mall.

People, as far as the eye can see, wait for the historic moment, the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American to hold this high office. The music ennobles, solemnizes, projects a holy canopy of sound over these august proceedings of state — “democracy’s most sacred moment” the CNN commentator calls it.

CPT hostages’ whole story

On my desk is 118 Days: Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage in Iraq, edited by Tricia Gates Brown, published by CPT, 2008, 227 pages, $17.99. An edition published by Cascadia will be available this month.

118 days

Do you remember the shock and anxiety we felt in November 2005 when we learned that four Christian Peacemaker Team members had been kidnapped in Iraq? They were Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Jim Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. Daily we waited for news. Christmas was coming. Would they be released by then? As a one-time member of a CPT delegation, I recalled questions on the application form I had filled out. “Yes, I was aware of the risk.” “Yes, I was willing to take such a risk.” Now, I felt, “There but for the grace of God . . .”

CPT hopes to multiply impact of hostage story

CHICAGO — On the cover of 118 days: Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage in Iraq are Palestinian children displaying photos of four CPT members kidnapped in Iraq in 2005 — one of the many expressions of support CPT received at that time.

Al-Qaida figure linked to slain CPTer Tom Fox

Former Iraq hostage Jim Loney said he never saw a man U.S. military officials claim was the last person to have had custody of murdered Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox.

Former hostages forgive Iraqi captors

LONDON — Three Christian Peacemaker Teams activists who were held hostage in Iraq for 118 days said Dec. 8 they could not decide whether to testify against four men accused of kidnapping them and killing American activist Tom Fox.

Newspaper story links kidnappings of reporter and CPT Iraq workers

Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll believes she may have been held hostage in Iraq by the same insurgent group that held four Christian Peacemaker Teams activists and killed one of them earlier this year.

Beliefs tested in trial by fire

Whenever people publicly affirm their dedication to nonviolence, inevitable questions follow: What would you do if your family were attacked? Would you defend an innocent person being harmed by someone else? Depending on how they are asked, these questions can be a kind of taunt. But they also are an opportunity to teach and share deeply held convictions.

Prisoner’s dilemma

Practically from the start, Jim Loney wanted to escape, even if he had to use force and ask God’s forgiveness later.

British ex-hostage recounts ordeal

Former hostage Norman Kember said he considered committing suicide during his captivity with three other Christian Peacemaker Teams activists seized last year in Baghdad.