The Christian Peacemaker Team members taken prisoner have been freed! This came as the result of a military operation by British and US forces. No shots were fired, and no one was hurt or killed, as the CPT members' captors apparently fled the scene. Briton Norman Kember, 74 and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, had their hands tied but were in otherwise fairly good condition.
One other CPT member, 54 yr old Tom Fox, was found murdered in Baghdad March 9, after the four were kidnapped November 26, 2005.
Even those of us who do not totally share in the pacifist views of many CPT folk do agree with them about the immorality and foolishness of this present war, and we are deeply grateful for their witness. And we celebrate the three men's freedom, even as we mourn the martyr Tom Fox.
For more on this story, see:
The CPT website
2 comments:
I continually struggle with war vs. Christian non-violence (how are the oppressed praying for deliverance delivered?) but hold high regard for Christians who take such a stand and sometimes at a high price. However as Christians we should have a holistic Christian mind which includes thanks to any and all who choose to help us. The intentional lack of such in this rescue (not freed) is a stain on the hostages. It exposes a much stronger bent to political ideology than to Christian witness.
I find the witness from the story of recently deceased Desmond T. Doss Sr., the army medic during World War II who saved more than 75 wounded soldiers at great personal peril and became the first conscientious objector to the receive the Medal of Honor to have greater weight than the thanklessness of the rescued workers.
Well, I think some of the hostages did indeed thank the soldiers. But they are somewhat hampered by their pacifist ideology from being more robust in that thanks, I suspect. I, too, deeply respect the pacifist tradition, but find it not entirely convincing any more than I find convincing lame attempts at making the War in Iraq a "just war." Sigh... maybe I'm just a contrarian. But CPT will be at Cornerstone Festival -- http://www.cornerstonefestival.com -- this year, so we'll all have some good discussions there.
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