Three Christian Workers Freed in Iraq

11 Comments

1. 

   olivia on March 23, 2006 at 8:16 am

   I’m glad you diaried this. It is very big news — on all the morning news programs — here in Ottawa. The CBC is speaking w/ James’ brother Ed Loney right now. I saw an interview w/ Jack Straw Foreign Secretary who said they are all now in British Embassy in Baghdad and are undergoing medical examination and questioning re: their captors. From the CBC:

   Straw said Loney and Sooden required hospital treatment but he provided no details. Kember was reportedly in “reasonable” condition. All three were initially taken to the U.S.-controlled military Green Zone in Baghdad and have since been moved to the British Embassy. They are not expected to make any public statements today.

2. 

   Alice on March 23, 2006 at 10:25 am

   Thanks Oui – it feels good to read about the soldiers doing some good.  Hopefully these former hostages will now have a media platform to educate the public about our ‘noble cause.’

3. 

   spiderleaf on March 23, 2006 at 10:30 am

   Thanks for the good news Oui. My heart is singing. I was so worried.

   A more sober question though – what about the American hostage from the same group? There were 4 of them taken.

   • 

     olivia on March 23, 2006 at 11:36 am

     The American, Tom Fox. He was murdered and they had found his body earlier this month. It was noted by Ed Loney in his interview this morning, that while the news is good for 3 families, it is very sad for another.

     They were abducted in November in Baghdad with American Tom Fox, who was later killed. His body was found March 10 with gunshot wounds to his head and chest. link

4. 

   Londonbear on March 23, 2006 at 12:26 pm

   I am sure that everybody is relieved and happy that the remaining three are now free. There is a very interesting “back story” here that suggests rather more was going on than a simple rescue mission.

   The highlighted parts of the  BBC story hint at what really happened:

   The rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present,  suggesting the operation was carefully planned and carried out.

   But the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night.

   One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal. [Is the story of capture  and informing in these last two paragraphs a cover story?]

   “We got that information at 0800 (0500 GMT) this morning and we conducted the operation,” said Maj Gen Rick Lynch.

   “We moved to the location in western Baghdad that was reported for the location of the Christian Peacemaker Team.

   “We conducted an assault on the house and inside the house we found the three hostages, in good condition.

   “There were no kidnappers there at the time. The three hostages were by themselves.”

   The hostages were bound, he said.

   Hostage James Loney reportedly confirmed that one person had led the forces to where they were held.

   The Baptist minister at the church which Kember attends has just told BBC News24 that their understanding was that the information on their location did not come from a detainee but the rescuers were led to the location by an informant.

   Undoubtedly there was probably a very intense intelligence operation to find their location and it is very possible that they became too “hot” for the kidnappers to hold on to. Another possibility is that their location had been discovered by a religious/political group like Sadr’s and the kidnappers had been persuaded to let the group go in light of their religious mission.

   • 

     songbh on March 23, 2006 at 12:51 pm

     the three surviving captives were recovered peacefully, without violence to anyone connected to their kidnapping.  

     I hope it is true.  I hope the CPTers’ wishes that ransom in blood or money not be paid for their lives.  

     If this does in fact prove to be the truth of the story … it feels like a miracle.  

   • 

     olivia on March 23, 2006 at 1:08 pm

     From the CBC link,

     Straw said the military operation that led to the release of the hostages occurred after “weeks and weeks” of careful preparation and involved military and civilian personnel, including the RCMP.

     “The operation included representatives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, other agencies from Canada – and they did a terrific job – as well as the Americans and British staff and those from Iraq,” said Straw.

     The raid took place at 8 a.m. local time in a rural area near the town of Mishahda, about 30 kilometres north of Baghdad. It was based on information from a man who was captured Wednesday night.

     “It was three hours between when we got the information and when we released the hostages,” said Maj.-Gen Rick Lynch.

     Lynch said no kidnappers were at the house and no shots were fired when the multinational forces entered to release the hostages, who were tied up. He called the abductors a “kidnapping cell that has been robust over the past several months.”

     (…)

     Canadian military personnel were involved in the operation, according to Pentagon sources, but it’s not clear how many took part or what their role was. There have been reports that members of Canada’s top secret commando unit, Joint Task Force 2, have been working in Iraq.

     That last bit was startling — Cdn Forces working in Iraq. I’m not sure what to make of it. How does the “weeks and weeks of careful preparation” fit w/ the informant/three-hours bit. I agree w/ you though — I believe there is more going on here than what is being reported. I really don’t trust anything I read anymore.

     • 

       sybil on March 23, 2006 at 1:54 pm

       who were apparently abandoned and their location revealed by an informant. Of course many will come forward to take credit for a rescue. Success has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan.

       If there were that many agencies involved in the rescue, one wonders how they failed the American Quaker, Tom Fox, a member of the same group, who was tortured and killed a few weeks ago.

       • 

         Londonbear on March 25, 2006 at 12:18 pm

         There is also rather more to this than them just being abandoned. New reports from the peace group indicate that for most of their capitivity they were free to move around the room and it was only just before they were “rescued” that they were bound and their captors left.

         There are also comments – presumably coming from the security services here – that Kember will “continue to be debriefed”. That clearly indicates that they do no know who captured them or what the motives were. Why would they then be (as claimed now) pick up two associates of the captors one of who led them to the house. Why should they be so interested in getting the information from Kember when these two should be able to provide the information My own betting that they were released by the captors under an agreement and the “rescuers” were simply taken to pick them up.

         I remember the case of a US journalist who was being held in Beirut and who made a “dramatic escape” from his capitivity. I was sitting listening to the US coverage with a friend in Harisburg and we both had the  same cynical reaction “sure!” when he was retelling his tale.

5. 

   Street Kid on March 24, 2006 at 1:39 am

   Oui, there is only one way to say this:  YOU RULE!!

   Seriously, I just caught it from AP

   The freed men were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. The men _ members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams _ were kidnapped Nov. 26 along with an American colleague, Tom Fox, 54.

6. 

   Alice on March 24, 2006 at 9:04 am

   I was thrilled yesterday, but today I want to know why this couldn’t happen before the murder of Tom Fox.

   Cynicism returns – just another bs story from Iraq.