U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq

Jolie Rouge · 03-11-2006, 12:58 AM

U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq
By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An American who was among four Christian activists kidnapped last year in Iraq has been killed, a State Department spokesman said Friday.

The FBI verified that a body found in Iraq Friday morning was that of Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., spokesman Noel Clay said. He said he had no information on the other three hostages.

Clay said he did not know how Fox was killed but said additional forensics will be done in the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is investigating, he said.

Fox's family has been notified, Clay said, and "our heartfelt condolences go out to them."

"The State Department continues to call for the unconditional release of all other hostages" in Iraq, the spokesman said.

Fox's organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, said Friday, "We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone."

Christian Peacemaker co-directors Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose said in a statement, "In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done."

"This guy was not after martyrdom by any means," said Paul Slattery of McLean, Va., who was a member of Fox's U.S.-based support team. "He actually believed in his heart that he would better them by his conviction and his beliefs and his skills, and I think largely succeeded.

"What he leaves behind is a tremendous challenge for the rest of us and a guiding force."

Fox was the one American among four Christian Peacemaker activists kidnapped last year in Iraq.

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera television aired footage of the three other activists purportedly appealing to their governments to secure their release.

The hostages seen in the brief video dated Feb. 28 were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74.

Allan Slater, a Canadian member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, said at the time that he was disturbed not to see Fox.

"We certainly are hopeful when we see three of our friends alive, but also it's very distressing that we didn't see Tom Fox, and I wouldn't want to hide that because I'm sure it's very distressful for Tom's family and friends as well," Slater told The Canadian Press from Baghdad.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four workers, who disappeared Nov. 26.

The four had not been heard from since a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera on Jan. 28, dated from a week before. A statement reportedly accompanying that tape said the hostages would be killed unless all Iraqi prisoners were released from U.S. and Iraqi prisons. No deadline was set.

Iraqi and Western security officials repeatedly warned the activists before their abduction that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad without bodyguards.

Christian Peacemaker Teams had been working in Iraq since October 2002, investigating allegations that U.S. and Iraqi forces abused Iraqi detainees. Its teams host human rights conferences in conflict zones, promoting peaceful solutions.

Slattery said Fox worked on three major projects: helping families of incarcerated Iraqis, escorting shipments of medicine to clinics and hospitals in Fallujah and helping form Islamic Peacemaker Teams.

In the three years since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, insurgents have kidnapped at least 250 foreigners and killed at least 40 of them.

In one of the most high-profile cases, Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Three videotapes of Carroll delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations identified the group holding her as the Revenge Brigades.

Carroll's kidnappers have publicly demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis, in Arabic, to "Please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll." The list of those kidnapped and killed in Iraq includes Margaret Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq and a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq; Ronald Schulz, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Nicholas Berg, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.; Jack Hensley, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.

Associated Press writer Dena Potter in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Christian Peacemaker Teams: http://www.cpt.org/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060311/...4yBHNlYwNmYw--

Jolie Rouge · 03-11-2006, 09:00 PM

Fox's Body Had Torture Marks, Iraqis Say
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An aid worker from Virginia taken hostage with three other peace activists was found dead near a railroad line in Baghdad with gunshots to his head and chest and signs of torture on his body, Iraqi police said Saturday.

Tom Fox, a 54-year-old member of Christian Peacemaker Teams from Clear Brook, Va., was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow captives, a Briton and two Canadians.

The U.S. command in Baghdad confirmed that Fox's body was picked up by American forces on Thursday evening, although it provided no information on the condition.

Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshot wounds to his head and chest. There were cuts on his body and bruises on his head, indicating torture, he said. The corpse was dressed in Iraqi-made clothing.

Fox's body was found near a railway line in Dawoudi, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area that has been largely shielded from violence. Shocked local residents on Saturday condemned Fox's abduction and killing.

"These acts are terrorist ones and will hinder the political process and distort the reputation of Iraq," said Dhamir al-Samaraie, who had come to see where Fox was found.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four Christian Peacemaker Teams members, who disappeared Nov. 26.

Three of them — Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74 — were seen in a video dated Feb. 28 that was broadcast Tuesday on Al-Jazeera television. Fox did not appear in the brief, silent videotape.

"We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone," Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose, co-directors of Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, said in a statement.

At least 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in the nearly three years since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, and at least 40 have been killed.

Americans killed were Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.; and Nicholas Berg, 26, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.

Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.

Carroll's kidnappers initially threatened to kill her unless all female detainees in Iraq are released. They later amended their demands, which have not been made public. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis to "please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll."

An Iraqi journalist, meanwhile, was gunned down on his way to work Saturday, becoming at least the fifth media figure killed since an outbreak of sectarian violence after the bombing late last month of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad.

Amjad Hameed, a journalist for Iraqiya television, was attacked by gunmen who shot him in the head and chest while he was being driven to his job. His driver, Anwar Turki, died later in the hospital.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Hameed, who was married and the father of three, was the 11th Iraqiya journalist killed since the channel opened shortly after Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion nearly three years ago.

Iraqiya is run by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and seen by minority Sunni Muslims as biased against them.

Two days ago, Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, 35, an anchorman for the Sunni-affiliated Baghdad TV, was shot dead while driving from Baghdad to Mosul, in the north, to interview poets. Baghdad TV is owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group.

On Feb. 22, the day bombers destroyed the golden dome atop the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Al-Arabiya journalist Atwar Bahjat, a Sunni, and two colleagues from a local media company went missing. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found a day later near Samarra.

In addition to Hameed and his driver, at least four other people were killed in drive-by shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital on Saturday, police said.

They included a human rights activist and his bodyguard, a lieutenant colonel in the Interior Ministry commando force, and a retired government employee gunned down near a Sunni mosque in south Baghdad.

___

Associated Press writers Alexandra Zavis and Jalal Mudhar contributed to this report from Baghdad.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...age/index.html

Jolie Rouge · 03-11-2006, 11:59 PM

Friends Remember Slain American Hostage

CLEAR BROOK, Va. - Just as they have done every Wednesday since Tom Fox was taken hostage in Iraq last year, fellow Quakers sat in silence Saturday evening praying this time not for him, but those who killed him.

More than 30 people gathered at the Hopewell Centre Meeting for a memorial service for Fox, whose body American forces picked up near a railroad in Baghdad on Thursday. He had apparently been tortured before he was shot in the head and chest.

Fox, 54, was the only American in a group of four Christian Peacemaker Teams members taken hostage last year by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.

The fate of the other hostages — James Loney, 41, of Toronto; Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Canadian electrical engineer; and Norman Kember, a 74-year-old retired British professor — is not known.

Bob Sekinger, a longtime member of the Hopewell Centre, where Fox would worship often when home from his four-month stints in Iraq, said Fox knew the dangers but considered his risks minimal compared to the number of Iraqis who had been killed.

"With him I pray for those who persecuted and killed him," Sekinger said. "I pray for the people of Iraq."

A binder filled with Fox's "notes from Iraq," including pictures, Web log entries and e-mails, the most recent dated Nov. 18, 2005 — eight days before his capture — sat on a table inside the meeting house, the Winchester Star reported.

"Tom was committed to his work in Iraq and gave his life in an attempt to bring justice and peace to the Iraqi people," the meeting said in a statement. "He was not naive about the dangers he faced; he felt that his work was of utmost importance and was willing to face those dangers with love and courage."

At Langley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, where Fox had been a member for many years, friends and those who knew Fox only through his blog entries gathered to remember him.

David Boynton, a member of Langley Hill Friends Meeting, told The Washington Post Fox wasn't the most charismatic speaker, but his passion for peace and the Iraqi people was inspiring.

"He was a man who listened to what God said and did it," Boynton said. "And that means any of us can do that."

Another memorial was planned at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, where Fox had been a student before going to Iraq in 2004.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060312/...tkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Jolie Rouge · 03-16-2006, 06:57 PM

The Tom Fox tragedy
Mar 14, 2006
by Cal Thomas

The death of "peace activist" Tom Fox, and the threatened execution of the three others held with him in Iraq, is doubly tragic.

It is tragic whenever an innocent person is murdered. It is also tragic because the likelihood that the presence of Fox and his colleagues would change the attitude or behavior of their captors was zero to none. That the "peace activists" believed their brand of Christianity would trump the fanatical Muslims who regarded them as infidels and worthy of death meant that Fox and the others would either be used for propaganda purposes by the enemies of freedom, or made to sacrifice their lives like animals on an ancient altar in the furtherance of the fanatics' dream of a theocratic state. In this instance they were used for both.

The motive of the activists was exposed in a statement from Christian Peacemakers Teams, under whose auspices Fox and the others traveled to Iraq. Spokeswoman Jessica Phillips said, "We believe that the root cause of the abduction of our colleagues is the U.S.- and British-led invasion and occupation of Iraq."

Strange thing about these peace movements: they rarely mobilize to oppose the killing, torture and imprisonment practiced by dictators. It is only when their own country attempts to end the oppression that the activists become active against America, not the initiators of evil. Peace, like happiness, is a byproduct, not a goal that can be unilaterally attained. Peace happens when evil is vanquished.

The theology of Christian Peacemaker Teams is as wrong as its politics. The statement about Fox's death claimed that Fox had a "firm opposition to all oppression and the recognition of God in everyone." Perhaps if Christian Peacemaker Teams had gone to Iraq during Saddam Hussein's murderous regime, or to China while Mao Zedong was slaughtering millions, or to Moscow while Josef Stalin practiced genocide on his people, or to any number of other capitals of carnage, they might be taken more seriously, though under those regimes they might have disappeared much quicker. Was God "in" these mass murderers, or was it Lucifer?

A far more credible and compelling insight about peace activism and its consequences comes from Charles M. Brown, who was 19 when he fought in Operation Desert Storm, a conflict that repelled Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. When Brown returned home, he worked in homeless shelters operated by liberal Catholic Worker activists and gravitated toward their position against U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for failing to comply with its promises to cease hostilities.

Brown says he traveled to Iraq in 1998 in order to see the effects of sanctions. He says he made two speaking tours of college campuses to denounce sanctions. When he tried to return to Iraq with a Chicago group called "Voices in the Wilderness," Brown says he was told by Iraqi government officials he could not speak about Saddam's "horrendous human rights record, (his) involvement with weapons of mass destruction (or) the dictatorial nature of the regime. We were allowed to speak only of one thing: the deprivations suffered by ordinary Iraqis under the sanctions regime."

Brown says he realized this was pure Baath Party propaganda: "As I came to see this as a complicity and collaboration with one of the most abusive dictatorships in the world, I tried to get the rest of my group to acknowledge that our close relationship with the regime damaged our credibility. I failed to persuade them, so I quit." His "Confessions of an Anti-Sanctions Activist," published in the summer 2003 issue of Middle East Quarterly, is sober reading for people who believe the United States is the problem and that evil people will be nice to us if we are nice to them.

It is too bad that Tom Fox and his three colleagues did not have an epiphany similar to that of Charles Brown.

Peace "activism" may make its practitioners feel good, or validate their belief that they are doing the will of God, but evil cannot be accommodated. Evil must be defeated if peace on earth is to exist. That Fox and his colleagues could not, or would not see this, is most tragic of all.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/colu...14/189678.html

mesue · 03-16-2006, 11:56 PM

Jolie I have been following this story for a long time. This is what Tom Fox wrote about the possibility of his being kidnapped and killed. To have his voice silenced is indeed a loss to us all.

Quote:

http://www.democracynow.org/article..../03/13/1429234
ISABELLA BATES: Tom wrote this statement, along with another member of the Christian Peacemakers Team, Matthew Chandler. I can only hope that Tom knew in some measure in his heart that this statement that he made as a solitary human being ignited the prayers of literally millions of people around the world who have been praying with him and for him during these hundred days. Just even today, we have received messages of prayers from Australia, from Germany, from England. The amplification of his work goes forward, but here's where it began.

”October 7, 2004. Statement of conviction. We members of Christian Peacemakers Teams in Iraq are aware of the many risks both Iraqis and internationals currently face. However, we are convinced at this time that the risks, while significant, do not outweigh our purpose in remaining. Many Iraqi friends and human rights workers have welcomed us as nonviolent independent presence. During the previous year, they asked us to tell their stories, since they could not easily be heard, nor could most flee to a safer country. We continue to act as a resource to connect citizens of Iraq with human rights organizations, both local and international, as well as accompanying them as they interact with the multinational military personnel and Iraqi provisional government officials.

”As Peacemaking Team, we need to cross boundaries, help soldiers and other armed actors be humane, and invite them to refuse unjust orders. We need to help preserve what is human in all of us and so offer glimpses of hope in a dark time.

”We reject kidnapping and hostage-taking wholesale. If any of us are taken hostage, absolutely no ransom will be paid. In such an event, C.P.T. will attempt to communicate with the hostage takers or their sponsors and work against journalists' inclinations to vilify and demonize the offenders. We will try to understand the motives of these actions and to articulate them, while maintaining a firm stance that such actions are wrong. If appropriate, C.P.T. will work with diplomatic officials from our representative governments to avoid a violent outcome. We reject the use of violent force to save our lives, should we be kidnapped, held hostage or caught in the middle of violent conflict situation.

”We also reject violence to punish anyone who harms us. We ask for equal justice in the arrest and trial of anyone, soldier or civilian, who commits an act of violence, and we ask that there be no retaliation on their relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. Therefore, any penalty should be in the spirit of restorative justice, rather than in the form of violent retribution. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.

”—Tom Fox and Matthew Chandler.”

Jolie Rouge · 03-17-2006, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mesue

Jolie I have been following this story for a long time. This is what Tom Fox wrote about the possibility of his being kidnapped and killed. To have his voice silenced is indeed a loss to us all.

ITA

Jolie Rouge · 03-25-2006, 12:19 AM

committed to reducing violence by "getting in the way" -- http://www.cpt.org/
23 March 2006, 9 p.m. ET

We have been so overwhelmed and overjoyed to have Jim, Harmeet and Norman freed, that we have not adequately thanked the people involved with freeing them, nor remembered those still in captivity. So we offer these paragraphs as the first of several addenda:

We are grateful to the soldiers who risked their lives to free Jim, Norman and Harmeet. As peacemakers who hold firm to our commitment to nonviolence, we are also deeply grateful that they fired no shots to free our colleagues. We are thankful to all the people who gave of themselves sacrificially to free Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom over the last four months, and those supporters who prayed and wept for our brothers in captivity, for their loved ones and for us, their co-workers.

We will continue to lift Jill Carroll up in our prayers for her safe return. In addition, we will continue to advocate for the human rights of Iraqi detainees and assert their right to due process in a just legal system.

So their idea of promoting peace is to {quote**"get in the way"{quote** ?
If you walk in the lions den; your gonna get bitten ( Daniel was a one in a gazillion ) If you walk into a war zone; you are going to get hurt, besides putting others at risk who feel that they have to save you from your own actions.

--------

Abdul Rahman - a worthwhile cause for CPT
http://mikesnoise.typepad.com/noisep...rahman_a_.html

As I blogged before, the Afghani government is apparently trying to use an insanity defense in order to find a face-saving way out of the embarrassing predicament of Abdul Rahman, who is currently under trial in Afghanistan's Muslim-influenced court system, charged with the crime of apostasy because he professes to be a Christian.

It's a clever tactic, but many in the Christian community (and elsewhere) are concerned that an automatic declaration of "insanity" for anyone in a Muslim nation who professes Christianity will be detrimental in the long run. Others see this is a blatant abuse of psychiatry.

And faithful Muslims in Afghanistan, determined to prevent any "Westernizing" or compromise of their beliefs, reject the "insanity" defense and are vowing to "pull him into pieces." The Washington Post quotes one Afghani cleric, "The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed." Rahman's life is definitely in danger.

So I'm going to make a suggestion. Christian Peacemaker Teams seems like the perfect organization to save Rahman. They should immediately send a delegation to Afghanistan to act as "human shields" protecting Abdul Rahman and securing safe passage out of the country for him. Then they can establish a safe house for Rahman and other persecuted Christians living in Muslim nations. In fact, they could make rescue and sanctuary work their primary mission in the Middle East.

Any one else agree? It's certainly a worthy cause.

Quote:

Gentlemen,

I am writing you on behalf of Abdul Rahman, who is currently on trial in Afghanistan, accused of apostasy because he publicly professed his belief in Jesus Christ. As you are all well aware, such a confession is punishable by death in an Islamic state.

I am writing you because I feel that Christian Peacemaker Teams should make every effort to see that Rahman is freed from prison, transported safely outside of Afghanistan, and given sanctuary. Given that your members have stood up to Israeli bulldozers and have been willing to act as "human shields" in order to prevent military action in Iraq, a task such as protecting Abdul Rahman should pose no great challenge nor offer any dangers that your team members are not willing to face.

Are you willing to "get in the way" of angry Muslims in order to save the life of an innocent Christian man? Will your organization commit itself to protecting and defending the thousands of Christians who live today as "dhimmis" in Muslim nations?

Thank you,

"Mike's Noise"

In case you are wondering "Who is Abdul Rahman "

Via VOA News http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-18-voa7.cfm

http://www.metimes.com/articles/nor...19-072838-8361r

http://forums.bigbigsavings.com/show...8#post95354968

Jolie Rouge · 03-30-2006, 11:19 PM

Spiegel reports on a day in the life of Afghanistan's Christians:

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...408781,00.html

Quote:

The locations of services change constantly as well, and they are always held in private homes, where everything has to be prepared well in advance. The household staff must be away; neighbors mustn't notice anything; and everyone has to have the 100 percent trust of everyone else. It is too dangerous to even have a Bible at most services, says Kabar, who knows his prayers by heart. Police have come and searched his house three times already, but failed to find anything incriminating. "They know I'm a Christian," he says. "But I won't give them any reason to put me on trial."
Even though Afghanistan has dismissed its case against Abdul Rahman, this is a cold comfort for Kabar. He and his friends fear that anger among Islamists over Rahman's release could spur them to take matters into their hands and act even more brutally toward converts. "Abdul Rahman's release is a good thing," he says. "But the international community needs to keep its eyes open."

03-11-2006, 12:58 AM	#1 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,944 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 732 Thanked 1,398 Times in 759 Posts	U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - An American who was among four Christian activists kidnapped last year in Iraq has been killed, a State Department spokesman said Friday. The FBI verified that a body found in Iraq Friday morning was that of Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., spokesman Noel Clay said. He said he had no information on the other three hostages. Clay said he did not know how Fox was killed but said additional forensics will be done in the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is investigating, he said. Fox's family has been notified, Clay said, and "our heartfelt condolences go out to them." "The State Department continues to call for the unconditional release of all other hostages" in Iraq, the spokesman said. Fox's organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, said Friday, "We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone." Christian Peacemaker co-directors Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose said in a statement, "In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done." "This guy was not after martyrdom by any means," said Paul Slattery of McLean, Va., who was a member of Fox's U.S.-based support team. "He actually believed in his heart that he would better them by his conviction and his beliefs and his skills, and I think largely succeeded. "What he leaves behind is a tremendous challenge for the rest of us and a guiding force." Fox was the one American among four Christian Peacemaker activists kidnapped last year in Iraq. On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera television aired footage of the three other activists purportedly appealing to their governments to secure their release. The hostages seen in the brief video dated Feb. 28 were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. Allan Slater, a Canadian member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, said at the time that he was disturbed not to see Fox. "We certainly are hopeful when we see three of our friends alive, but also it's very distressing that we didn't see Tom Fox, and I wouldn't want to hide that because I'm sure it's very distressful for Tom's family and friends as well," Slater told The Canadian Press from Baghdad. The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four workers, who disappeared Nov. 26. The four had not been heard from since a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera on Jan. 28, dated from a week before. A statement reportedly accompanying that tape said the hostages would be killed unless all Iraqi prisoners were released from U.S. and Iraqi prisons. No deadline was set. Iraqi and Western security officials repeatedly warned the activists before their abduction that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad without bodyguards. Christian Peacemaker Teams had been working in Iraq since October 2002, investigating allegations that U.S. and Iraqi forces abused Iraqi detainees. Its teams host human rights conferences in conflict zones, promoting peaceful solutions. Slattery said Fox worked on three major projects: helping families of incarcerated Iraqis, escorting shipments of medicine to clinics and hospitals in Fallujah and helping form Islamic Peacemaker Teams. In the three years since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, insurgents have kidnapped at least 250 foreigners and killed at least 40 of them. In one of the most high-profile cases, Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Three videotapes of Carroll delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations identified the group holding her as the Revenge Brigades. Carroll's kidnappers have publicly demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis, in Arabic, to "Please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll." The list of those kidnapped and killed in Iraq includes Margaret Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq and a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq; Ronald Schulz, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Nicholas Berg, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.; Jack Hensley, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich. Associated Press writer Dena Potter in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Christian Peacemaker Teams: http://www.cpt.org/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060311/...4yBHNlYwNmYw-- __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

03-11-2006, 09:00 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,944 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 732 Thanked 1,398 Times in 759 Posts	Re: U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq Fox's Body Had Torture Marks, Iraqis Say By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - An aid worker from Virginia taken hostage with three other peace activists was found dead near a railroad line in Baghdad with gunshots to his head and chest and signs of torture on his body, Iraqi police said Saturday. Tom Fox, a 54-year-old member of Christian Peacemaker Teams from Clear Brook, Va., was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow captives, a Briton and two Canadians. The U.S. command in Baghdad confirmed that Fox's body was picked up by American forces on Thursday evening, although it provided no information on the condition. Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshot wounds to his head and chest. There were cuts on his body and bruises on his head, indicating torture, he said. The corpse was dressed in Iraqi-made clothing. Fox's body was found near a railway line in Dawoudi, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area that has been largely shielded from violence. Shocked local residents on Saturday condemned Fox's abduction and killing. "These acts are terrorist ones and will hinder the political process and distort the reputation of Iraq," said Dhamir al-Samaraie, who had come to see where Fox was found. The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four Christian Peacemaker Teams members, who disappeared Nov. 26. Three of them — Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74 — were seen in a video dated Feb. 28 that was broadcast Tuesday on Al-Jazeera television. Fox did not appear in the brief, silent videotape. "We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone," Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose, co-directors of Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, said in a statement. At least 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in the nearly three years since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, and at least 40 have been killed. Americans killed were Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.; and Nicholas Berg, 26, a businessman from West Chester, Pa. Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations. Carroll's kidnappers initially threatened to kill her unless all female detainees in Iraq are released. They later amended their demands, which have not been made public. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis to "please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll." An Iraqi journalist, meanwhile, was gunned down on his way to work Saturday, becoming at least the fifth media figure killed since an outbreak of sectarian violence after the bombing late last month of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad. Amjad Hameed, a journalist for Iraqiya television, was attacked by gunmen who shot him in the head and chest while he was being driven to his job. His driver, Anwar Turki, died later in the hospital. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Hameed, who was married and the father of three, was the 11th Iraqiya journalist killed since the channel opened shortly after Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion nearly three years ago. Iraqiya is run by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and seen by minority Sunni Muslims as biased against them. Two days ago, Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, 35, an anchorman for the Sunni-affiliated Baghdad TV, was shot dead while driving from Baghdad to Mosul, in the north, to interview poets. Baghdad TV is owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group. On Feb. 22, the day bombers destroyed the golden dome atop the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Al-Arabiya journalist Atwar Bahjat, a Sunni, and two colleagues from a local media company went missing. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found a day later near Samarra. In addition to Hameed and his driver, at least four other people were killed in drive-by shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital on Saturday, police said. They included a human rights activist and his bodyguard, a lieutenant colonel in the Interior Ministry commando force, and a retired government employee gunned down near a Sunni mosque in south Baghdad. ___ Associated Press writers Alexandra Zavis and Jalal Mudhar contributed to this report from Baghdad. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...age/index.html __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

03-11-2006, 11:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,944 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 732 Thanked 1,398 Times in 759 Posts	Re: U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq Friends Remember Slain American Hostage CLEAR BROOK, Va. - Just as they have done every Wednesday since Tom Fox was taken hostage in Iraq last year, fellow Quakers sat in silence Saturday evening praying this time not for him, but those who killed him. More than 30 people gathered at the Hopewell Centre Meeting for a memorial service for Fox, whose body American forces picked up near a railroad in Baghdad on Thursday. He had apparently been tortured before he was shot in the head and chest. Fox, 54, was the only American in a group of four Christian Peacemaker Teams members taken hostage last year by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The fate of the other hostages — James Loney, 41, of Toronto; Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Canadian electrical engineer; and Norman Kember, a 74-year-old retired British professor — is not known. Bob Sekinger, a longtime member of the Hopewell Centre, where Fox would worship often when home from his four-month stints in Iraq, said Fox knew the dangers but considered his risks minimal compared to the number of Iraqis who had been killed. "With him I pray for those who persecuted and killed him," Sekinger said. "I pray for the people of Iraq." A binder filled with Fox's "notes from Iraq," including pictures, Web log entries and e-mails, the most recent dated Nov. 18, 2005 — eight days before his capture — sat on a table inside the meeting house, the Winchester Star reported. "Tom was committed to his work in Iraq and gave his life in an attempt to bring justice and peace to the Iraqi people," the meeting said in a statement. "He was not naive about the dangers he faced; he felt that his work was of utmost importance and was willing to face those dangers with love and courage." At Langley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, where Fox had been a member for many years, friends and those who knew Fox only through his blog entries gathered to remember him. David Boynton, a member of Langley Hill Friends Meeting, told The Washington Post Fox wasn't the most charismatic speaker, but his passion for peace and the Iraqi people was inspiring. "He was a man who listened to what God said and did it," Boynton said. "And that means any of us can do that." Another memorial was planned at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, where Fox had been a student before going to Iraq in 2004. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060312/...tkBHNlYwM3MTg- __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

03-16-2006, 06:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,944 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 732 Thanked 1,398 Times in 759 Posts	Re: U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq The Tom Fox tragedy Mar 14, 2006 by Cal Thomas The death of "peace activist" Tom Fox, and the threatened execution of the three others held with him in Iraq, is doubly tragic. It is tragic whenever an innocent person is murdered. It is also tragic because the likelihood that the presence of Fox and his colleagues would change the attitude or behavior of their captors was zero to none. That the "peace activists" believed their brand of Christianity would trump the fanatical Muslims who regarded them as infidels and worthy of death meant that Fox and the others would either be used for propaganda purposes by the enemies of freedom, or made to sacrifice their lives like animals on an ancient altar in the furtherance of the fanatics' dream of a theocratic state. In this instance they were used for both. The motive of the activists was exposed in a statement from Christian Peacemakers Teams, under whose auspices Fox and the others traveled to Iraq. Spokeswoman Jessica Phillips said, "We believe that the root cause of the abduction of our colleagues is the U.S.- and British-led invasion and occupation of Iraq." Strange thing about these peace movements: they rarely mobilize to oppose the killing, torture and imprisonment practiced by dictators. It is only when their own country attempts to end the oppression that the activists become active against America, not the initiators of evil. Peace, like happiness, is a byproduct, not a goal that can be unilaterally attained. Peace happens when evil is vanquished. The theology of Christian Peacemaker Teams is as wrong as its politics. The statement about Fox's death claimed that Fox had a "firm opposition to all oppression and the recognition of God in everyone." Perhaps if Christian Peacemaker Teams had gone to Iraq during Saddam Hussein's murderous regime, or to China while Mao Zedong was slaughtering millions, or to Moscow while Josef Stalin practiced genocide on his people, or to any number of other capitals of carnage, they might be taken more seriously, though under those regimes they might have disappeared much quicker. Was God "in" these mass murderers, or was it Lucifer? A far more credible and compelling insight about peace activism and its consequences comes from Charles M. Brown, who was 19 when he fought in Operation Desert Storm, a conflict that repelled Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. When Brown returned home, he worked in homeless shelters operated by liberal Catholic Worker activists and gravitated toward their position against U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for failing to comply with its promises to cease hostilities. Brown says he traveled to Iraq in 1998 in order to see the effects of sanctions. He says he made two speaking tours of college campuses to denounce sanctions. When he tried to return to Iraq with a Chicago group called "Voices in the Wilderness," Brown says he was told by Iraqi government officials he could not speak about Saddam's "horrendous human rights record, (his) involvement with weapons of mass destruction (or) the dictatorial nature of the regime. We were allowed to speak only of one thing: the deprivations suffered by ordinary Iraqis under the sanctions regime." Brown says he realized this was pure Baath Party propaganda: "As I came to see this as a complicity and collaboration with one of the most abusive dictatorships in the world, I tried to get the rest of my group to acknowledge that our close relationship with the regime damaged our credibility. I failed to persuade them, so I quit." His "Confessions of an Anti-Sanctions Activist," published in the summer 2003 issue of Middle East Quarterly, is sober reading for people who believe the United States is the problem and that evil people will be nice to us if we are nice to them. It is too bad that Tom Fox and his three colleagues did not have an epiphany similar to that of Charles Brown. Peace "activism" may make its practitioners feel good, or validate their belief that they are doing the will of God, but evil cannot be accommodated. Evil must be defeated if peace on earth is to exist. That Fox and his colleagues could not, or would not see this, is most tragic of all. http://www.townhall.com/opinion/colu...14/189678.html __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode