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Finally Free
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| E2EK1EL |
http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Sto...23-002/page.asp
They’re alive.
They’re safe.
They’re free.
And soon, they’ll be home.
Two Canadians and a British hostage were rescued in Iraq Thursday, after a dramatic raid by multinational forces located the men.
They’d been held for almost four months, taken by a shadowy group known as the Swords of Righteousness Brigades.
James Loney of Toronto, Harmeet Singh Sooden of Montreal and British citizen Norman Kember were in the country with the Christian Peacemaker Teams, a religious organization designed to help oppressed Iraqi citizens.
The group held an early morning press conference in Toronto, with spokesman Doug Pritchard saying he was “overjoyed” when he learned what happened.
"I cannot think of better news to be woken up with the middle of the night," he beams.
That's how Vancouver’s Donna Laframboise, the sister-in-law of Jim Loney, feels, too. She knew something big was up when her phone rang early in the morning. "We hugged each other and there were a few tears of joy,” she relates about how the family celebrated the news.
There are few details yet about how the rescue happened. There were no shots fired and it appears the hostage takers weren’t brought to justice – it’s said they weren’t present when the troops, made up of U.S., British and Iraqi forces, stormed in.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will only say the rescue has been in the works for “weeks and weeks”, but offered few other facts.
Those facts don't matter much to Pritchard right now. He's just relieved his friends are safe.
“Christian Peacemaker Teams rejoices with their families and their friends in the expectation of the return of their loved ones," he relates.
"We have endured uncertainty, hope, fear, grief and now joy during the four months since they were abducted in Baghdad."
The captives were said to require some kind of hospital treatment, although whether they had any serious medical conditions or were simply being checked over isn’t clear.
Loney phoned his family in Canada to tell them he was O.K., a call his relatives – and much of the world – had been praying for since he was taken off the streets of Baghdad on November 26th of last year.
The good news is tempered with the bad – one of the Team members didn’t make it home. The body of American Tom Fox was found earlier this month.
He’d been executed and his body dumped somewhere in Iraq.
"We remember with tears Tom Fox, whose body was found in Baghdad on March 9th … We had longed for the day when all four men would be released together," Pritchard states.
"Our gladness today is bittersweet by the fact that Tom is not alive to join his colleagues in this celebration. However we are confident that his spirit is very much present in each of the reunions today and to come."
On March 7th, another videotape of the remaining trio was released, and despite earlier mentions of ‘deadlines’ demanding the release of Iraqi insurgents, there was no added sense of urgency.
The fact that Fox was missing was an ominous sign and his death only added to the heartbreak of the remaining families waiting for word back home.
That word finally came Thursday to their great joy and relief.
Pritchard notes his people had no advance word of the raid and doesn’t know where the men were found.
He credits the worldwide outpouring of support from members of all religions for saving them, and admits he’s not sure if his group will be back in Iraq soon, pledging to have ‘consultations’ with local authorities there before deciding if its charitable work will continue. |
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| Moral Hazard |
This is indeed excellent news. Cudos to the British and US service men and women that executed this rescue.
I listened to Doug Pritchard's press conference today and must say I was rather disappointed. Mr. Pritchard went out of his way to thank everyone except the soldiers that rescued his compatriates, in fact, he went out of his way to critisize the ocupation of Iraq citing it as the only reason for the abduction. While I agree that the war should not have happened I cannot agree with Mr. Pritchard's total dismissal of the courageous actions of the multinational force that freed his members. It's understandable that a pacifist group is not likely to thank the military, however, Mr. Pritchard would be well served to remember that while Jesus preached pacifism Peter was always near by with a sword on his hip. Peace cannot be acheived or maintained without the ability to exert force and those that stand at the ready to protect us deserve our thanks and support. |
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