Nonviolent release for Christian peacemakers
-23/03/06
In an amazing twist, early indic
Nonviolent release for Christian peacemakers
-23/03/06
In an amazing twist, early indications suggest that Christian Peacemakers – Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden – were freed nonviolently after information provided by a detainee,
The Christian peacemakers are themselves committed to nonviolence and spent much of their time working for the human rights of Iraqi detainees.
The US military has said that the rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present.
They have also suggested that a crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came after two men were taken into custody by US forces on Wednesday night.
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It is not yet known the extent to which the work of the Christian peacemakers on behalf of detainees and the immense goodwill that their work generated in Iraq, played a part in the gaining of the information that led to their release.
One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal.
“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.
“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.
In a telephone conversation with a friend, Mr Loney is said to have described the kidnappers as a criminal gang.
Gen Lynch described the men thought to be responsible as “a kidnapping cell that has been robust over the last several months in conducting these kind of kidnappings”.
Christian Peacemaker Peggy Gish has confirmed that the CPT Team had repeatedly insisted it did not want violence used to release its captives. That was also a pledge made by Kember, Loney, Sooden and Fox.
Nonviolent release for Christian peacemakers
-23/03/06
In an amazing twist, early indications suggest that Christian Peacemakers – Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden – were freed nonviolently after information provided by a detainee,
The Christian peacemakers are themselves committed to nonviolence and spent much of their time working for the human rights of Iraqi detainees.
The US military has said that the rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present.
They have also suggested that a crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came after two men were taken into custody by US forces on Wednesday night.
Related Articles
It is not yet known the extent to which the work of the Christian peacemakers on behalf of detainees and the immense goodwill that their work generated in Iraq, played a part in the gaining of the information that led to their release.
One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal.
“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.
“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.
In a telephone conversation with a friend, Mr Loney is said to have described the kidnappers as a criminal gang.
Gen Lynch described the men thought to be responsible as “a kidnapping cell that has been robust over the last several months in conducting these kind of kidnappings”.
Christian Peacemaker Peggy Gish has confirmed that the CPT Team had repeatedly insisted it did not want violence used to release its captives. That was also a pledge made by Kember, Loney, Sooden and Fox.