Kember affirms gratitude for Iraq kidnap freeing
-15/04/06
Dr Norman Kember, the Briti
Kember affirms gratitude for Iraq kidnap freeing
-15/04/06
Dr Norman Kember, the British peace campaigner who was kidnapped with three colleagues and held for four months in Baghdad, was interviewed in depth for the first time last Thursday, by BBC journalist Feargal Keane.
In the interview, which will be broadcast this morning on BBC Radio4 at 9 AM (UK time), Dr Kember, aged 74, from North West London, speaks openly of his gratitude to the soldiers who freed him and two Canadians, Jim Loney and Harmeet Sooden, on 23 March.
He tells a special addition of the Taking a Stand programme that the whole kidnapping experience felt “unreal”.
The Christian Peacemaker Teams delegate also says that when he and his two colleagues were rescued in Baghdad by British Special Forces they asked specifically for “Mr Kember”.
American Tom Fox, aged 54, was killed weeks before the rescue ñ apparently by different but related groups, though the details remain obscure, and it seems that the kidnap victims may still be unaware of the wider circumstances.
Dr Kember, who was accused by commentators of being ungrateful towards his freers, in spite of repeated public statements from Christian Peacemaker Teams from the day of his arrest, said he “continues to thank” his rescuers.
He will say on the BBC this morning: “They were brave. I disagree with their profession, but it is ironic isn’t it – you go as a peace activist and you are rescued by the SAS, which is perhaps the most violent of all the British forces.î
In the end the freeing of Dr Kember and his colleagues took place without violence, a point which has been overlooked in many reports of the incident.
In accordance with their principles, and in order not to endanger other lives, CPT and its volunteers explicitly requested that in the event of kidnap military means should not be used to secure their release.
It also appears that their own resourcefulness played a large role in keeping them alive.
There were numerous appeals, including ones made by Muslim militants, for the freeing of the men throughout their captivity. CPT cooperated with civilian, though not military, investigators.
In his BBC interview, Dr Kember says. ìI met one of them [the soldiers] by chance on the way out of Baghdad and he was quite happy to chat to me and I was happy to chat to him.”
Dr Kember tells the BBC’s Feargal Keane this morning how the kidnap of the four men began.
“We got in our car, the four of us with a driver and a translator, and we were just driving out towards the main road when a car stopped in front of us.”
He said “out popped four men with guns, pushed out the driver and the translator and took over the car and told Jim to lie on the floor and pointed guns at us, and off we were driven.
“It was sort of an odd feeling, ‘Is this actually happening to me?’ It seemed unreal. I do not think I was frightened. It was just unreal, ‘This is what a kidnap is all about’.
“They drove us not very far but tried to throw us off the scent – where we were – by driving round the block three or four times. I remember seeing the same boys playing football twice.”
The peace activist said they were then “driven through a big iron gate and into a fairly secure house. We were taken in, sat down, and we were handcuffed fairly soon after that.
“We were sat as a row, either four of us or three of us, handcuffed together, and that is where we sat for about 12 hours a day.”
Dr Kember said they were kept in a room with a window that was closed, except in the morning when one of their captors would “open the window a bit to let some fresh air in.
“Then we would see a bit of sunlight, but of course the windows had bars on the outside.
“We had this sort of futon thing on the floor, and we were lying there, and suddenly we heard noise outside and then somebody calling out and then the breaking of glass and then up the stairs came these SAS gents.
“It’s unbelievable because it was so sudden and first of all, because they were British, they wanted to know if ‘Mr Kember’ was there, and I said, ‘Yes’ and then they said, because I was the person at that stage chained to the door, ‘This is a bolt-cutter job,’ so they went down and cut the padlock and released me.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Kember notes irony of non-violent release by soldiers 15/04/06; Christian peacemaker Norman Kember to give first major interview tomorrow 14/04/06; CPT in Iraq: What now? 04/04/06 – Peggy Gish reflects on the future of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. Briefing on media accusations against Christian Peacemaker Teams – detailed background; Contending the logic of violence – Ekklesia’s Simon Barrow says that true Christian peacemaking cannot afford naivete]
Kember affirms gratitude for Iraq kidnap freeing
-15/04/06
Dr Norman Kember, the British peace campaigner who was kidnapped with three colleagues and held for four months in Baghdad, was interviewed in depth for the first time last Thursday, by BBC journalist Feargal Keane.
In the interview, which will be broadcast this morning on BBC Radio4 at 9 AM (UK time), Dr Kember, aged 74, from North West London, speaks openly of his gratitude to the soldiers who freed him and two Canadians, Jim Loney and Harmeet Sooden, on 23 March.
He tells a special addition of the Taking a Stand programme that the whole kidnapping experience felt “unreal”.
The Christian Peacemaker Teams delegate also says that when he and his two colleagues were rescued in Baghdad by British Special Forces they asked specifically for “Mr Kember”.
American Tom Fox, aged 54, was killed weeks before the rescue ñ apparently by different but related groups, though the details remain obscure, and it seems that the kidnap victims may still be unaware of the wider circumstances.
Dr Kember, who was accused by commentators of being ungrateful towards his freers, in spite of repeated public statements from Christian Peacemaker Teams from the day of his arrest, said he “continues to thank” his rescuers.
He will say on the BBC this morning: “They were brave. I disagree with their profession, but it is ironic isn’t it – you go as a peace activist and you are rescued by the SAS, which is perhaps the most violent of all the British forces.î
In the end the freeing of Dr Kember and his colleagues took place without violence, a point which has been overlooked in many reports of the incident.
In accordance with their principles, and in order not to endanger other lives, CPT and its volunteers explicitly requested that in the event of kidnap military means should not be used to secure their release.
It also appears that their own resourcefulness played a large role in keeping them alive.
There were numerous appeals, including ones made by Muslim militants, for the freeing of the men throughout their captivity. CPT cooperated with civilian, though not military, investigators.
In his BBC interview, Dr Kember says. ìI met one of them [the soldiers] by chance on the way out of Baghdad and he was quite happy to chat to me and I was happy to chat to him.”
Dr Kember tells the BBC’s Feargal Keane this morning how the kidnap of the four men began.
“We got in our car, the four of us with a driver and a translator, and we were just driving out towards the main road when a car stopped in front of us.”
He said “out popped four men with guns, pushed out the driver and the translator and took over the car and told Jim to lie on the floor and pointed guns at us, and off we were driven.
“It was sort of an odd feeling, ‘Is this actually happening to me?’ It seemed unreal. I do not think I was frightened. It was just unreal, ‘This is what a kidnap is all about’.
“They drove us not very far but tried to throw us off the scent – where we were – by driving round the block three or four times. I remember seeing the same boys playing football twice.”
The peace activist said they were then “driven through a big iron gate and into a fairly secure house. We were taken in, sat down, and we were handcuffed fairly soon after that.
“We were sat as a row, either four of us or three of us, handcuffed together, and that is where we sat for about 12 hours a day.”
Dr Kember said they were kept in a room with a window that was closed, except in the morning when one of their captors would “open the window a bit to let some fresh air in.
“Then we would see a bit of sunlight, but of course the windows had bars on the outside.
“We had this sort of futon thing on the floor, and we were lying there, and suddenly we heard noise outside and then somebody calling out and then the breaking of glass and then up the stairs came these SAS gents.
“It’s unbelievable because it was so sudden and first of all, because they were British, they wanted to know if ‘Mr Kember’ was there, and I said, ‘Yes’ and then they said, because I was the person at that stage chained to the door, ‘This is a bolt-cutter job,’ so they went down and cut the padlock and released me.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Kember notes irony of non-violent release by soldiers 15/04/06; Christian peacemaker Norman Kember to give first major interview tomorrow 14/04/06; CPT in Iraq: What now? 04/04/06 – Peggy Gish reflects on the future of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. Briefing on media accusations against Christian Peacemaker Teams – detailed background; Contending the logic of violence – Ekklesia’s Simon Barrow says that true Christian peacemaking cannot afford naivete]