Fate of four peace activists kidnapped in Iraq unknown

By Russell Working

January 3, 2006

CHICAGO -- Nearly three weeks after kidnappers vowed to kill four peace workers in Baghdad if all Iraqi prisoners weren't released, there has been no word from the kidnappers or their hostages.

The uncertain fate of the four hostages didn't stop Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams from sending another activist to Iraq on Friday for a six-week stay. Another team plans to visit the country in May.

"It's a commitment that I made to the Christian Peacemaker Teams when I became a [CPT] reservist," said Duluth, Minn., resident Michele Naar-Obed, who works at a Catholic Worker house that provides shelter and food for needy people. "I believe strongly that we have to have an alternative to warmaking as our means of solving conflict."

The November kidnapping - by a previously unknown group called Swords of Righteousness Brigade - stunned the peace group, which has roots in the traditionally pacifist Mennonite and Brethren Churches and has sought to build ties with Iraqis of all religions.

Family members and colleagues are spending the holidays worrying and praying for the safety of hostages Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va.; Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. They say they interpret the silence as a sign that the kidnappers haven't carried out their death threat.

Family members say they hope the kidnappers have hesitated after an outpouring of support for the hostages. On the eve of the execution deadline, Iraqi Sunni clerics pleaded for the hostages' lives during worship services, and Palestinian groups have held vigils.

The Muslim Association of Britain appealed for the hostages' release from the Qatar headquarters of Al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network. An Islamist with reputed al-Qaida connections who is detained in Britain recorded a plea for their freedom.

Carol Rose, co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, has been to Iraq. She said the group has been moved by the statements of support from Muslims around the world.

"Muslim clerics and other Muslim leaders have called for the release of these Christians," she said. "Have we spent anywhere near the moral capital calling for the release of Iraqi prisoners?"

Christian Peacemaker Teams was among the first groups to document abuse of prisoners in U.S. facilities in Iraq, in 2003. It has tried to communicate with the kidnappers but is tight-lipped about the avenues used.

"We are pursuing nonviolent diplomatic opportunities," Rose said.

For Naar-Obed, 49, the trip to Iraq is a part of a longtime commitment to peacemaking. Within weeks of her 1993 wedding, she, her husband and a fellow protester donned hardhats, sneaked into a Virginia shipyard and poured their blood over a submarine. Then they handed "indictments" to the bewildered shipworkers before being arrested.

She has also been to Iraq with other peace groups. On this trip, she is leaving behind her husband, Greg Boertje-Obed, and her 11-year-old daughter, Rachel.

During one visit, she was in an accident in a car that also contained one of the men now held hostage. They were rushed to a hospital they had visited that day.

"We didn't have any family there, but people began arriving almost immediately with bags of food and a chicken," she said. "And just the outpouring of concern and support from the people there was just overwhelming."

For families of the hostages, Christmas was a rough time, said Ed Loney, James Loney's brother. The exchange of gifts felt empty while his brother was held in Iraq, he said. Relatives also recalled that James Loney's "radical" interpretation of Christianity influenced them.

"Spiritually, it was sort of cleaning," Loney said. "We had a good cry and shared some great stories reflecting on Jim. ... We were hoping that the people who had my brother were treating him well."

Families have sent pleas to the kidnappers, but they haven't attempted to contact them, leaving that in the hands of diplomats and nongovernmental organizations such as Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Loney said he hopes the captors have come to understand that the people they are holding have opposed the war and have worked for the release of Iraqi prisoners.

"The outcry in Iraq and in Palestine and the Middle East in general is pretty substantial," Loney said. "They really do have the wrong people in captivity."

Russell Working writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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