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~~~snip~~~ ....Men caught repeatedly smoking have their index fingers rammed into metal pipes and then snapped, while cigarette shops have been torched. The rules have often been taken to absurd extremes. Greengrocers in the “caliphate” told The Times that they had been ordered not to sell bananas in public because they were deemed obscene, while cucumbers could not be sold next to tomatoes, which are deemed to represent femininity. At the most extreme, shepherds have been ordered to cover the nether regions of their goats to avoid offending strict Salafist sensibilities. ~~~snip~~~

In those days Christian Peacemaker Teams went down unto the land of Iraq and made rude noises against George Bush. For hark, they said, is it not the voice of the Lord saying go ye and protest against those who have overthrown the bloody warmongering tyrant Saddam Hussein, which for a reason that passeth all explanation was not good? Yea, they said, it must be that the Lord wishes us to do so, for this instruction seemeth to emanate from our own navels and whence else has ever come to us the Word of God? And many liberals who had...

Pacifist group revealed as moral imbeciles By Ian Robinson When the three Western hostages were rescued by coalition forces in Iraq last week and returned to Canada, was I the only one who was disappointed? Was I the only one who thought: Dear Lord. Is THIS what all the fuss was about? These smarmy, international busybodies, the Gladys Kravitzes of the Iraq occupation, peering out at the world from behind the curtains with their pursed little disapproving lips? These sanctimonious, reality challenged little creeps? And even after the release, the organization to which they're attached was still taking metaphorical shots...

The Christian Peacemaker Teams are up to their usual ungrateful tricks. Not only do some CPT activists still refuse to show any gratitude toward the coalition soldiers and spies who helped rescue three of their members in Iraq last week, one of the hostages -- Canadian Harmeet Sooden -- is now even insisting the entire rescue mission was "contrived," presumably to give the coalition a public relations boost amid continued bad news about the insurgency in that country. Speaking in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, Mr. Sooden insisted it was "highly likely, highly probable" that a ransom had been paid for...

My previous column was about the Christian Peacemakers and how enormous amounts of money and time were spent on rescuing them from their largely pointless and acutely political intervention in Iraq. I also said their ultimately selfish antics distracted from the genuine need to help Iraqis and that because these men were western and middle class, they received special treatment in the media. A week later, it is clear that Canadian James Loney in particular has been treated with a generosity and credulity that is at times quite bizarre. Please, in the name of common sense, can we stop claiming...

Pardon me if I don't cheer for the three survivors of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) freed in Iraq, whom I consider misguided, arrogant and foolish and who cause more problems than they solve. Of course, I never wished them dead and, like everyone else, am relieved they were rescued from a situation they brought on themselves. Four of them were kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26. Their American colleague was murdered because of his nationality. Nice guys. Not all of the 400 or so who've been kidnapped in Iraq escaped so lightly. In Sault Ste. Marie, Jim Loney's mother calls...

This is a transcript of a statement made by James Loney upon his return from Iraq, where he had been held hostage for nearly four months. Loney made the statement on March 26 at Pearson International Airport. I heard there might be some interest in my arrival so I wrote down a couple thoughts. I’ll just read it so I can get through. During my captivity I sometimes entertained myself by imagining this day. Sometimes I despaired of ever seeing it. Always I ached for it. And so, here we are. For 118 days I disappeared into a black hole...

Iraq's embassy to Canada lashed out at the Christian Peacemaker Teams Friday, calling them "phoney pacifists" and "dupes" after the antiwar group responded to the rescue of three of its kidnapped activists by condemning the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq. The Iraqi embassy called CPT "willfully ignorant" and "outrageous," and accused the Chicago-based group of being on the side of anti- democratic forces in Iraq. "The Christian Peacemaker Teams practises the kind of politics that automatically nominate them as dupes for jihadism and fascism," the embassy's statement said. A British-led special forces team on Thursday rescued three CPT members, who...

It is wonderful news that three members of what are known as Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), two of them Canadian, were freed in Iraq this week after being held hostage since before Christmas. Yet some questions certainly need to be asked. What, for example, were these men doing there in the first place? They were warned of the dangers -- more than 400 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq and 55 of them murdered. Nor do they seem to have achieved anything of importance. This immoral war is more brutal than ever and there is no peace in the specific...

Freed hostage will arrive home today amid growing concern, report our correspondents  Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him.   Neither Professor Kember nor the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) organisation for whom he worked have acknowledged the work of the soldiers who rescued him and two Canadian hostages on Thursday, or of the teams of military and intelligence officials who spent months trying to track them down.   General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army, expressed the...

All the remaining members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams held hostage in Iraq were rescued by multinational forces. In a statement describing their release the organization said: Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been freed safely in Baghdad. ... They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2006 – Coalition forces rescued three hostages held by terrorists in Iraq since November in an early morning raid today, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said. "Based on intelligence that we recovered over the last 36 hours, an operation was planned and conducted, and those three hostages were rescued," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said during a briefing from Baghdad. "I'm happy to report all three are in good condition." The hostages, Christian peace activists, have undergone medical screening and are anxious to be reunited with their families, Lynch said. A fourth hostage, and the only American...

CPT Statement:  CPTers Released23 March 2006Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad. Christian Peacemaker Teams rejoices with their families and friends at the expectation of their return to their loved ones and community. Together we have endured uncertainty, hope, fear, grief and now joy during the four months since they were abducted in Baghdad. We rejoice in the return of Harmeet Sooden. He has been willing to put his life on the line to promote justice in Iraq and Palestine as a...

Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were freed after a multinational military raid acting on information provided by a detainee, the US military says. The rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present, suggesting the operation was carefully planned and carried out. But the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night. One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal....

MetroSource News 03/23/2006 02:32:46 Iraq Christians Freed URGENT >>Christian Aid Workers Freed In Iraq (Baghdad) -- Three Christian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq have been freed following what's being described as "a planned operation mounted by the Multinational Forces in Iraq." The British Embassy has confirmed that Briton Norman Kember and two Canadian nationals -- Harmeet Sooden and Jim Loney are being evaluated by doctors and are currently in the care of consular staff. The three men were taken hostage along with a fourth member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in late November. The body of Tom Fox, a native...

ARLINGTON, VA. -- 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Fox and the others would either be used for propaganda...

Kidnappers of four Christian peace activists including two Canadians threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners are released from Iraqi and U.S. prisons, according to a new tape broadcast Saturday. Al-Jazeera TV aired a tape dated Jan. 21 showing Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, along with an American and a British co-worker. The four members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams disappeared in Baghdad on Nov. 26.

Baghdad -- The day after Christmas, as reporter Phil Sands was driving to an interview in a desolate Baghdad neighborhood, two luxury sedans suddenly blocked the way, forcing Sands' driver to stop. About 10 men in ski-masks and AK-47 rifles piled out and swarmed around his car. Sands' translator and driver got out. The masked men pushed them to the ground and handcuffed them. When Sands got out of the car, the men pulled his wool hat down onto his eyes, handcuffed him, stuffed him into the trunk of one of the cars, and sped off. Sands recalled thinking, "I'm...

(IsraelNN.com) Some of the members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams kidnapped in Iraq were previously stationed in Hevron, where members of the local Jewish community say they interfered with security forces and incited local Arabs against Jews living in the city.Fariel Abu Haikel, Headmistress at Kurtuba Girls School in Hevron praised the work of the volunteers and asked that the Iraqi terrorists that kidnapped them set them free. “As a women who works with them, I send my call for the Iraqi resistance to release these people because CPT are very important people for us. To Bush I say that...

Michele Naar-Obed knows she will not stop the war in Iraq by walking the streets of Baghdad, unarmed and unguarded, calling for an end to the violence, but she considers it her duty to try. She is 49 years old, a mother, a wife, a pacifist who can't stand to be passive. Soldiers put their lives on the line for their country; she will risk hers too, in pursuit of peace. Four of her colleagues in the pacifist movement were kidnapped in Baghdad late last month. The men — fellow members of Christian Peacemaker Teams — have been threatened with...