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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (18914)	3/24/2006 10:49:00 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Ingrates to Their Very Souls BY JAMES TARANTO Best of the Web Today Thursday, March 23, 2006 2:56 p.m. EST Why won't the Christian "Peacekeepers" thank those who rescued their comrades from terrorists? Their twisted theology may not allow it. Some good news from Iraq: "U.S. and British forces freed one Briton and two Canadians early Thursday in a military operation, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street earlier this month," the Associated Press reports. The ex-hostages belong to the Christian Peacemaker Teams, a group that--well, let's let the CPT explain for itself in a statement issued today: <<< [The ex-hostages] were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. 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 that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end. Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families. . . . We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq. During these past months, we have tasted of the pain that has been the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Why have our loved ones been taken? Where are they being held? Under what conditions? How are they? Will they be released? When? >>> It's not clear whom the CPT statement means by "our enemies." But the only enemy they seem to recognize is the U.S. and its allies, whose "occupation" of Iraq is the "root cause" of the ex-hostages' captivity, and whose detention of "thousands of Iraqis" they liken to their own kidnapping and (in one case) murder by terrorists. But if the CPT is going to "love our enemies," the least it could do is thank them. The statement does not acknowledge that the hostages were rescued by U.S. and British servicemen, or indeed that they were rescued at all; it refers mysteriously to their having been "released," as if the kidnappers themselves had decided to let them go. This seems to run deeper than a case of simple ingratitude. There is a whole strange worldview at work here--a theology, if you will. We don't claim to understand it fully, but it seems to equate America as the root of all evil and America's adversaries as Edenic creatures--innocents who know not good or evil and thus bear no culpability for their bad actions. If we have this right, it follows that the CPT Christians see themselves, by virtue of their faith, as being forgiven for being American, or for being from another nation that America has corrupted. This is why they cannot be grateful to, or forgiving of, America: For them that would amount to thanking or forgiving sin itself. opinionjournal.com hindu.com cpt.org

To: Sully- who wrote (18914)	3/25/2006 5:04:15 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Peace Creeps Shun Debriefing Little Green Footballs Some of the Christian Peacemaker Teams members freed by coalition forces are refusing to share information with their rescuers. <<< The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages. Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements. One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics professor, of Pinner, north-west London, was in Kuwait last night and was expected to return to Britain today. He is understood to have given some helpful information. He provided details of the semi-rural area north-west of Baghdad where he was held and confirmed that his captors were criminals, rather than insurgents. Their motive was believed to be money. The two Canadians kidnapped with Mr Kember - Harmeet Sooden, 32, and Jim Loney, 41 - were said to have been co-operative at first but less so on arriving at the British embassy in Baghdad after being given the opportunity to wash, eat and rest. Previous hostages have been questioned on everything from what shoes their kidnappers wore to the number of mobile phones they had. The pacifist Christian Peacemaker Teams with which the men were visiting Iraq is opposed to the coalition’s presence and has accused it of illegally detaining thousands of Iraqis. Jan Benvie, 51, an Edinburgh teacher who is due to go to Iraq with the organisation this summer, said: “We make clear that if we are kidnapped we do not want there to be force or any form of violence used to release us.” >>> littlegreenfootballs.com telegraph.co.uk

To: Sully- who wrote (18914)	3/25/2006 8:01:58 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Though CPT liberally uses the words "illegal" and "Christian" to justify its actions one wonders whether they have the slightest conception of the words. Or the slightest regard for Tom Fox. Neither Holy, nor Roman, nor Empire posted by wretchard The Belmont Club The Christian Peacemaker Teams are refusing to cooperate with authorities seeking information about their kidnappers. According to the Daily Telegraph: <<< The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages. >>> However, one of the former CPT hostages, Briton Norman Kemper "is understood to have given some helpful information. He provided details of the semi-rural area north-west of Baghdad where he was held and confirmed that his captors were criminals, rather than insurgents. Their motive was believed to be money." The refusal was anticipated in a Belmont Club post called The Widows Mite. "They have forbidden any attempts to visit retribution and justice upon their captors. And if they know anything more about this criminal gang they are unlikely to share it with the Coalition" though Mr. Kemper has apparently cooperated to some extent. One of the hostages refusing to cooperate, Mr. James Loney, had characterized his captors as "criminals" according to the BBC. Those criminals had previously tortured and murdered their co-hostage Tom Fox. Update - ABC News -- Details Released on Iraq Hostages' Ordeal <<< Peggy Gish, a member of the Chicago-based group for which the former hostages worked in Baghdad, said the men were bound and their captors left the building "right before the intervention." >>> However, prior to the "the intervention" things were not quite so bad. <<< Gish said the captives were not always bound during their captivity and were allowed to exercise regularly. The kidnappers provided medication for Kember, who had an undisclosed health problem. She said the three appeared physically fit despite their long captivity. "We do not know of any specific maladies, any particular illnesses, as a result," she said. "Even Norman (Kember) seemed fairly strong for what he had gone through." Gish said the captives never learned why they were kidnapped or who their captors were. "Our team has never received any direct communication with them," she said of the captors, adding that no ransom was demanded or paid. Gish also said she did not know why Fox was killed. "He was the only American," Gish said. "I don't know if that's the reason." >>> [Why did James Loney characterize his captors as "criminals" or Norman Kemper call them "criminals rather than insurgents" whose "motive was believed to be money" if "the captives never learned why they were kidnapped or who their captors were"? Although the captives were "not always bound during their captivity and were allowed to exercise regularly" they never learned a thing about why Tom Fox was killed. Did they bother to ask? Why would Fox be singled out as "the only American" if the captors were criminals interested only in money? Or are they now not sure?] Commentary This is an interesting illustration of how far uncritical antiwar sentiment will bend even the most basic ethical standards. The Christian Peacemaker Teams said in a statement issued after the hostages' rescue that: <<< We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end. >>> Illegal. Does this include the "illegal" occupation of Iraq by the Iraqi Transitional Government? Has the CPT unilaterally repealed unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1546 providing for an temporary Iraqi government until a full one should be formed, but which in the meantime is regarded as having sovereign attributes? Will the CPT cooperate with police authorities from the full Iraqi government after it is constituted in the coming weeks? Or is their concept of legality superior to all of these? And in any case, if the kidnappers were according to the CPT itself composed of "criminals, rather than insurgents", whose "motive was believed to be money", and who for that money tortured and killed Tom Fox, how does the CPT's 'principled' refusal to cooperate differ in any way from a conscious decision to shield an ordinary murderer from the police? How is that different from being an accomplice after the fact? How is that different from covering up for the Mafia or the Crips? Though CPT liberally uses the words "illegal" and "Christian" to justify its actions one wonders whether they have the slightest conception of the words. Or the slightest regard for Tom Fox. fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com telegraph.co.uk fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com abcnews.go.com cpt.org en.wikipedia.org cfr.org

To: Sully- who wrote (18914)	3/28/2006 2:25:24 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Out of the closet with hypocrisy intact Ethel C. Fenig The American Thinker The distortions, the self deceptions and yes the lies surrounding the misnamed Christian Peacekeeper Teams’ hostages continues. <<< Fears that Iraqi captors might harm a Canadian hostage if they knew he was gay forced his partner to remain silent as loved ones called for an end to the ordeal, a director from the freed hostage’s aid group said Monday. During his four months of captivity, James Loney’s sexuality was kept out of the media at the request of his family, said Doug Pritchard, co-director of the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams. ‘’It’s a sad fact that around the world gays and lesbians are more vulnerable to attack than straights,’’ Pritchard said. ‘’When Jim was already in a vulnerable position we didn’t, nor did his family, want him exposed to further danger.’‘ >>> And in some parts of the world, Mr. Pritchard, especially where your teams plop themselves to demonstrate their hatred for America and their love for the natives, homosexuals are really “more vulnerable to attack than straights.” In Iraq, for instance, they have more than attacks to fear. <<< In 2001, Amnesty International reported that Iraq’s constitution was amended to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death. Although the constitution reverted back to the original 1969 document when Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled in 2003, the status of gay and lesbian rights remain unclear. >>> Given the rather prudent behavior of Loney’s family, the status of these rights is quite clear. Oh the hypocrisy of these non peace keepers! americanthinker.com nytimes.com