Loney leaves Baghdad

Sault Ste. Marie's Jim Loney and fellow freed peace activist Harmeet Singh Sooden left Baghdad this morning on a Canadian Forces C-130 Hercules transport plane, the Canadian Press is reporting.

The news service indicates that the two Canadian members of Christian Peacemaker Teams are being flown by Canadian consular officials to a "safe location" in the Middle East, from which they'll be transported home on commercial flights.

Loney is expected head first to Toronto, and then here to Sault Ste. Marie, where members of the Loney family are starting to gather today.

"I'm just looking forward to seeing the rest of my family and wrapping my arms around Jim and just starting to share all our stories," said Jim's brother Ed in Vancouver.

Sooden, who's originally from Montreal, will fly to New Zealand, where he's been studying for his master's degree at the University of Auckland.

This photograph of Sooden and Loney was taken yesterday at the Canadian Embassy in Baghdad.

Fellow CPT activist Norman Kember arrived back in London this morning.

"Our God hears us when we call. Our God answered our prayers," Father George LaPierre told about 150 people at a special thanksgiving mass last night at St. Gerard Majella Church.

Photographs of Loney, Sooden and Kember were displayed in front of the altar, along with a picture of American hostage Tom Fox, who was found murdered this week in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi embassy in Ottawa issued a scathing statement yesterday, referring to the freed activists as "dupes" and "phoney pacifists" siding with anti-democratic forces.

"The Christian Peacemaker Teams practises the kind of politics that automatically nominate them as dupes for jihadism and fascism," the statement said.

********************** Statement from Christian Peacemaker Teams 24 March 2006, 9 p.m. CST by Rev. Carol Rose and Dr. Doug Pritchard, CPT Co-Directors

"For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end" (1 Corinthians 13:9-10).

On Mar. 23 and 24, 2006, the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Baghdad met with colleagues Norman Kember, Jim Loney, and Harmeet Sooden who had just been freed after four months in captivity.

The team found the men to be well, alert and in good spirits.

The men asked many questions about their families, friends and colleagues at home and in Iraq.

They have also begun to tell some parts of the story of their captivity – of efforts to stay physically fit, of periodic separations and reunions, of receiving a Christmas cake.

Learning about the death of Tom Fox after their release has been a particular burden.

They said that Tom had taken leadership in encouraging the group right from the beginning of their captivity.

They have not yet shared with CPT any details about their captors or the events which led to their freedom.

In a statement released to the Baghdad media on March 24, they wrote, "We are deeply grateful to all those who worked and prayed for our release. We have no words to describe our feelings of great joy at being free again. Our heads are swirling and when we are ready we will talk to the media."

The rest of us in CPT are also grateful to all those who worked nonviolently and who prayed fervently for their release – religious leaders and soldiers, team-mates and government officials, partner organizations, friends, family, children, women and men all over the world.

We are particularly grateful that no one was injured in this rescue operation.

In order not to cause Tom Fox's family further pain, and for the sake of accuracy, CPT urges that the media and everyone concerned refrain from repeating the rumour that Tom Fox was tortured.

Two CPTers, Reverend Carol Rose and Rich Meyer, viewed Tom's body and did not see signs of torture.

We also have reports from two additional independent sources who examined the body more thoroughly.

They also did not find evidence of torture.

Until the final autopsy report is released, we ask everyone to withhold their judgement.

Christian Peacemaker Teams will continue in the coming weeks, insofar as it is humanly possible, to report the truth of what we have witnessed and learned. We do so because we are followers of Jesus Christ, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6 ).

********************** Statement by Sault MPP David Orazietti in the Ontario Legislature on Thursday, March 23

Mr. Speaker:

Today we learned of the successful rescue of two Canadian hostages and one British hostage being held captive in Iraq.

One of the hostages, James Loney, is from Sault Ste. Marie.

Premier McGuinty and our government and, I'm sure it's appropriate to say, all members of this house are extremely pleased for the individuals and their families for their release.

James Loney and others put their values of peace and goodwill ahead of their personal safety, and we commend them for their perseverance under such extreme circumstances.

We thank those in foreign affairs who worked so hard for their release.

At this time, our thoughts and prayers are also with the friends and family of American Tom Fox.

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