Freed hostage felt 'entombed' in Iraq.Freed Canadian peace activist James Loney referred to the Easter story when he likened his four-month captivity in Iraq to being entombed Entombed, or entomb, may refer to:
"My captivity and rescue have helped me to catch a glimpse Verb 1. catch a glimpse - see something for a brief time catch sight, get a look see - perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight; "You have to be a good observer to see all the details"; "Can you see the bird in that tree?"; "He is blind--he of how powerful the force of resurrection is," he wrote in an essay published April 15 in the Toronto Star. He and fellow hostages Canadian Harmeet Singh Sooden Harmeet Singh Sooden (born March 24 1973) is a Canadian citizen who volunteered for Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. From November 26, 2005, he was held captive in Iraq with three others and threatened with execution until being freed by multinational forces in an operation on and Briton Norman Kember were held in a 10-foot by 10-foot room, handcuffed and chained except for bathroom breaks. They were freed by multinational forces in late March. A fellow hostage, Tom Fox, an American, had been killed earlier. The four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an international organization set up to support teams of peace workers in conflict areas around the world. These teams believe that they can lower the levels of violence through nonviolent direct action, human rights documentation, and were abducted abducted Distal angulation of an extremity away from the midline of the body in a transverse plane and away from a sagittal plane passing through the proximal aspect of the foot or part, or away from some other specified reference point by a group that "wanted money to fund their war against the occupation of Iraq," Mr. Loney wrote. However, he said, Christ teaches us that "violence itself is the tomb," and reaching out to others is the answer. At a news conference shortly after he returned to his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie Sault Sainte Marie — pronounced "Soo Saint Marie" (IPA /su seɪnt məˈɹi/) — is the name of two cities on the Saint Marys River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada. , Ont., Mr. Loney reaffirmed his advocacy for peace saying that his decision to go to Iraq in January 2003, shortly before the U.S. invasion, was triggered by the death of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, who was a friend of a friend. "I thought, it's my conviction that peace can never be achieved through the barrel of a gun, that violence ultimately breeds more violence," he said. "If this is my belief, then it is my responsibility to try to take some of the risks that soldiers take, using the tools of nonviolence instead of the weapons of war, so that one day we will no longer need to send beautiful young men ... into armed combat, because we will have abolished the institution of war just like we abolished slavery." Shortly after his return to Canada, Mr. Loney revealed that his sexuality had been kept out of the media at the request of his family, following a recommendation by foreign affairs officials who feared his captors might harm him if they knew he was gay. Details of the other captives had also been kept secret: according to reports, Mr. Sboden had once worked for a defence company in New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. while Mr. Fox used to play for the U.S. Marines band. Mr. Loney also said he was thankful to the soldiers who had rescued the captives. |
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