Video of Four Hostages Airs on Al-Jazeera

[Sarge]

Peace activists meet the real world

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177007,00.html

Images of four peace activists taken hostage in Iraq — one of which is an American — was shown on the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera Tuesday.

A previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. The group said the four victims were spies working undercover as Christian peace activists, Al-Jazeera said. Station officials said they could not verify any of the information on the tape.

The aid group, Christian Peacemaker Teams, has confirmed that four of its members were taken hostage Saturday. Reports said one was an American, two were Canadian, and one was a Briton. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad had confirmed that an American was missing in Iraq.

The tape showed four men and a British passport belonging to someone named Norman Kember. The British government and the Christian Peacemaker Teams both said Kember was among the four activists taken hostage.

Christian Peacemaker Teams said it would not identify the other three for their protection.

"In the interests of their safety our Iraq team needs that space to locate them," group spokesman Rebecca Johnson said. "The communication that may be coming from us does not help them to locate them."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that he has seen the reports regarding the hostages but "our people have not had an opportunity to review the videotape to either confirm or deny its validity, whether or not the people who appeared in that videotape are the ones that the captors purport to say who they are."

Regarding the missing American, McCormack added: "Safe to say, we are in close contact with the American citizen's family and that we want to do everything that we can to see that this individual is returned to their family safe and sound."

A white-haired man shown in the passport photograph also was seen sitting on the floor next to three other men in the video, which had a date stamp indicating it was recorded Sunday.

In the corner of the video were two crossed black swords and the name of the group, Swords of Righteousness Brigade, written in red Arabic script.

Separately, photos were released Tuesday of Susanne Osthoff, a German woman, being led away blindfolded by armed captors. The photos were taken from a video in which her captors demanded that Germany stop any dealings with Iraq's government, according to Germany's ARD television. Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the U.S.-led war.

Osthoff and her driver have been missing since Friday and "according to current information, we have to assume it is a kidnapping," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.

"One can only hope and keep their fingers crossed and remain optimistic," her mother, Ingrid Hala, told Germany N24 news station.

Germany's Central Council of Muslims called for Osthoff's immediate release.

On Monday, Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal said authorities had no leads. No group has claimed responsibility and details of the apparent kidnapping were unclear.

In other violence, six Iranian pilgrims were abducted by gunmen north of Baghdad.

Two U.S. soldiers were also killed in Iraq when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb, according to U.S. military officials. The soldiers were members of Task Force Baghdad, and the attack took place north of Baghdad.

In Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, a homicide car bomber killed eight Iraqi soldiers and wounding five more when he drove into an army patrol, police Lt. Ali Hussein said. A U.S. Army medical helicopter helped evacuate the wounded, he added.

Christian Peacemaker Teams issued a statement Tuesday saying the four male peace activists captured were working on behalf of Iraqi civilians. The group said it has had a team in Iraq since October 2002, working with U.S. and Iraqi detainees and training others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation.

The statement said those taken hostage knew the risks when they went to Iraq.

"The team's work has focused on documenting and focusing public attention on detainee abuses, connecting citizens of Iraq to local and international human rights organizations, and accompanying Iraqi civilians as they interact with multinational military personnel and Iraq's government officials," the group said.

On Sunday, a Canadian official said two Canadians were in the group. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said only that an American had been reported missing, and the person's name and organization were being withheld.

Britain has said Kember, a retired professor, vanished in Iraq.

Kember is a longtime peace activist who once fretted publicly that he was taking the easy way out by protesting in safety at home while British soldiers risked their lives in Iraq.

In Barcelona, Spain, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he had contacted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hohshyar Zebari about Kember's abduction, and that Zebari "pledged every assistance from the Iraqi government."

The Iranian pilgrims were abducted Tuesday morning near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, police Maj. Falah Mohammedawi said, but it was not clear if the six were going to or coming from Samarra, a central city that houses a shrine to two Shiite saints.

Iraq and Iran, predominantly Shiite countries, reached an agreement earlier this year on pilgrim visits, which excludes trips to Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Samarra because of the dangerous security situation. The pilgrims appear to have been violating that agreement.

Iraq was rocked by a wave of foreigner kidnappings and beheadings in 2004 and early 2005, but they have dropped off in recent months as many Western groups have left and security precautions for those who remain have tightened. Insurgents, including Al Qaeda in Iraq, seized more than 225 people, killing at least 38 — including three Americans.

Insurgents have kidnapped aid workers, journalists and contractors in an attempt to drive foreigners out of the country or to win large ransoms.

Since May, abductions have fallen off considerably, mainly because many Western groups left Iraq and security precautions for those remaining have been tightened, with foreigners staying in barricaded compounds and moving only in heavily guarded convoys.

The last American to be kidnapped was Jeffrey Ake, a contract worker from LaPorte, Ind., who was abducted April 11. He was seen in a video aired days afterward, held with a gun to his head, but there has been no word on his fate.

FOX News' Teri Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[chomerics]

I'm sorry, but Darwin in action here. Peace activists going to Iraq? For what? This is the probable outcome now, what the heck did these people think they would accomplish?

[dreamingwolf]

your very right chom, if your gonna side with the enemy you should certianly do it under our protection.

In their defense Im sure leftist rhetoric lead them to believe that islamo-fascists were the good guys cause they disrupted global economies and inessence footsoldiers of global socialism. Its a mighty wake up call for them, but it wont change the rhetoric and it will happen again. Read the signs at anti-war marches if your not sure what Im talking about.

[chomerics]

your very right chom, if your gonna side with the enemy you should certianly do it under our protection.

In their defense Im sure leftist rhetoric lead them to believe that islamo-fascists were the good guys cause they disrupted global economies and inessence footsoldiers of global socialism. Its a mighty wake up call for them, but it wont change the rhetoric and it will happen again. Read the signs at anti-war marches if your not sure what Im talking about.

We both think they are nuts, but I don't agree with your premise at all. It's a wee bit late, and I'm tired, so I'll leave it at that. maybe tomorrow if I have time I'll explain in more detail.

[Winslowalrob]

your very right chom, if your gonna side with the enemy you should certianly do it under our protection.

In their defense Im sure leftist rhetoric lead them to believe that islamo-fascists were the good guys cause they disrupted global economies and inessence footsoldiers of global socialism. Its a mighty wake up call for them, but it wont change the rhetoric and it will happen again. Read the signs at anti-war marches if your not sure what Im talking about.

I think you are way off base here. Do you know what a peace activist is? To associate them with isalmo-fascists is sort of a gross misrepresntation of all their organizations, akin to saying the entire US military tortures prisoners. If these activists really sided with the insurgents, wouldn't they sort of join the insurgency? Oh, and fascism is the direct antithesis of socialism. If one was to generalize about US peace activists, they usually come from religious denominations; menonites, quakers, and other various interpretations of Christianity. Foolish religion eh?

[Thiebear]

Lets see:

They went over to say we are illegally there as an occupying force and that the people that abducted them have every right to fight back?

So then why does the organization feel saddened that the four were caught?

I feel saddened because I know they are horrible killers and these people were dupped.

But they should feel vendicated.

So even if you believe the same thing they believe you may still die because you are an infidel? So there is no point in not blowing up every brigade group like this...

[NavyDave]

Actually I feel sorry for my troops who unfortunately have to risk their lives to rescue these fools.

[Sarge]

Well, this about says it all.

OF course, once the terrorists read this statement they'll probably let all these losers go.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a joint operation Wednesday in an area west of Baghdad used to rig car bombs, while American soldiers rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in a sweep of southern parts of the capital.

About 500 Iraqi troops joined 2,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in a move to clear insurgents from an area on the eastern side of the Euphrates river near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement.

In Saadah, eight miles from the Syrian border, Iraqi soldiers were seen questioning a man as he knelt on a carpet in his home, while U.S. Marines led blindfolded and handcuffed detainees along a dirt road to a waiting vehicle.

The offensive came as President Bush said he hopes to shift more of the military burden onto the Iraqis as part of a strategy to draw down American forces.

In a statement, the military said the Hai Al Becker region "is suspected to be an al-Qaida in Iraq safe area and base of operations for the manufacture of vehicle car bombs, roadside bombs." It described the area as a transit point for foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgents infiltrating from Syria into Iraq.

There were no reports of casualties during the first day of the operation, part of a series of sweeps through Sunni Arab towns along the Euphrates believed to be major insurgent strongholds.

Residents reached by telephone said U.S. forces warned townspeople by loudspeakers to stay in their homes for the next three days.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military said American and Iraqi forces rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in a sweep Tuesday night through southern parts of the capital. Clashes broke out late Wednesday between insurgents and Iraqi forces in the Mansour area of western Baghdad, police said.

Elsewhere, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet fired a missile at an insurgent position in the Baghdad area, and Air Force F-16s were in action in support of U.S. and Iraqi units northwest of the capital, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

U.S. commanders have been using Iraqi forces in the recent Euphrates Valley operations, although American forces continue to bear the brunt of the fighting.

"As Iraqi forces gain experience and the political process advances, we will be able to decrease our troop level in Iraq without losing our capability to defeat the terrorists," Bush told an audience at the U.S. Naval Academy. He refused to set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

In Baghdad, presidential Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samaraei told the U.S.-run Alhurra television that as Iraqi forces improve, the Americans would be able to draw down their troop levels.

"If America is defeated in Iraq, it will be defeated in the whole world," he said. "It is not a question of supporting America but of the interests and well-being of Iraq."

On Wednesday, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., joined Iraqi officials in a ceremony placing Iraqi troops in control of a major border crossing point into Syria. U.S. and Iraqi troops cleared al-Qaida-led insurgents from the area this month.

Casey said the ceremony "commemorates the restoration of Iraqi control" of the area "from the northern border with Turkey down to Jordan."

Also Wednesday, a group of influential Sunni clerics called for the release of five Westerners taken hostage last week, saying they should be granted their freedom as a humanitarian gesture.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, believed to have contacts with some Sunni insurgent groups, has helped mediate the release of other Western captives in Iraq.

The five include four aid workers from the group Christian Peacemaker Teams — Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; Norman Kember, 74, of London; and James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both of Canada — and German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, 43.

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera broadcast video of the four men held by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The group claimed they were spies working under the cover of Christian peace activists.

The Sunni association said releasing Osthoff would recognize Germany's "positive" stand toward Iraq. Germany strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

In Berlin, Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, vowed that her government will "not let ourselves be blackmailed" by militants who kidnapped Osthoff and her driver.

Kidnappers have threatened to kill Osthoff and her driver, who were kidnapped Friday, unless Germany halts all contacts with the Iraqi government. German TV station ARD showed images of what appeared to be Osthoff and her driver blindfolded on the floor beside armed and masked militants.

Six Iranian pilgrims were seized Tuesday near a Shiite religious shrine north of Baghdad, police said. Iranian state TV said Tuesday that all six were released but it contradicted that report on Wednesday, saying that only two of the six Iranians were freed. Both of the freed hostages were women, while four men remain captive.

Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire on a minibus early Wednesday in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing nine construction workers and wounding two, police said.

[Winslowalrob]

This is the same post as above, sadly ignored though

Originally Posted by dreamingwolf

"your very right chom, if your gonna side with the enemy you should certianly do it under our protection.

In their defense Im sure leftist rhetoric lead them to believe that islamo-fascists were the good guys cause they disrupted global economies and inessence footsoldiers of global socialism. Its a mighty wake up call for them, but it wont change the rhetoric and it will happen again. Read the signs at anti-war marches if your not sure what Im talking about."

I think you are way off base here. Do you know what a peace activist is? To associate them with isalmo-fascists is sort of a gross misrepresntation of all their organizations, akin to saying the entire US military tortures prisoners. If these activists really sided with the insurgents, wouldn't they sort of join the insurgency? Oh, and fascism is the direct antithesis of socialism. If one was to generalize about US peace activists, they usually come from religious denominations; menonites, quakers, and other various interpretations of Christianity. Foolish religion eh? I just want you guys to realize they arent tree-hugging, abortion loving leftists, which a few of you insinuated somehow makes their capture deserved. These guys are straight up, god-fearing Christians. We athiests don't like peace, after all .

[dreamingwolf]

This is the same post as above, sadly ignored though

Originally Posted by dreamingwolf

"your very right chom, if your gonna side with the enemy you should certianly do it under our protection.

In their defense Im sure leftist rhetoric lead them to believe that islamo-fascists were the good guys cause they disrupted global economies and inessence footsoldiers of global socialism. Its a mighty wake up call for them, but it wont change the rhetoric and it will happen again. Read the signs at anti-war marches if your not sure what Im talking about."

I think you are way off base here. Do you know what a peace activist is? To associate them with isalmo-fascists is sort of a gross misrepresntation of all their organizations, akin to saying the entire US military tortures prisoners. If these activists really sided with the insurgents, wouldn't they sort of join the insurgency? Oh, and fascism is the direct antithesis of socialism. If one was to generalize about US peace activists, they usually come from religious denominations; menonites, quakers, and other various interpretations of Christianity. Foolish religion eh? I just want you guys to realize they arent tree-hugging, abortion loving leftists, which a few of you insinuated somehow makes their capture deserved. These guys are straight up, god-fearing Christians. We athiests don't like peace, after all .

I agree with you, but the ones who throw themselves into the mix think they will be loved by the enemy. Thats my only point. Whatever their dillusion is the result is the same.

[Sarge]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47708

Kidnappers threaten

to kill peace activists

Demand in video broadcast on Al-Jazeera

release of U.S.-held prisoners by Dec. 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: December 2, 2005

4:42 p.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Image from Al-Jazeera broadcast Tuesday shows two of four hostages

Terrorist kidnappers threatened to kill four Christian peace activists unless demands are met by Thursday, according to a videotape and statement broadcast by the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera.

The kidnappers, who have identified themselves as the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, demand the U.S. and Iraqi governments release all prisoners held in detention centers.

The tape showed all four hostages, Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; Norman Kember, 74, of London; and James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, of Canada.

The four, members of the activist group Christian Peacemaker Teams, were kidnapped at gunpoint Saturday in Baghdad and shown in a video on Al-Jazeera television news Tuesday. The kidnappers accused them of being spies.

In the latest video, one clip showed the two Canadians eating from plates of sweets and another showed the British and American hostages speaking to the camera but without sound.

Al Jazeera said the two men were calling on the U.S. and British governments to withdraw from Iraq.

In an interview from Baghdad earlier this week, a Canadian member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, Greg Rollins, called the situation "hugely worrisome."

"We're not panicking because we just know the dangers of panicking," Rollins told The Canadian Press.

The group contacted Arab and Muslim friends, urging them to make make it clear in their communities that the hostages are not spies and that Christian Peacemaker Teams opposes the "American occupation of Iraq," reported the National Post.

The Canadian paper said that tactic appeared to pay off yesterday when the Association of Muslim Scholars, a group of influential Sunni clerics in Iraq, called for release of the men to recognize their "good efforts in helping those in need."

Christian Peacemaker Teams has issued a statement saying it opposes using violence to free hostages.

[Winslowalrob]

I agree with you, but the ones who throw themselves into the mix think they will be loved by the enemy. Thats my only point. Whatever their dillusion is the result is the same.

I have a real problem with the shoddy definitions and misrepresentations. I am sorry, but I took particular offense to statements that claimed they sided with the enemy, or that they were leftists [which is somehow a bad thing], or equating fascism with socialism. In essence, some people on the board felt that they deserve their fate because of political views they did not have. Now, if someone could pull statistics of the peace activists currently working in Iraq, versus the number captured or killed, that would point directly to whether or not they were dillusional. Supposing they had low casualty rates, maybe their methods and very presence is affecting change.

FYI I am for staying in Iraq, so this is not some sort of polemic asking for us to draw our troops and send in quakers.

[Air Force Cane]

To be honest as I always am- I don't really care if the "insurgent resistance members" saw off their heads very slowly.

of course they won't- because even terrorists are not THAT stupid to murder their best friends and apologists. I say this is a huge planned stunt for publicity...

[nelms]

I have a real problem with the shoddy definitions and misrepresentations. I am sorry, but I took particular offense to statements that claimed they sided with the enemy, or that they were leftists [which is somehow a bad thing], or equating fascism with socialism. In essence, some people on the board felt that they deserve their fate because of political views they did not have. Now, if someone could pull statistics of the peace activists currently working in Iraq, versus the number captured or killed, that would point directly to whether or not they were dillusional. Supposing they had low casualty rates, maybe their methods and very presence is affecting change.

FYI I am for staying in Iraq, so this is not some sort of polemic asking for us to draw our troops and send in quakers.

Not sure if they sided with the enemy, but yes, being a leftist is a bad thing.

They knew the risks, so I can't say that we should feel sorry for them, or risk American or British soldiers lives to help them.

[NavyDave]

Sorry but after seeing how they are blaming us for the problems in the middle east its very difficult to have sympathy for them.

They are along the lines of human shields getting in the way of progress.

[nelms]

"The team's work has focused on documenting and focusing public attention on detainee abuses, connecting citizens of Iraq to local and international human rights organizations, and accompanying Iraqi civilians as they interact with multinational military personnel and Iraq's government officials," the group said.

It's ironic that they were focusing on detainee "abuses", yet in the end they will see firsthand real abuse when they get their heads sawed off. Very ironic.

[Winslowalrob]

Not sure if they sided with the enemy, but yes, being a leftist is a bad thing.

They knew the risks, so I can't say that we should feel sorry for them, or risk American or British soldiers lives to help them.

Under that logic we cannot feel pity or sadness for soldiers. They too "knew the risks."

And being leftist rocks!

[nelms]

Under that logic we cannot feel pity or sadness for soldiers. They too "knew the risks."

And being leftist rocks!

Yes, our soldiers certainly know the risks, but what they are doing is noble. I think these particular peace activists are there just to undermine our mission. I don't know if they are intentionally siding with the enemy, but the net results are that it hurts our mission. There are peace activists that truly do have good intentions, but I always have found that they are just very naive people.

Being a leftist rocks? :doh: I think Fidel Castro tells his people that every day.