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James Loney, Peace activists, Dupes

Red ribbon hero's welcome for freed hostage while hostages still in captivity in Iraq

By Judi McLeod
Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Red ribbons tied to trees in faraway Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada send out a red flag to Iraqi kidnappers still holding helpless hostages in captivity.

The yellow ribbons prominently displayed during the Gulf War in support of US soldiers originally inspired the red ribbon. The same kind of US soldiers, who, along with British and Canadian soldiers, risked life and limb to set free three Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) hostages.

Freed Christian activist James Loney, whose homosexuality was kept hidden from captors for his personal safety by his parents and partner, will celebrate his soldier-initiated freedom in a red ribbon hometown hero's welcome that includes signs reading, "Prayers answered–Welcome Home James".

Doug Pritchard, co-director of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) says the family feared Loney might come to harm at the hands of his Iraqi captors had they known he was gay.

In other words, CPT, which heaped public praise on the captors of the hostages for their humane treatment of them–knew that the `kindly' captors also happened to be anti-gay homophobics.

David Hunt, who made his first public appearance since Loney's ordeal began in November, when he greeted his significant other at a Toronto airport on Sunday, had been instructed that it wouldn't be helpful if he came forward to make a plea for his partner's release.

How much more self-absorbed can CPT and its members really get?

People are being brutally killed by Iraqi captors, who maintain a penchant for death by beheading.

CPT described the captors who held their organization members in terms of kindly and humane, praising them for having given the hostages food and for having allowed them to sometimes remain untied.

It would be capital `H' humane if CPT kept Loney's sexual preference quiet until the safe release of all hostages being held in Iraq.

a sanctimonious Pritchard told a Toronto news conference that Loney, Harmeet Sooden and Norm Kember remained alive for so long "because of their commitment to peace and justice in Iraq".

The late Tom Fox–a member of the same organization, whose bullet-ridden body was found, dumped in Baghdad--didn't display the same "commitment to peace and justice in Iraq"?

The same sanctimonious drivel is coming from the UK religious think tank Ekklesia, which works in partnership with CPT in the UK.

"Speaking to Channel 4 News in the UK, Ekklesia director Jonathan Bartley explained why accusations that the CPT hostages had exposed their rescuers to danger were inaccurate. (Theological news from ekklesia).

"The Christian Peacemakers took this stance because they did not want to expose others to danger, to divert resources from humanitarian work, or to create any escalation of violence," said Mr. Bartley. Instead, they were willing to lay down their lives if necessary–and Tom Fox had done so," he added, (emphasis CFP).

Someone should flag Bartley that Tom Fox did not "lay down" his life. It was cruelly wrest from him by his Iraqi captors.

Is CPT exploiting the death of Fox to push a political agenda?

"In advocating for human rights, he said, the organization (an agency established through the Mennonite, Quaker and Brethren in Christ churches) had played a key role in exposing detainee abuses before the abu Ghraib prison scandal.

"Whereas US President George Bush's invocation of God in support of the invasion had alienated Muslims and exposed Iraqi Christians to abuse, CPT showed that followers of Jesus supported peace and justice for all, and in particular Muslims," he said.

Meanwhile, God protect all hostages left vulnerable by the hypocrisy of the politics-first Christian Peacemaker Teams, including their homecoming hero James Loney.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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