Baltimore sun article on Iraq hostages

An article from yesterday's Baltimore Sun.

--Matt

Fate of four peace activists kidnapped in Iraq unknown

Captors vowed nearly 3 weeks ago to kill them if inmates weren't freed

By Russell Working

BALTIMORE SUN
Originally published January 3, 2006

CHICAGO // Nearly three weeks after kidnappers vowed to kill four peace workers in Baghdad if all Iraqi prisoners weren't released, there has been no word from the kidnappers or their hostages.

The uncertain fate of the four hostages didn't stop Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams from sending another activist to Iraq on Friday for a six-week stay. Another team plans to visit the country in May.

"It's a commitment that I made to the Christian Peacemaker Teams when I became a [CPT] reservist," said Duluth, Minn., resident Michele Naar-Obed, who works at a Catholic Worker house that provides shelter and food for needy people. "I believe strongly that we have to have an alternative to warmaking as our means of solving conflict."

The November kidnapping - by a previously unknown group called Swords of Righteousness Brigade - stunned the peace group, which has roots in the traditionally pacifist Mennonite and Brethren Churches and has sought to build ties with Iraqis of all religions.

Family members and colleagues are spending the holidays worrying and praying for the safety of hostages Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va.; Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. They say they interpret the silence as a sign that the kidnappers haven't carried out their death threat.

For the remainder of this article, please link to:
The Baltimore Sun