The Iraqi captors of four Western peace activists say they are giving the US-led forces a last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or they will kill the hostages.
Al Jazeera television aired the video from the Swords of Truth group today. The video, dated January 21, apparently showed Tom Fox (US), Norman Kember(UK), James Loney (CAN), and Harmeet Sooden (CAN) standing against a wall.
The good news is the men are still alive. It is important to remember why the men are there. This has implications far beyond Iraq.
It is ironic the US news outlets most outraged by the so-called "War Against Christmas" are virtually silent when it comes to
actual Christian hostages in a war zone. Their silence stands in stark contrast to the fact that
Muslims worldwide are pleading for the release of four Christian Peacemakers currently held hostage in Iraq.
Early on, Palestinians in cities across the West Bank held daily demonstrations calling for the release of Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Jim Loney, and Harmeet Sooden, the "CPT 4." As Al Jazeera reported, the highest-ranking Palestinian Muslim cleric, and prominent Muslim clerics from across the political spectrum in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Britain, Canada and the United States have all joined the chorus. At one point, a report about these international appeals was the most e-mailed story on Al Jazeera's Web site. Even al Qaeda members in detention have issued appeals calling for their release. That is beyond amazing.
Killing the hostages will clearly alienate the very people the kidnappers claim to represent. The apparent indifference of the kidnappers to these pleas raises the question of whether or not they really are jihadists.
I originally held out hope the captors were mere criminals who did not realize whom they were abducting. However, the lack of attempts to extort cash for the hostages over the last several weeks casts doubt on this as an explanation.
Unfortunately, there is evidence for a darker alternative that cannot be ignored. According to an interview with Tom Fox's former roommate published in the Salt Lake Tribune:
"Christian Peacemaker members, including some of those who have been taken captive, had been investigating abuses at the hands of special police and military groups months before the Nov. 15 discovery of 173 detainees in the basement of an Interior Ministry building. American soldiers who liberated the prisoners said some appeared to have been tortured by their Iraqi government captors."
That is really bad news. If that is why the CPT 4 were in Iraq, then the captors may be more interested in covering up US-trained Iraqi death squad activity than anything else. It is true everyone in Iraq with a gun could be considered a death squad. However, the "special police and military groups" referred to in the Tribune piece are US-trained counterinsurgency forces. They are formally called Special Police Commandos. These units represent the operational implementation of the so-called "Salvador Option" reportedly being championed by some people in the Pentagon.
Anyone who remembers what happened the last time John Negroponte and US forces directed counterinsurgency operations know exactly what the "Salvador Option" means.
Those with particularly good memories will not be happy to learn the U.S. military has helped build up the Special Police Commandos under the guidance of James Steele. He is the same Army Special Forces officer who led U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in El Salvador in the 1980s. Those were the same Salvadoran paramilitary units later accused of numerous atrocities.
The most widely known of these Iraqi commando units is called the Wolf Brigade. The Wolf Brigade is one of several units that have been accused of targeting Palestinian refugees in Iraq, using torture to extract confessions from prisoners, and slaying Sunni clerics.
The CPT 4 are not the first people to investigate these commando units. Steve Vincent of the New York Times, Yaseer Salihee from Knight Ridder, and Fakher Haider, a Baghdad correspondent for the New York Times, also investigated these commando units.
The three journalists have something else in common. That was the last story they investigated before they were killed in Iraq. References here, here, and here.
Since this hostage ordeal began, efforts to free the hostages were aimed at publicizing Muslim appeals for their release because everyone assumed jihadists were holding them. These do not seem to be having any impact.
During the last several weeks, I have held out hope that the kidnappers were quietly looking for a way to save face. With the State of the Union address drawing near, I am concerned the time may have been spent "wrapping up" operations much like the "secret prisons" in Europe were emptied in time for Condi's recent trip to Europe. I hate the fact that my confidence in our leadership has been so abused that I can seriously contemplate that possibility and worry they will be used as rhetorical props in the upcoming State of the Union address.
If the kidnappers are related to death squads, let us hope the people in the Green Zone who have control over them realize that if these hostages are killed, even US major media will have to cover the story in some detail. The reason the Christian Peacemaker Team went to Iraq will inevitably become a topic of discussion. That will focus worldwide attention on the "special police and military units" they were investigating in the first place.
Mindful of the incendiary nature of these comments, I wish to clearly state that I believe the vast majority of Americans serving in Iraq are decent men and women trying as hard as they can to do the right thing even though they are working under terrible conditions. I believe we are obliged to honor their sacrifice and defend our values by having the courage to ask direct questions, expect honest answers, and demand accountability from policymakers.
Therefore, it seems appropriate to close on the line from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (V.6) that motivated Tom Fox to go to Iraq and to look beyond anger and fear. "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven."