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Iraq
Released hostages refuse to help their rescuers
2006-03-25
The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages.

Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements. One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics professor, of Pinner, north-west London, was in Kuwait last night and was expected to return to Britain today. He is understood to have given some helpful information. He provided details of the semi-rural area north-west of Baghdad where he was held and confirmed that his captors were criminals, rather than insurgents. Their motive was believed to be money.

The two Canadians kidnapped with Mr Kember - Harmeet Sooden, 32, and Jim Loney, 41 - were said to have been co-operative at first but less so on arriving at the British embassy in Baghdad after being given the opportunity to wash, eat and rest.
Gratitude faded mighty quick, didn't it. Plus it was an embassy bed, embassy bath and embassy food.
Previous hostages have been questioned on everything from what shoes their kidnappers wore to the number of mobile phones they had. The pacifist Christian Peacemaker Teams with which the men were visiting Iraq is opposed to the coalition's presence and has accused it of illegally detaining thousands of Iraqis.

Jan Benvie, 51, an Edinburgh teacher who is due to go to Iraq with the organisation this summer, said: "We make clear that if we are kidnapped we do not want there to be force or any form of violence used to release us."
It's the moral part of us that causes us to rescue hostages, something you wouldn't understand.
Although the CPTs has welcomed the men's release, it has not thanked the rescuers in any of its statements. It blamed the kidnapping on the presence of foreign troops in the country, which was "responsible for so much pain and suffering in Iraq today". When told how angry the coalition was feeling, Claire Evans, a spokesman for the CPTs in America, said: "We are extremely grateful to everybody who had a role leading to the men's release."
Then she went back to meowing.
Mr Kember, in a statement through the embassy, said: "I have had the opportunity to have a shave, relax in the bath and a good English breakfast. I am very much looking forward to getting home to British soil and to being reunited with my family." He did not publicly thank his rescuers.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the chief of the defence staff, told Channel 4 News: "I am slightly saddened that there does not seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives."

Asked if he meant that Mr Kember had not said thank you, he said: "I hope he has and I have missed it."

It emerged that about 50 soldiers, led by the SAS, including men from 1 Bn the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines, as well as American and Canadian special forces, entered the kidnap building at dawn.
Canadian special forces in Iraq? That twitched the surprise meter.
A deal had been struck with a man detained the previous night who was one of the leaders of the kidnappers. He was allowed a telephone call to warn his henchmen to leave the kidnap house. When the troops moved in and found the prisoners alive, they also let him go as promised.
Posted by:Steve White

#20  Canada has a new conservative government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent two days this month visiting the troops in Kandahar. So I am not surprised to hear JTF-2 is in Iraq.

Harper said Friday in an interview on CTV that it's hard for him to comprehend why some Canadians have such deep-rooted objections to the military mission in Afghanistan.

Harper was asked by an interviewer: "Do you understand the Canadians who feel passionately that they (Canadian soldiers) shouldn't be there?"

Harper paused briefly and responded, "You know, in a way, I don't. In this case, I'm not sure what the case would be for not being there."

When it was suggested that people oppose the mission because it's not Canada's war, Harper quickly interjected.

"But it is our war. The entire world signed on to this mission."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/
story.html?id=40bc8a42-eb4c-488d-bcec-c576a99eb49d

This guy doesn't pull punches.
Posted by: john   2006-03-25 19:19  

#19  Perhaps, after four months with them, their captors wanted them to be found.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-03-25 15:23  

#18  What chaps my hide is that men like Colin Powell or the recently lamented Desmond Doss are more "anti-war" than these Judas-loving filthpig Nazi supporters.

"Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good."
Posted by: Ernest Brown   2006-03-25 15:19  

#17  50 soldiers, led by the SAS, including men from 1 Bn the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines, as well as American and Canadian special forces

That's one hell of a rescue squad.
Posted by: Matt   2006-03-25 12:55  

#16  Scusi CL, you're quite right. Canada is nowhere near reaching a tipping point currently and so far left, they're deaf in that ear.

Just proud, lone tho' I might be. I take it mentioning our snipers is haram (LOL).
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412   2006-03-25 11:34  

#15  Hey Thinemp. Keep it quiet please. If the Canadian public becomes too aware, the Canuck bad asses may not be allowed to come out and play. They are great warriors and we need them on the team.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal   2006-03-25 11:14  

#14  Have the Iraqi government declare them persona non grata and deport them. If they reappear, make them disappear.
Posted by: RWV   2006-03-25 10:40  

#13  I agree - arrest them for accessory to murder. Put them in the pen right next to their hero Saddam.

I think at least an investigation is in order to see if they were 'really' kidnapped. Ask people in the neighrhood where they were found if they had been seen walking around.... partying... and carrying on with their captors.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-03-25 10:26  

#12  The Canadian SF involved was JTF-2 (Joint Task Force), our elite team. And they are mighty pissed off at the lack of thanks.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412   2006-03-25 09:34  

#11  If there are any, DB.
Posted by: lotp   2006-03-25 08:47  

#10  Too bad we can't send them back....but at least that Scottish git went on record and said he didn't want our icky military saving his sorry ass. I suggest we honor his desire if/when he becomes a guest of the local hostage takers, and concentrate on others who don't suffer from incurable rectal cranio-insertion.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-03-25 08:29  

#9  This is just a friendly fire incident from our enemy.

CPT is not gong to be grateful because it was action by their sworn enemy that secured their release.

They are not likely to cooperate with their enemy by providing intel about their ally.
Posted by: badanov   2006-03-25 07:12  

#8  Arrest them for being accomplices to murder I bet that starts talking.. They are all ungrateful wastes of human skin. Treat them as such.
Posted by: SPoD   2006-03-25 03:42  

#7  who gives a shit if one got killed ? Lokks too me thats what they where there for in the first place
Posted by: Ebbineque Gletle8901   2006-03-25 03:04  

#6  They must be French.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-03-25 01:34  

#5  the only people who will care will be the next set of hostages that don't get rescued, thanks to these pious souls.
Posted by: 2b   2006-03-25 01:09  

#4  Assholes. They sacrificed their American cohort on the altar of Total Lunacy. For nothing. These shitheads are a total waste of skin. Take their water, Stilgar.
Posted by: Jans Snomble4884   2006-03-25 00:28  

#3  Canuck SF involved in Canuck PeaceNitWit rescue.

Send em back until they get some gratitude, or their heads handed to them.
Posted by: Captain America   2006-03-25 00:27  

#2  It looks more and more to me like these non-christians were in cahoots with their 'kidnappers' all along.

Unfortunately one of them was killed -- That is what happens when you willingly take the viper to your chest.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-03-25 00:24  

#1  I'm kind of surprised they were held for four months by a criminal gang. I thought al Qaeda was in the market for Western hostages - i.e. they should have been sold a long time ago. Maybe al Qaeda is running short of cash, or it's hard to get a hold of al Qaeda middlemen these days.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2006-03-25 00:21  

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