The Telegraph is reporting that the three peace activists being held hostage in Iraq who were rescued by American and British troops this week have refused to cooperate fully with an intelligence debriefing.
If the allegation is true, these activists have managed to reach an even lower low than they did when they failed to thank the soldiers who rescued them.
The freed hostages were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. Their fellow volunteer, Tom Fox, was shot multiple times and his body abandoned in a garbage heap. They were members of a group known as the "Christian Peacemaker Teams."
According to the Telegraph:
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.
More details on the alleged lack of cooperation:
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. . . . .
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.
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.
And more:
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.
Tony Blair, in Brussels for an EU summit, said: "I'd like to say how pleased I am that he was released and pay tribute to the extraordinary courage, dedication and commitment of the British, American, Iraqi, Canadian and other forces that were involved."
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."
As discussed in my earlier post, this group ignored the advice of U.S. troops in Iraq that it was not safe for them to be there. As a result, four activists were taken hostage by murderous thugs. The American hostage was allegedly tortured and shot multiple times, and his body thrown on a garbage heap. When the three surviving hostages were rescued, the group conspicuously failed to thank the U.S. and U.K. troops who risked their lives to rescue the hostages, and instead went out of its way to call the actions of the troops in being in Iraq at all as an "illegal occupation" and to claim that the troops had "illegally" detained Iraqis, while demanding that no "vengeance" be taken against the terrorists. No mention was made of the illegal nature of the detention of the peace activists by the terrorists.
And now we learn that the rescued hostages failed to cooperate fully with a debriefing that might have resulted in saving more lives, perhaps even the lives of other innocents being held hostage right now.
The more we learn, the more these "peacemakers" sound like active friends of the terrorists and active enemies of the coalition.
Their brand of Christian forgiveness is counterfeit. It only works in favor of the terrorists, and never in favor of America and the rest of the coalition in Iraq.
They are quick to unforgivingly nitpick every action of America and the coalition, but have only instant forgiveness for the horrific conduct of murdering terrorists.
Sadly, they have shown that they continue to lack both common sense and common decency.
Earlier Posts:
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Hat tip to Little Green Footballs for noting the Telegraph's coverage of the latest news.
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