Very Good News

A combined US/UK rescue operation has rescued three hostages in Iraq:

U.S. and British forces freed one Briton and two Canadians early Thursday in a military operation, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street earlier this month.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry said the captives were rescued in the joint U.S.-British operation in rural area northwest of Baghdad, between the towns of Mishahda, 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad, and the western suburb of Abu Ghraib, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from downtown.

Many prayers have been answered this morning.

Given that Tom Fox was found tortured and shot to death two weeks ago, one wonders if the members of the pacifistic "Christian Peacemakers" group appreciate the irony that the only reason their other three people are alive is because many people, Iraqi informants and police as well as the British and US troops that enacted the rescue, risked their lives, and (likely - and hopefully) killed a number of the terrorists who likely as not planned to kill them.

UPDATE: As re that last graf, which I swear I wrote a couple of hours before I saw the Christian Peacemakers statement on the subject? Apparently not:

Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families. In the spirit of the prophetic nonviolence that motivated Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom to go to Iraq, we refuse to yield to a spirit of vengeance. We give thanks for the compassionate God who granted our friends courage and who sustained their spirits over the past months. We pray for strength and courage for ourselves so that, together, we can continue the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace.

Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. That support continues to come to us day after day. We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

During these past months, we have tasted of the pain that has been the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Why have our loved ones been taken? Where are they being held? Under what conditions? How are they? Will they be released? When?

With Tom’s death, we felt the grief of losing a beloved friend. Today, we rejoice in the release of our friends Harmeet, Jim and Norman. We continue to pray for a swift and joyful homecoming for the many Iraqis and internationals who long to be reunited with their families. We renew our commitment to work for an end to the war and the occupation of Iraq as a way to continue the witness of Tom Fox. We trust in God’s compassionate love to show us the way.

Prayers for everyone but the US and Brit troops who risked their lives to spring them, and for the Iraqis who (according to initial reports) led them to the scene.

The "Christian Peacemakers" are the sort of people you run into a few of in every non-conservative congregation in the United States; people who, in the words of P.J. O'Rourke, "have self-righteousness the way some people have halitosis".

On behalf of those of us Christians who are revolted by the smug selectiveness of the "Christian" "Peace"makers, to the US and UK troops who did the job, whomever you are - thanks.

UPDATE II: All reports I've read so far have been quiet as to the troops involved - which might be a function of it being early in the story cycle, or might be an indication that both nations' most elite hostage-rescue units (The British SAS and/or US SFOD, who are rarely to never officially credited with anything) were involved - which, if true, indicates the extremely high importance all three governments (Iraq, UK and US) attached to the rescue.

The Scotsman notes:

British forces, believed to be members of an SAS snatch squad, were involved in the major military operation in the town of Mishahda, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.

Special forces from the United States and Iraq were also part of the dramatic rescue of 74-year-old Mr Kember and his Canadian colleagues, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden.

As usual with SAS operations, one is dying to find out the details - and resigned to the fact that as with all of their operations, one is likely to wait 10-25 years before anything remotely official filters out.

Posted by Mitch at March 23, 2006 08:12 AM | TrackBack