Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

Today we were overwhelmed with bittersweet joy: the Christian Peacemaker captives were freed without shots being fired, rescued according to reports by British-led special forces. While we give thanks for this turn of events, the absence of our friend Tom Fox from the group has been tough.

Our immediate impulse was thanksgiving: giving thanks to God that these men are safe, giving thanks to all of those at home and abroad who worked and prayed for their release, giving thanks to everyone who has supported their work and its continuation, and giving thanks for the rescue effort, in which no one was killed or injured. For armed strangers facing down threat after threat in a country torn apart by daily violence and strife, it is remarkable that this operation was carried out without further casualties. We do not support the ongoing occupation of Iraq, but we know that the soldiers serving there are human beings endowed with the same qualities we cherish in our friends and neighbors.

Our site traffic spiked at 1,300 page views, and many readers left comments, mostly on our memorial page for Tom Fox. Readers expressed anger and outrage about CPT's lack of gratitude. What was this about? The source of contention seems to be a statement released today by Christian Peacemaker Teams in which the team did not mention the military intervention. Was this oversight a sign of disrespect for those who serve in the armed forces?

Not acordiong to Ekklesia, a religious think tank associated with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the UK (emphasis added):

The pacifist group made it clear that they were not asking for military intervention on behalf of their members, and today they expressed relief that no-one appears to have been killed in the armed operation.

Said Simon Barrow ...: "Christian peace makers have great respect for those who carried out the operation to free the captives, but they nevertheless remain firmly committed to nonviolence as the only effective, long-term way to break the cycles of hatred, revenge, terror and killing which are destroying Iraq and threatening the world."

Said Barrow: "Many people will continue to question the propriety of unarmed interventions in places of great danger and conflict. But Christian Peacemaker Teams have made it clear that they will not be deterred by threats or opposition. They are tough-minded people who know the situation and know what they were doing. When Jesus called on his followers to make peace, he never said it was going to be anything other than risky – and he paid with his life."

Because this sentiment seems to have been lost in transmission, I feel compelled to make a more explicit statement. This site is not affiliated with Christian Peacemaker Teams, and I can't speak on their behalf, but this comes from a friend of Tom Fox, slain before the rescue:

I give thanks to all those who endure sacrifice to serve others, including those who rescued Tom's team members, and including the families of military personnel. Thank God that no shots were fired, and that the captives are safe!

Today I thought a lot about Robert Smith, a Quaker and former headmaster of Sidwell Friends School who served in the armed forces during World War II. Sometimes, to live humanly and with integrity, we have to take decisive action, even in defiance of our understanding of God's will. After the war, he went back to Europe as a civilian volunteer with American Friends Service Committee to help rebuild many of the same villages that he helped destroy. How could any of us condemn either commitment emerging from his desire to serve others? This wrestling to me seems much more faithful to the ancient Christian peace witness than the attitude that we already have all the answers.

While I remain committed to the example of redemptive love and suffering borne by my friend Tom Fox, I also understand that his leading to serve in Iraq is not for everyone. I know Tom Fox as a human being, a baker, a musician, a dad, a friend, and a mentor. Seeing the human isolation and suffering he had to endure reminds me that the way of the Cross is a way of radical servanthood that we cannot lay on others. Condemning others for not choosing the way of the Lamb seems preposterous. I am condemned by own reluctance to follow in the Lamb's footsteps.

For our family, friends, and neighbors who serve in the armed forces are not the ones making war and terror, although they kill and die on the front lines. War and terror emerge from our culture of valuing ourselves over others, valuing convenience and complacency over human life. We all participate in the forces that drive war and terror to the extent that we fill a productive role in society. This is not a message of spite, but a message of hope. Any of us can help to enact the Peaceable Kingdom by serving others and building civility on the frontiers between friend and enemy that exist wherever we are.

Gene Stoltzfus asks:

How should Christian peacemakers place themselves into difficult situations where terrorism is rampant? Is there a more disciplined way in which peacemaker work might function more effectively in our congregation to overcome terrorism and war?

While the messages of blame, shame, and condemnation are diversions that can only dehumanize ourselves and others, honest wrestling with these tough queries and others may help us find a way forward, a way that builds fellowship across the borders in a world ensnared by terror.

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Simon Barrow pointed this out after the article above went online:

CPT released this statement last night - "We have been so overwhelmed and overjoyed to have Jim, Harmeet and Norman freed, that we have not adequately thanked the people involved with freeing them, nor remembered those still in captivity. So we offer these paragraphs as the first of several addenda: We are grateful to the soldiers who risked their lives to free Jim, Norman and Harmeet. As peacemakers who hold firm to our commitment to nonviolence, we are also deeply grateful that they fired no shots to free our colleagues. We are thankful to all the people who gave of themselves sacrificially to free Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom over the last four months, and those supporters who prayed and wept for our brothers in captivity, for their loved ones and for us, their co-workers. We will continue to lift Jill Carroll up in our prayers for her safe return. In addition, we will continue to advocate for the human rights of Iraqi detainees and assert their right to due process in a just legal system."