Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

There was no news on Tuesday January 31 of Tom Fox or the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq. Once more we call on their captors -- release them!

from the Associated Press: German Hostages in Iraq Shown in Video

A roadside bomb killed a British soldier in southern Iraq Tuesday as a new video from kidnappers threatened to kill two German hostages if Germany fails to stop cooperating with the Iraqi government.

We call for the release of these and all other innocent persons held captive in Iraq.

from Aljazeera: Several bodies found in Baghdad

Iraqi police have found the bodies of 11 young men, all blindfolded and shot in the head, in the back of a deserted truck in western Baghdad.

Police said the bodies of the men, all apparently civilians, were found in Baghdad's violent Ghazaliya district on Tuesday. They had marks on their wrists, indicating they had been restrained.

Three other bodies were found dumped near a road in Rustamiya on the southeastern outskirts of the capital. They also had gunshot wounds to the head. Police said their identities were not known.

Since the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in March 2003, hundreds of bodies have been found dumped in fields, at roadsides and in rivers, often bound and shot in the head.

Anti-US Iraqi fighters regularly capture and kill Iraqi soldiers, policemen and civilians suspected of working with the US-led forces in Iraq.

Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who dominate the revolt against the US-led forces in Iraq and the US-backed Shia-led government, accuse the Iraqi security forces of kidnapping their sect members and brutally torturing them before executing them. The Shia-led security forces deny the charges.

from Reuters: US Iraq casualties ease amid drop in rebel attacks

The death toll among U.S. troops in Iraq dropped back to average levels in December and January after a bloody autumn, and U.S. officials said on Tuesday insurgent attacks have been waning since October.

The number of attacks conducted by insurgents has dwindled from more than 700 per week in the first week of October, just before the Oct. 15 referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, to the current level of about 430 per week, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. [...]

There have been 2,242 U.S. military deaths in the war, according to Pentagon figures released on Tuesday. Another 16,606 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat, 7,683 of whom were too badly hurt to return to duty, the Pentagon said.

UK army faces strain if Iraq, Afghan missions run on

Britain's army is under pressure in Iraq and ramping up operations in Afghanistan this year, but if the situation on the ground does not improve fast Washington may soon find that its closest ally is stretched too tight.

Word of the 100th British death in Iraq arrived on Tuesday just days after the announcement of an ambitious new mission to southern Afghanistan that will see Britain's forces there increase from just 1,000 now to a peak of 5,700.

"When you spend your holidays from Afghanistan in Iraq, that is where you stretch your army to breaking point," said Tim Ripley, who writes for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"You're talking about them coming back from Iraq and going straight to Afghanistan and then going back again. And that puts a real strain on whether these people want to stay in the army."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said there would be no turning back either in Iraq or Afghanistan.

from the Associated Press: Top U.S. General Says Army 'Stretched'

The top U.S. general in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that American forces in this country are "stretched," but he said he will only recommend withdrawals based on operational needs. [...]

"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that," Casey said. "But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units."

He reiterated he would only recommend reductions in the more than 130,000-strong U.S. military presence in Iraq based on the situation on the ground.

Iraqi Desertions Complicate U.S. Mission

Just two days before a mission to send hundreds of Iraqi soldiers after insurgents in this troubled western part of Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi commanders confronted an untimely problem - an Iraqi battalion commander was suddenly fired for incompetence. [...]

The missing battalion underscored what U.S. commanders call the Iraqi army's most glaring weakness in this restive part of the country: a shortage of soldiers able to take on their own "battle space," or areas where they are primarily responsible for security.

There was no news on Monday January 30, 2006 (as of 10:30 PM Eastern US time) of Tom Fox and the other CPT peacworkers held captive in Iraq.

Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Jill Carroll, the captive US journalist who appeared in a newly-released video, veiled and weeping, pleading for her life. To her captors we say, Release her! And to the captors of the CPT workers, we say, Release them also! No cause, no religion will be served by harming or continuing to hold them.

from Reuters: Sectarian tensions on the rise

Five simultaneous bomb attacks on 29 January that appeared to target churches and the Vatican embassy have raised concerns among Iraqi Christians about rising sectarian tensions.

In the wake of the bombs which exploded outside two churches in Kirkuk, two in the capital Baghdad, as well as the Vatican embassy, killing 16 and injuring 20, Christian families are reportedly leaving the country in fear of more violence. [...]

"They can't target the Americans, so they target us for having the same religion, even if we're fellow Arabs. ... The government should do something to protect us," Kardush added.

Military and civilian deaths in Iraq

A British soldier was killed by gunfire in Maysan province in southern Iraq on Monday, the Ministry of Defence said in London.

The U.S. military said that a soldier was killed on Saturday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. The following are the latest figures for military deaths in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, in line with the most recent information from the U.S. military:

U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:
United States 2,242 Britain 99 Other nations 94

IRAQIS: MILITARY Between 4,895 and 6,370#

CIVILIANS Between 28,224 and 31,826* [Other plausible estimates put the civilian toll at above 100,000.]

Visibly wearied by his nine weeks in captivity, Tom Fox is shown speaking in the January 21 video. To his captors we repeat our plea: Release him and his peaceful colleagues!

Yesterday, we couldn't find any reference to a new deadline accompanying the video that emerged featuring the CPT captives. That information seems to have appeared in a report that popped up today.

from the New Zealand Herald: Video of hostages comes with deadline

His brother-in-law Mark Brewer said the tape, dated January 21, gave a deadline of seven days for all Iraqi prisoners in American and Iraqi prisons to be released or the hostages would be killed.

"The 21st was the date on the tape, and it was seven days from then, which brings us right up to now. So it's a very tense time ... Every phone call we hope is a phone call of good news."

from BBC News: New Video of CPT Captives

The video and report are about two minutes long. Some of the captives appear to be speaking, but cannot be heard. The new video does not set a specific deadline, but says this is the "last chance" for US forces to save them by releasing all prisoners in Iraq.

from BBC News: Kember captors release new video

Anas Altikriti of the Muslim Association of Britain, who has been campaigning in the Middle East for Mr Kember's release, said the video showed there had been "some kind of breakthrough" in the efforts to communicate with the captors.

He said he still did not know who was holding the men or where they were, but the video was a positive sign that they were still being held by the same group.

He told BBC News: "One of the things we were extremely concerned about over the last six weeks was that the initial group... would change hands and in a sense sell them off to a bigger, possibly even more ruthless group.
"Now I think we have reason to be hopeful."

Mr Altikriti said: "The contact after all this time... shows they are willing to negotiate, willing to talk and that is a very good thing. Otherwise they would have carried out their threat regardless."

Another view: "The video is a very bad sign," wrote the Jawa Report's resident expert, who calls himself Rusty Shackleford.

While al Jazeera chose not to air the audio from it, the video is said to demand the release of all Iraqi prisoners or the four Western hostages will be murdered. Up to this point, speculation has abounded that the 'Swords of Righteousness Brigade', the organization behind the hostage crisis, was a criminal organization interested in ransoming the hostages for money.

"However, The Jawa Report was the first media outlet to reveal the 'The Swords of Righteousness Brigade' may be a front for the radical Islamist terror organization, The Islamic Army in Iraq. Analysts working for major MSM outlets later confirmed our initial reports.

"The Islamic Army in Iraq has murdered foreign hostages in the past, including Italian Red Cross worker Enzo Baldoni, and has worked with Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq in the past.

"More recent reports indicate that The Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) has broken any ties it had with al Qaeda. There is even some indication that IAI and al Qaeda are openly fighting in some areas. ]

Also: BBC correspondent Nicholas Witchell, in Baghdad, said it was "disturbing" that the group was still making political demands which could not be met.

He said the US had released 420 prisoners, including five women, two days ago but there were many thousands of people still in detention.

He added: "It is completely inconceivable that all the people in detention in Iraq would be released."

Comments from Kember Friends

A friend of Mr Kember, Chris Cole, told BBC he was relieved to hear news "after such a long period of silence".
'"But obviously we're extremely concerned and extremely worried about how they're looking and how they're dealing with the ordeal," he told BBC News.

He said he was sure that there was dialogue between the hostages and their captors.

"Norman's a man of great faith and we very much hope that they're all together - that will keep up their sprits.
"But, obviously, Norman's 74 - it's a very difficult time and we hope and pray that he remains strong."

Aljazeera aired a new video today from the group holding Tom Fox, Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden, and James Loney. We will post further updates as we find out more.

There was no news on Friday, January 27 of Tom Fox and the other three CPT peaceworkers, now held captive in Iraq.for more than two months.

from Aljazeera:German hostages plead for help

Two German hostages held in Iraq have appealed to their government to help secure their release, in a video aired by Aljazeera.

The two German engineers, who disappeared in northern Iraq on Tuesday, were shown on their knees in front of four kidnappers on the video shown by the television station on Friday. [...]

At least five foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this month, including two Kenyan communications engineers missing after an ambush in Baghdad on 18 January.

from the Associated Press:Murtha Says Iraq Is Now a 'Civil War'

U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year due to political pressure in a Congressional election year, Rep. John Murtha predicted.

Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran from Johnstown, created a firestorm in November when he called for troops to be pulled out of Iraq. On Thursday, he told editors and reporters from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the war in Iraq is a civil war and the U.S. should disengage.

"Our troops are the target," Murtha told the newspaper. "We're not fighting terrorism in Iraq. We're fighting a civil war in Iraq. We've got to give them an incentive. We fought our Civil War. Let them fight their civil war." [...]

He wants U.S. troops to be redeployed to Kuwait and areas around Iraq. He predicted there will be fewer than 100,000 troops by midsummer and that the pullout by the end of the year.

"We're not cutting and running. We're giving the Iraqis incentive to take over," he said.

There was no news on Thursday Jan. 26 of the fate of Tom Fox and the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq. This date marks two months of their captivity. there has been no information about their condition or prospects for release since December 8, 2005.

from Aljazeera:US frees five Iraqi women

The US military in Iraq has freed five women prisoners, but American and Iraqi officials have stressed their release was pre-planned and not linked to the case of kidnapped US reporter Jill Carroll.

The kidnappers of Carroll, who was abducted in Baghdad on 7 January, had threatened to kill her by last Friday unless all women prisoners were released. There has been no word on her fate.

The five, among at least eight women held by US forces in Iraq, were freed along with 414 other detainees on Thursday, a US military spokesman said.

from Reuters:A U.S. soldier died after his vehicle was hit by a rocket during combat operations in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, on Wednesday the U.S. military said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier the U.S. military said that a roadside bomb killed another U.S soldier south of Baghdad.

The following are the latest figures for military deaths in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, in line with the most recent information from the U.S. military:

U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:

United States 2,239 Britain 98 Other nations 94

IRAQIS:

MILITARY Between 4,895 and 6,370#

CIVILIANS Between 28,198 and 31,800*
[Other plausible estimates of civilian casualties exceed 100,000]

The server for this site went down late Wednesday, so there was not a timely update. Our apologies; but there was no news of the fate of Tom Fox & the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq.

There was no news on Tuesday January 24 of the fate of Tom Fox and the other three CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq.

However, a touching recollection of another of the captives, James Loney, is in a piece called Two Photographs by Scott Marratto at Common Dreams.

"Hanging on my fridge are two photographs," Scott writes. "One is a picture of my dear friend Jim Loney holding up another photo of an Iraqi who, at the time the photograph was taken, was being held without recourse to any system of justice ..."

from Reuters: Two German engineers kidnapped in Iraq

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped two German engineers outside their workplace in the Iraqi industrial town of Baiji on Tuesday, police said, the latest in a surge of abductions of foreigners in Iraq.
At least six gunmen, in two unmarked cars, grabbed the two men just outside a detergent plant in an industrial complex around Iraq's biggest oil refinery, police Lieutenant Colonel Kadhem Abbas said.

Children's hospital struggling in wake of bombing

The country's main children's hospital is operating at less than one third of its capacity after a bomb attack nearly a month ago, say doctors.

The Children's Central Teaching Hospital in the capital, Baghdad, was hit by a suicide bomb targeting a police official on 19 December. Two security guards and ten staff members were injured in the attack.

The Associated Press has a useful listing of the known insurgent groups, with brief descriptions: Militia and Militant Groups in Iraq

There was no news on Monday January 23 about Tom Fox and the other CPT captives in Iraq. But there was another appeal for the release of one captive:

from Ekklesia: New appeal for Norman Kember highlights health concerns

Pat Kember, wife of the 74-year-old peace campaigner Norman Kember, who has been held hostage in Iraq for two months, appealed again for the release of her ailing husband in a televised message aired by the al-Jazeera network.

"Please show compassion and mercy. Please release [Norman] and his friends soon," said Mrs Kember, who lives in north London. "They are good people and they will resume work to make Iraq safer and more peaceful."

She added: "I am extremely worried because his condition might be deteriorating. He suffers from high blood pressure and from aneurysm (swelling of an artery)."

In other Iraq-related news, a US army officer, convicted of "negligent homicide" in the torture-suffication death of an Iraqi general, will serve no prison time. Instead, Aljazeera reports, Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. was reprimanded, and "also was ordered on Monday to forfeit $6,000 salary and was restricted to his place of work, worship and barracks for 60 days."

Welshofer, 43, had originally been charged with murder, but instead he was convicted on Saturday of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty and faced up to three years and three months in prison, a dishonourable discharge, loss of his pension and other penalties.

After hearing the sentence, Welshofer hugged his wife and soldiers in the gallery watching the trial, many who had worked with Welshofer and who testified as character witnesses, broke into applause.

from Reuters: US says Insurgent attacks in Iraq jumped in 2005

Insurgents in Iraq mounted more than 34,000 attacks last year on U.S. and other foreign troops, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi civilians, a nearly 30 percent jump from 2004, the U.S. military said on Monday.

U.S. officials cautioned that the figure should not be seen as evidence that insurgents are gaining ground because the effectiveness of their attacks declined and the Iraqis achieved numerous political milestones despite the ongoing violence.

"We are succeeding, and the Iraqis are succeeding," said Marine Corps Maj. Tim Keefe, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

But defense analyst Daniel Goure of the Lexington Institute think tank said, "It's a little hard on the face of it to claim we are being successful when the number of attacks increases by 30 percent.

Group presses U.S. military on jailed journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for the U.S. military to free two journalists, one held without charge in Iraq and the other, the media rights group said, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The New York-based group also demanded an explanation from the U.S. military for holding a Reuters TV cameraman for eight months without charges until his release on Sunday.

"The military owes an explanation for this open-ended and unsubstantiated detention," she said. "U.S. officials should also credibly explain the basis for the other detentions or release those journalists immediately," [CPJ Executive Director ann] Cooper said.

Reuters reports that a US soldier was killed in Baghdad Monday. This brings the Reuters-estimated US death toll to 2228.

However, the Asoociated Press put the total at 2231, and said this was six less than the Pentagon's updated tally, which would be 2237. Reuters also estimates civilian iraqi casualties at between 28,088 and 31,676. [Other plausible estimates put the figure over 100,000.]

According to the International Federation of Journalists, "a record number of media workers died last year while doing their job, amid a growing trend towards the targeted killing of journalists."

At least 89 journalists were murdered because of their professional work, the IFJ said, out of a total of 150 media deaths in 2005.

"It was an unprecedented year ... the IFJ has counted 89 who were killed in the line of duty, singled out for their professional work. In 2005 the trend towards targeted assassination of editorial staff has intensified."

The largest number of deliberate killings, 38, was recorded in the Middle East, all but three of them in Iraq, making the region "by far the world's most deadly beat for reporters in the field," the report said.

"Most of those who died were local, many of them working for international media outlets in Iraq where the streets are too dangerous for foreigners to tread."

On top of the 35 targeted killings in Iraq, the report noted that another five journalists were killed there by U.S. troops, including Reuters soundman Waleed Khaled, shot in the face and chest by U.S. military forces on Aug. 28.

On Friday, there was still no word on the status of our friend Tom Fox and the other CPT captives. However, there remains a great deal we might do in continuing witness on their behalf. Please continue to hold these men and their families in the Light of prayer, along with those they have served at home and abroad.

Today's reports highlight the continuing support for their release, the accidental rescue of a kidnapped reporter, and the continuing turmoil in Iraq. In sharing these daily collections of headlines, it is our hope that some friends will look beyond the parade of information and discern the larger social and moral landscape, driven by a larger vision of the Peaceable Realm.

• from Ekklesia: Supporters of Iraq captives reissue media appeals

  "Our dear ones have been kidnapped. They are all working as activists for the sake of peace and to aid the Iraqi people."
  
  "A number of religious figures in the Arab and Islamic world have talked about the noble work which they are doing for the sake of Iraq and called for their immediate release."
  
  "We also appeal for their safe return to us. If you have any information that could help us, please call the phone number and it is not necessary to reveal your identity," concluded the fresh plea.

• from the San Francisco Chronicle: Kidnapped reporter rescued by chance in Iraq

  The captors did not hurt Sands. When required, they escorted him, blindfolded, to an outhouse in the yard. They fed him decently -- dinners of rice and chicken and breakfasts of bread and jam -- but "I didn't have much of an appetite," Sands said.

• from Reuters:
  • Voter pressure may force Bush to quit Iraq
  • Saddam trial judge plans to quit
• from the AP: U.S. General Details Iraq Violence

There was no news of the four CPT captives on Sunday January 1.

• from Ekklesia: Middle East Christians and Muslims renew plea for Iraq captives
• from Reuters:
  • Several Protesters killed in Iraq fuel protest
  • Bomb explodes at Baghdad refinery, pipeline on fire
• from Aljazeera: Multiple car bombs rattle Iraq
• from New York Times: 844 in U.S. Military Killed in Iraq in 2005