Body of American CPTer found in Baghdad

Body of American CPTer found in Baghdad
By Robert Rhodes
Mennonite Weekly Review

U.S. forces in Iraq have recovered the body of kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox, CPT confirmed on March 10.

Fox, 54, a Quaker from Clearbrook, Va., was found with his hands bound and with gunshot wounds to the head and chest the evening of March 9, according to the Associated Press.

Iraqi police, who discovered the body in a garbage dump in the al-Mansur district of Baghdad, said Fox’s remains also showed signs of having been beaten before he was killed, the BBC reported. His body, clothed in a gray track suit, also had cuts and bruises and was found along a main road near a train station wrapped in a blanket inside a plastic bag, according to CNN and Aljazeera. When police saw the body was that of a Westerner, U.S. military authorities were called to the scene, reports said.

“In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion,” a statement from CPT said. “The death of our beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain.”

Fox was kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26 along with fellow CPTers Norman Kember, 74, a Briton, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32. The four were seized at gunpoint by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade and have been shown in videos released by the group, which has demanded the release of all detainees in U.S. and Iraqi prisons.

The most recent video, a silent 25-second clip that aired on Aljazeera March 7, showed all of the hostages except Fox.

“We didn't know at the time what the significance of his absence was,” said CPT co-director Carol Rose of Chicago, during a news conference in Toronto March 10. “My government's action got the peacemakers into this. Perhaps Tom was used as a message to the nation that took the lead in the war.”

CPT has five other activists in Baghdad, in addition to the hostages. CPT co-director Doug Pritchard told the Toronto news conference that CPT plans to remain in Iraq, at least until the fate of the other three captives is resolved.

On March 10, the U.S. State Department also confirmed Fox’s death.

“The FBI has verified the identity of a body found in Iraq,” said State Department spokesman Noel Clay, who said the whereabouts and safety of the other three hostages was still unknown. “While additional forensic testing will be completed in the United States, we believe this is the body of Tom Fox.”

Fox, who has two children, was a musician and had been a grocer before joining CPT a few years ago. He also had served CPT in the West Bank.

According to the New York Times, U.S. forces carried out house raids in a neighborhood near where Fox's body was discovered, but found no signs of the other three hostages or their captors.

Meanwhile, CPT reiterated Fox’s opposition to violence.

“In response to Tom’s passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done,” the statement said. “In Tom’s own words: ‘We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.’ ”

Vigils in Fox's memory and for the safety and freedom of the other three hostages were scheduled in Chicago and Toronto on March 11. At least one other gathering was to be held in Lancaster, Pa.

Fox is the first CPTer to fall victim to violence. On Jan. 9, 2003, George Weber, 73, of Chesley, Ont., was killed in an automobile accident near Basra.

http://www.mennoweekly.org/MARCH/03-20-06/CPT-FOX03-20.html