Former hostage back in Canada
TORONTO — A Canadian held hostage in Iraq for four months before being rescued by U.S. and British forces reunited with his family Sunday, expressing disbelief at being retrieved from "a black hole."
James Loney said he was looking forward to a normal life and washing "a sink full of dirty dishes" after his airport reunion with his family.
"During my captivity I sometimes entertained myself by imagining this day. Sometimes I despaired of ever seeing it. Always I ached over," said Loney, noticeably gaunt. "For 118 days I disappeared into a black hole and somehow by God's grace, I was spit out again."
The 41-year-old pacifist was freed Thursday from a house west of Baghdad along with Canadian-born Harmeet Singh Sooden, 33, and 74-year-old Briton Norman Kember.
On being freed, the three learned that their fellow hostage — 54-year-old Tom Fox of Clear Brook, Va. — had been killed weeks earlier, shot in the head and chest and his body dumped in western Baghdad. All the men were members of a Christian Peacemakers Teams group.
Kember attended a church service Sunday north of London to give thanks for his deliverance from captivity, arriving through a back entrance of the Harrow Baptist Church. The minister asked churchgoers to allow the 74-year-old to worship "without having a circus around him."
"Norman was quite insistent, if he was free then he should be free to worship," the Rev. Bob Gardiner said.
In Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where Loney's parents live, welcoming signs went up and red ribbons were tied to trees.
The four peace activists were kidnapped Nov. 26. They were shown as prisoners in several videos, the most recent a silent clip dated Feb. 28 in which Loney, Kember and Sooden appeared without Fox, whose body was found March 9.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.
