Army's Top General Attacks Kember For Failing To Thank SAS Rescue Team

London Times ^ | Nick Meo, Michael Evans & Daniel McGrory

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Freed hostage will arrive home today amid growing concern, report our correspondents
 
Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him.

 

Neither Professor Kember nor the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) organisation for whom he worked have acknowledged the work of the soldiers who rescued him and two Canadian hostages on Thursday, or of the teams of military and intelligence officials who spent months trying to track them down.

 

General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army, expressed the unhappiness of the military last night when he told Channel 4 News that he was “saddened that there doesn’t seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives”.

 

Before flying out of Baghdad on an RAF aircraft yesterday, Professor Kember and his two fellow hostages released a brief statement that said nothing about the rescue force. It read simply: “We are deeply grateful for all those who prayed for our release. We don’t have words to describe our feelings, our joy and gratitude. Our heads are swirling; when we are ready, we will speak to the media.”

 

It was the third set of comments Professor Kember had relayed to the media that failed to mention his rescuers. A lengthy statement released by CPT after the hostages’ rescue on Thursday not only failed to thank their rescuers, but called on coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq.

 

The only oblique acknowledgement came from Professor Kember’s wife, Pat. In a statement released through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night, she thanked “all those who have helped secure his release”. But she, too, made no mention of the British-led unit that freed her husband in western Baghdad. She praised “government agencies and my family liaison officers”, but did not directly refer to the soldiers who stormed the kidnappers’ hideout in darkness.

 

CPT has always made it clear that its members did not want force to be used to rescue them if they were kidnapped or held hostage.

 

But, in the event, the coalition devoted huge resources to securing their release. The SAS, special forces from the US and Canada and military intelligence officers spent months trying to locate them.

 

A force consisting of SAS troopers backed up by about 50 paratroops and Marines spearheaded the task force that rescued them. US and Iraqi troops were also involved in the mission. Relaxed and rested after his 36-hour stay at the fortified British Embassy in Baghdad, Professor Kember was flown out of the green zone by military helicopter yesterday to begin his journey home. He then boarded an RAF military transport at Baghdad airport for the short flight to neighbouring Kuwait. From there he was being flown home.

 

Maxine Nash, of CPT in Baghdad, said that the organisation had not paid for his flight back to Britain. She said: “He elected to go through the Embassy, they arranged it. We did offer to pay for commercial flights for everyone but that can be difficult because it means driving through dangerous areas.”

 

She admitted that the pacifist hostages had mixed feelings about being rescued by the military. She said: “Our mandate is violence reduction so this was a tough call. Before they were kidnapped both Tom and Jim had said they didn’t want to be rescued.” Ms Nash said that the group was now considering leaving Baghdad. “After what has happened we’re going to spend some time thinking about what to do.”

 

Last night British diplomats in Iraq tried to sidestep the row over the apparently ungracious behaviour of the peace activists. Diplomatic sources let it be known that the three men did agree to face further questioning yesterday from intelligence agents trying to hunt down the group who held them for 118 days.

 

An intelligence source said: “They gave what help they could. They recognise that there are other hostages, including Westerners, still in captivity who we believe were taken by the same group.”

 

The source added that Professor Kember had “privately expressed his thanks to his rescuers” though he did not meet them. The activists explained that they could not be of much help with descriptions of their captors as the group kept their faces covered.

 

The three men revealed how, shortly before the SAS burst their way into their prison before dawn on Wednesday, their captors suddenly moved them to a downstairs room.

 

They were tied up and bound together. The hostages heard their captives leaving. British officials insisted that there had been no deal to free the trio.

 

They said that interrogators told the gang member they arrested this week that he must reveal the location of the hostages or face 30 years in jail.

 

RESCUE FIGURES

 

The hunt for Norman Kember and his fellow hostages involved

 

250 men from the Task Force Black US/British/Australian counter-kidnap unit

 

100 men from Task Force Maroon, the Paras and Royal Marines backing special forces

 

15 men in helicopter crews

 

AND tens of thousands of pounds spent on helicopter and transport aircraft flights
 
 
 
 
 

[JennysCool]

You are correct, Sir! I'm glad as well. It's much like the Cindy Sheehan thing. The more these loonies talk -- or, in this case, don't talk -- the more the public realizes just how far gone the "anti-war left" is.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I still can't figure out why they made Rev. Witt such a coward in the movie. In real life he was a great help to the troops at the battle. Also the character of Trooper Hook, who went on to receive the Victoria Cross was portrayed as a malingerer throughout the movie. The real Trooper Hook was a hero's hero before the action at Rourke's Drift.

[Peter Libra]

.....you'll upset the lads

Great stuff. Just before the record number of awards for the Victoria Cross, at Rorkes Drift.1878.

Funny thing though, too many co-incidences for my well being. Kember is stated as being from Pinner, Middlesex. I was from the neigbouring district, as a young lad. Sir (if you please) Elton John, comes from Pinner. I wonder if he put in a good word for Kember? My adopted home town is Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, now loudly touted as the home town of James Loney.(a fellow hostage of Kimber).

A battery of lovely people on our T/V tonight. Ah so happy, praising the Lord. Not a bloomin' peep about our now better known special forces. Nary a word.

An old song comes to mind- Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

[TET1968]

NO WAY !!!!
Colour Sgt. Frank Bourne...HE'S MY HERO!

[sarasmom]

They are not "pacifists".
INSHO, they should all have suffered the same fate as their tortured and dead comrades.

War zones should not be considered "alternative vacation destinations".

[KurtZ]

I've come to the conclusion that these people went there specifically to die for their pacifist cause. Religion means very little to them. They simple use it as a means to their end. Literally.

It would have been entertaining to be a fly on the wall while they were being held hostage, though. One group of insane people trying to reason with another.

[91B]

Excellent-Zulu bump.

[Pelham]

Trade them back to the terrorists for three hostages to be named later.

[JennysCool]

You bring up an excellent point!

Cops know all about it of course, but ...

Are we now witnessing "Suicide By Terrorist"?

[David643]

They should be sent the bill for the total cost of saving their sorry you know!

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

"Task Force Maroon"

how apropos!

[gondramB]

"It might be even more valuable to make the point that we don't give a crap about traitorous Westerners who naively make themselves easy marks for hostage-takers."

It certainly is tempting... but I think the Romans got it right with the Pax Romana - where a Roman citizen could walk to the ends of the earth and no one dared harm him because they knew the might of the empire would come down on them If we differentiate by whether the citizen is an idiot it lessens the lesson.

[upchuck]

Welcome to Real Life 101 where some are just pure unadulterated ASSHOLES!

[thoughtomator]

I wonder what happened to Roman citizens who actively worked to assist any and all of Rome's enemies? Rome must have had its own bleeding-heart libs, what did they do with them?

[Old Sarge]

The Arena...

[marron]

The people of faith are not always the ones who wear their Christianity like a badge; the people of faith in this little story are the ones who lay their lives on the line as a sacrifice, and who walk through fire and lead.

These activists are not worthy of the lives that were risked to save them. The measure of the men who saved them is that they would do it anyway. I wouldn't, but they would and did.

[maine-iac7]

They are appeasement activists. Its that simple

and by refusing to help the rescuers by giving clues that might help them save other hostages, they are aiding and abetting - if the other hostages end up dead - they should be charged as accessories - at least in public- all over the worlds newspapers.

Let them live with the "peace" of that

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

These pathetic creatures aren't Christians, they're filthy, contemptible, hippie scum.

Why we're expending precious resources-and endangering the lives of our country's finest-saving their utterly worthless hides is beyond me.

[SandRat]

The governments are too kind. The CPT should be very directly and publicly told that since they cannot exhibit common civility nor truly practice what they claim to be their core value; in the next instance that any of the members become fodder for the kidnappers/rouges the governmental stance will be: Tough! We will not not Risk our servicemembers lives for your ungracious souls!

[gondramB]

"I wonder what happened to Roman citizens who actively worked to assist any and all of Rome's enemies? Rome must have had its own bleeding-heart libs, what did they do with them?"

Bearing in mind that a liberal back then could be someone who opposed making the Emperor a god ... I'm confident the methods of dealing with them were unpleasant.