American Is Reported Missing in Iraq (2 Canadians and 1 Brit also abducted)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An American citizen is missing in Iraq, the U.S. Embassy said Monday, apparently one of four humanitarian workers reported kidnapped a day earlier.

The reported abductions - amid a relative lull in the kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq - came as the trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for alleged crimes against humanity resumed Monday in a heavily guarded Baghdad courtroom. The trial was adjourned until Dec. 5 to allow time to find replacements for two defense lawyers who were slain and another who fled Iraq after he was wounded.

Also Monday, two Britons were killed when gunmen attacked a bus carrying Muslim pilgrims.

A Canadian Parliament official said Sunday that four humanitarian workers had been seized Saturday, including two Canadians. Britain has said one of its citizens, retired professor and longtime peace activist Norman Kember, also was kidnapped.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said only that an American had been reported missing. The person's name was not immediately released. Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, also refused identify the Canadians, their organization or the location where they were kidnapped to protect their safety.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he had been in touch with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hohshyar Zebari about Kember's abduction, and that Zebari "pledged every assistance from the Iraqi government."

"It is a very difficult and very worrying situation for the family, obviously for Mr. Kember himself, and we remain in touch with the family," Straw said.

Britain's foreign office said Sunday that it was launching an "urgent investigation" and would be in touch "with the other countries involved, the Americans and the Canadians."

Iraq saw a brutal wave of foreigner kidnappings in 2004 and early 2005. Insurgents and militants including al-Qaida in Iraq seized more than 225 people, killing at least 38 of them - including three Americans. The victims included aid workers, journalists and contractors, seized in an attempt to drive foreigners out of the country.

Since May, abductions have dropped off considerably, mainly because many Western groups left Iraq and security precautions for those remaining have been tightened, keeping their employees in barricaded compounds and moving only in heavily guarded convoys.

Kember, in his 70s, was in Iraq working for several groups, his wife said. The couple lives in London.

The last American to be kidnapped was Jeffrey Ake, a contract worker from LaPorte, Ind., who was abducted April 11. He was seen in a video aired days afterward, held with a gun to his head, but there has been no word on his fate since.

More recently, militants have turned to kidnapping Arab diplomats in a campaign to prevent nations from opening embassies in Iraq to show support for its new government.

Egypt's top diplomat in Baghdad and two Algerian diplomats were kidnapped and killed in July, raising a cry of outrage across the Arab world. Still, al-Qaida in Iraq continued its campaign, snatching two employees of the Moroccan Embassy in October. It later announced it had sentenced them to death for apostasy but never confirmed their execution.

In the attack Monday on Muslim pilgrims, gunmen opened fire on the bus when it neared a checkpoint in the Dora neighborhood of western Baghdad, police Capt. Talib Thamir said. The bus was carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims to religious sites south of the capital.

Four men and one woman, apparently of South Asian heritage and carrying United Kingdom passports, were taken to Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, an official there said.

"We were just coming and all of a sudden heard shots and immediately got down," said an injured British woman, who identified herself as Z. Jafferti. She said she had been ill and had come to Iraq to pray at the shrines to Imam Ali and Imam Hussein.

Also Monday, a mortar shell fell in central Baghdad's Green Zone and two others fell nearby, just hours before Saddam's trial opened. There were no report of injuries from the shelling, police Lt. Bilal Ali Majeed said.

A roadside bomb exploded next to a passing U.S. Army convoy in northeastern Baghdad Monday, setting fire to a Bradley fighting vehicle. Police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said three soldiers were injured.

The U.S. military reported that a Marine assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing was killed Saturday when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb near Camp Taqaddum, 45 miles west of Baghdad. At least 2,106 U.S. military personnel have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Near Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division found more than 2,700 mortar rounds buried near an abandoned Iraqi Army base, a U.S. statement said. Troops were excavating similar mounds Monday in search of more weapons.

Other articles have described the abductees as "aid (or relief) workers," but it is as yet entirely unclear that they actually worked for an aid organization.

I googled the name of the Brit, Norman Kember, and found an article by him in a "Peacelinks Newsletter" praising a groups called "Christian Peace Teams". At the end of the short article (see below) Kember suggested that he was considering joing this group. If Kember when to Iraq with CPT, it's likey the other abductees did too as the group is also active in both countries.

Now personally it has always worried me that I am a ‘cheap’ peacemaker (by analogy with Bonhoeffer’s concept of ‘cheap’ grace). Being a CO in Britain, talking, writing, demonstrating about peace is in no way taking risks like young service men in Iraq. I look for excuses why I should not become involved with CPT or EAPPI. Perhaps the readers will supply me with some?
Norman Kember
See www.cpt.org and www.cptuk.org.uk

CPT in Iraq: Shifting Sands for Peacemakers

In its short history, the CPT team in Iraq has responded to the drumbeat of war, the “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad, and the ongoing U.S. occupation. Each shift in circumstance has called for peace-makers to shift focus as well.

October 2002

Stop the War - the team and successive delegations sought to:

support the UN Weapons Inspection Program as an alternative to war
expose the injustice and deaths from the US-led economic sanctions
put a human face on Iraq, helping people in the U.S. understand that Saddam Hussein was not the only person living in Iraq

March/April 2003

Shock & Awe - CPTers stayed in Baghdad in order to:

stand alongside Iraqi families
provide an alternative voice to the reporters “embedded” with Coalition forces
use their bodies to protect critical civilian infra-structure such as water treatment facilities, electrical plants, and hospitals.

April/May 2003

Aftermath of the Bombing - team members traveled and worked to:

draw attention to the huge and under-reported prob- lem of unexploded ordnance;
raise an alternative perspective on the invasion based on interviews with Iraqi friends.

June 2003- September 2004

Ongoing Occupation - responding to persistent reports from families of Iraqi detainees, CPTers initiated efforts to:

document abuse of detainees by Coalition forces
assist Iraqis in gaining access to loved ones in detention
launch the Adopt-a-Detainee Campaign asking churches to advocate on behalf of Iraqi detainees
support a variety of new and old Iraqi human rights groups which suddenly found themselves with space and freedom to operate

October - December 2004

Continuing Occupation - a rash of kidnapping foreign aid workers compelled the team to severely curtail its size and visibility. Iraqi partners, while acknowledging the potential danger CPT’s presence posed to them, encouraged the team to remain in Baghdad.

January 2005 - Present

Persisting Occupation - though travel remains treacherous and insurgent at- tacks continue on a daily basis, team members have ventured forth in response to urging from Iraqi hu- man rights workers in Karbala.

CPT’s persevering presence and establishment of trusting relationships throughout the shifting sands of circumstance laid the groundwork for today’s exciting partnership with Iraqis committed to forming a “Muslim Peace Team.”

CPT’s persevering presence and establishment of trusting relationships throughout the shifting sands of circumstance laid the groundwork for today’s exciting partnership with Iraqis committed to forming a “Muslim Peace Team.”

"Muslim Peace Team" apparently is a euphemism for Christian hostages.

If we send one GI into harm's way to rescue these jamoke's, I'm officially starting my own political party. Two planks: 1.) Control the borders; 2.) Let people pay the foreseeable consequences of their own freely made decisions.

To me this is like endangering Coastguards men to rescue people who go wind surfing in a Hurricane.

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