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Peace Activist (Kember) 'Was Betrayed By Spy'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 12-11-2005 | Colin Freeman

Posted on 12/10/2005 4:50:38 PM PST by blam

Peace activist 'was betrayed by spy'

By Colin Freeman in Baghdad
(Filed: 11/12/2005)

The kidnapped British peace activist who faced a deadline for his "execution" in Iraq last night may have been betrayed by a spy at a mosque that he visited just before his abduction.

Norman Kember, 74, a Christian pacifist, was snatched along with three colleagues shortly after leaving Um al-Qura mosque in west Baghdad, the headquarters of a Sunni Islamic organisation with links to the insurgency.

Sources within the Association of Islamic Scholars, which had met the four activists to discuss prisoner abuses in Iraq, believe an infiltrator at the mosque tipped off the kidnap gang when the group was about to leave.

It is thought they were then snatched from a car by armed men about a mile down the road from the mosque. A senior sheikh at the association said: "We met these people shortly beforehand to discuss abuses at al-Jadreeya jail." That is a secret Ministry of Interior building where Sunni prisoners were discovered to have been tortured last month.

"An hour later we heard they had been kidnapped. We think it was the work of a spy who told the gang." The sheikh made his comments as the deadline set by the hostage-takers to spare Mr Kember's life passed with no news on his fate.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Tony Blair's former envoy to Iraq, has conceded that the war might not have been worth the lawlessness that followed the ousting of Saddam Hussein, but said it was still too early to tell.

In an interview to be broadcast on the BBC's Sunday AM programme today, Sir Jeremy also criticises failures in preparing for the war and predicts that violence will continue for "many years".


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: activist; betrayed; hostages; iraq; kember; peace; spy

1 posted on 12/10/2005 4:50:39 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

$hit happens.


2 posted on 12/10/2005 4:53:00 PM PST by b4its2late (The only substitute for good manners is faster reflexes.)
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To: blam
Peace activist 'was betrayed by spy'

Oh, how dishonorable!
3 posted on 12/10/2005 4:56:27 PM PST by adorno
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To: blam
Sources within the Association of Islamic Scholars, which had met the four activists to discuss prisoner abuses in Iraq, believe an infiltrator at the mosque tipped off the kidnap gang when the group was about to leave.

He got on his cell phone and dialed the hotline to Karl Rove's office......

4 posted on 12/10/2005 4:58:47 PM PST by uglybiker (nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh BAT MAN!!)
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To: b4its2late

Shark $hit happens when you go swimming with them.


5 posted on 12/10/2005 4:59:23 PM PST by Tail Gunner John
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To: blam

The more I read about this crew, the less concerned I am about their outcome.


6 posted on 12/10/2005 5:05:31 PM PST by putupjob
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To: uglybiker

He got on his cell phone and dialed the hotline to Karl Rove's office......
-----
Oh yeah, somehow Rove will have been the mastermind to have these idiots arrested....just wait. Haven't we learned to EXPECT ANYTHING from the whacked-out left ??


7 posted on 12/10/2005 5:10:05 PM PST by EagleUSA
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To: blam

Getting your @$$ kidnapped and probably murdered is a really hard way for these "peace activists" to learn what the rest of us ALREADY KNOW.


8 posted on 12/10/2005 5:12:57 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (We did not lose in Vietnam. We left.)
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To: blam

I still predict that they will be released in much the same way that the Japanese peace activists were set free. My money is on this being a setup for PR purposes.


9 posted on 12/10/2005 5:13:40 PM PST by kabar
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To: blam

Lol. He met with a jihadist and didn't blow him to kingdom come. Real smart.


10 posted on 12/10/2005 5:21:37 PM PST by TeenagedConservative
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To: blam; All

December 10, 2005 Press release for ALL Christian Peacemaker Teams, and All other peace activists working in the Middle East to bring down the evil Bush regime.

Please print this and carry it with you AT ALL TIMES !!!

Handy Phrases For Traveling in the Middle East

(A few handy phrases translated to English -- in case you're ever kidnapped by terrorists.)

AKBAR KHALI-KILI HAFTIR LOFTAN.= Thank you for showing me your marvelous gun.

FEKR GABUL CARDAN DAVAT RAEH GUSH DIVAR.= I am delighted to accept your kind invitation to lie down on the floor with my arms above my head and my legs apart.

SHOMAEH FIKR TAMOMEH GEH GOFTEK BANDE.= I agree with everything you have ever said or thought in your life.

AUTO ARRAREGH DVATEMAN MAMO SEPAHEH-HAST.= It is exceptionally kind of you to allow me to travel in the trunk of your car.

FASHAL-EH TUPEHMAN NA DEGAT MANO GOFTAM CHEESHAYEH MOHEMA RAJEBEH KESHAVAREHMAN.= If you will do me the kindness of not harming my genital appendages I will gladly reciprocate by betraying my country in public.

KHREL JEPAHEH MANEH VA JAYEII AMRKAHEY.= I will tell you the names and addresses of many American spies travelling as reporters.

BALLI, BALLI, BALLI!= Whatever you say!

MATERNIER GHERMEZ AHLIEH, GORBAN.= The red blindfold would be lovely, excellency.

TIKEH NUNEH BA OB KHRELEH BEZORG VA KHRUBE GOYAST INO BERGERAM.= The water-soaked bread crumbs are delicious, thank you. I must have the recipe.

BA BODENEH SHEERELL TEEGZ.= Truly, I would rather be a hostage to your greatly esteemed self than to spend a fortnight upon the person of Cheryl Tiegs.


Once again, print this out and carry it with you, and good luck !!


(...sarcasm off thingee goes in this spot....)




11 posted on 12/10/2005 5:25:35 PM PST by musicman
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To: blam

When liberalism becomes classified as a mental illness, delusions of grandeur (sp?) should be listed as one of the symptoms.


12 posted on 12/10/2005 6:26:36 PM PST by TNdandelion
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To: blam

What? They've been betrayed?

Heads will roll over this!


13 posted on 12/10/2005 6:32:05 PM PST by thoughtomator (What'ya mean you formatted the cat!?)
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To: TNdandelion

Make that delusions of adequacy...


14 posted on 12/10/2005 6:32:25 PM PST by thoughtomator (What'ya mean you formatted the cat!?)
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To: blam

What an epiphany! Now he knows how Jesus felt!


15 posted on 12/10/2005 6:57:30 PM PST by Solamente
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To: putupjob
The more I read about this crew, the less concerned I am about their outcome.

These guys went looking to give the scorpion a ride across the river. They begged the scorpion for the chance.

16 posted on 12/10/2005 6:58:22 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (Raoul's First Law of Journalism: BIAS = LAYOFFS)
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To: blam
...betrayed by a spy"...golly, there's treachery and betrayal in the world - next these guys'll find out there's no Santa Claus.......
17 posted on 12/10/2005 9:14:22 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: blam

What a way for him to learn that, when one reaches out to hug a terrorist, one gets his arms chopped off.


18 posted on 12/10/2005 9:15:26 PM PST by The Phantom FReeper (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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