Posted on 04/01/2006 10:13:56 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
The Christian Peacemaker Teams are up to their usual ungrateful tricks. Not only do some CPT activists still refuse to show any gratitude toward the coalition soldiers and spies who helped rescue three of their members in Iraq last week, one of the hostages -- Canadian Harmeet Sooden -- is now even insisting the entire rescue mission was "contrived," presumably to give the coalition a public relations boost amid continued bad news about the insurgency in that country.
Speaking in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, Mr. Sooden insisted it was "highly likely, highly probable" that a ransom had been paid for his release and that of two fellow CPT prisoners, Canadian Jim Loney and Briton Norman Kember. Both the Canadian and New Zealand governments seemed genuinely shocked by his contention and emphatically denied his claim.
When pressed by reporters, Mr. Sooden admitted he had no proof his captors had been paid off. Rather his "instincts" were telling him ransom must have been made. When British and other special forces raided the house in which he was being kept, Mr. Sooden explained, his captors were "nowhere to be seen," which was "highly unusual." He assumed his captors had been bribed by the coalition in hopes they would flee, and the British and American forces could "contrive" a rescue, presumably to generate a glowing propaganda victory.
What rubbish. The break in the hostage taking came the evening before the rescue mission, when a member of the kidnappers' organization had been captured by coalition forces and was convinced both to give up the location where the CPT members were held and to call his comrades and warn them to flee the scene before the commandos arrived.
Mr. Sooden's rescue, and that of his colleagues, was the result of a dangerous mission that was months in the planning. It was no publicity stunt. Several times intelligence operatives put their lives at risk to obtain scraps of information about where the victims were being held, not to mention the risk the soldiers took entering the building where the trio of "peacemakers" were. They could not be sure until they were inside that the kidnappers had fled.
Still, such is Mr. Sooden's conviction that the coalition's "illegal occupation" is all evil, he has no trouble pretending headline-hungry coalition forces staged the whole thing.
Only Jim Loney, the other freed Canadian, has admitted he is "forever and truly grateful" to his rescuers. The CPT at first, of course, could not bring itself to thank the military saviours and later added a grudging thank you only under public pressure. And the freed Briton, Mr. Kember, could barely muster a half-hearted and heavily qualified thanks. He said that while he still blamed coalition forces for the conditions that led to his capture, he could "pay tribute to their courage."
Here's a suggestion: The next time peaceniks are taken hostage in a war zone while attempting to thwart the efforts of Western coalition forces, when those same forces come to save them and before the helicopters lift off to safety with the hostages aboard, the soldiers should ask the former detainees how they feel about being saved. And if there is a moment's hesitation for philosophic reflection or any hint of ingratitude, the soldiers should be free to return their passengers to the desert with all good wishes for fair treatment by the first jihadis who pass by.
Should've let the hypocritical sh@tbags ROT in captivity.
I'm sure they resisted rescue and were overpowered by the soldiers.
Seriously, these scum are a waste of skin.
They should be required to sign a document before entering a war zone saying basically, We're on our own. Enter at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty.
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