Free Republic

~~~snip~~~ ....Men caught repeatedly smoking have their index fingers rammed into metal pipes and then snapped, while cigarette shops have been torched. The rules have often been taken to absurd extremes. Greengrocers in the “caliphate” told The Times that they had been ordered not to sell bananas in public because they were deemed obscene, while cucumbers could not be sold next to tomatoes, which are deemed to represent femininity. At the most extreme, shepherds have been ordered to cover the nether regions of their goats to avoid offending strict Salafist sensibilities. ~~~snip~~~

A Briton who was held hostage in Iraq for almost four months said he considered suicide because he thought it might help his fellow captives. "I thought it might help the Canadians, if they got rid of the Brit," said Norman Kember, who was abducted along with two Canadians and an American, Tom Fox. Fox was later killed. Britain participated in the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, but Canada did not. "I got very depressed at one stage. ... When you're really depressed you think of suicide but there aren't any means of doing it," Kember, 74, told British...

Pacifist group revealed as moral imbeciles By Ian Robinson When the three Western hostages were rescued by coalition forces in Iraq last week and returned to Canada, was I the only one who was disappointed? Was I the only one who thought: Dear Lord. Is THIS what all the fuss was about? These smarmy, international busybodies, the Gladys Kravitzes of the Iraq occupation, peering out at the world from behind the curtains with their pursed little disapproving lips? These sanctimonious, reality challenged little creeps? And even after the release, the organization to which they're attached was still taking metaphorical shots...

TORONTO (CP) - The co-director of the Christian Peacemakers Teams says the family of freed Christian peace activist James Loney kept his sexual orientation quiet out of fear for his safety. Doug Pritchard says the family feared Loney might come to harm at the hands of his Iraqi captors had they known he was gay. Pritchard says it likely wouldn't have helped if Loney's partner, Dan Hunt, had come forward with public pleas for his release. Hunt made his first public appearance since Loney's ordeal began last November when he greeted his partner Sunday at the airport. Loney arrived in...

119 days, one flight, Norman comes home In the end he paid tribute to the troops who rescued him. But Norman Kember is still the target of criticism that he took too many risks in Iraq. And now details are also emerging of the huge dangers that his saviours had to face Mark Townsend in London and Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem Sunday March 26, 2006 Observer At 12:22pm came the moment Pat Kember was convinced would never happen. Under a solemn grey sky, yesterday's only BA flight from Kuwait touched down on time at Heathrow. On board, staring outside at...

While Canadians rejoiced at the news that two of their citizens were rescued from captivity in Iraq, some were surprised to learn Canadian special forces were involved in the mission and curious as to how many troops are on the ground. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters Thursday that a handful of Canadian troops have been stationed in Iraq since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation, which is still widely unpopular at home. But he insisted the special forces who helped rescue Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, along with Briton Norman Kember, were in Iraq only...

Iraq's embassy to Canada lashed out at the Christian Peacemaker Teams Friday, calling them "phoney pacifists" and "dupes" after the antiwar group responded to the rescue of three of its kidnapped activists by condemning the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq. The Iraqi embassy called CPT "willfully ignorant" and "outrageous," and accused the Chicago-based group of being on the side of anti- democratic forces in Iraq. "The Christian Peacemaker Teams practises the kind of politics that automatically nominate them as dupes for jihadism and fascism," the embassy's statement said. A British-led special forces team on Thursday rescued three CPT members, who...

Briton Thanks Soldiers Who Rescued HimBy THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 21 minutes ago Norman Kember the freed British Christian peace campaigner smiles as he reads a statement after arriving at London's Heathrow airport Saturday March 25, 2006. Kember on Saturday thanked the soldiers who rescued him from kidnappers in Iraq, in a statement made shortly after flying into London. (AP Photo/Luke MacGregor, Pool) LONDON - Freed British hostage Norman Kember returned home Saturday after four months in captivity in Iraq and thanked the soldiers who saved him and two other peace activists. Kember, 74, arrived on a...

Freed Kember thanks rescue troops Freed hostage Norman Kember has thanked the soldiers who rescued him from kidnappers in Iraq after being reunited with his wife Pat at Heathrow airport. But the peace campaigner - criticised earlier for apparently failing to thank the rescuers - restated his opposition to foreign troops in the country. He also said he needed to reflect on whether he was "foolhardy or rational" to have gone to Iraq last year. Mr Kember, 74, of Pinner, London, and two Canadians were held for 117 days. Tribute paid Reading from a hand-written statement, Mr Kember said he...

Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were freed after a multinational military raid acting on information provided by a detainee, the US military says. The rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present, suggesting the operation was carefully planned and carried out. But the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night. One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal....

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...

TORONTO - Efforts to negotiate the release of two Canadians held hostage in Iraq were feverish Monday, but there was no indication the peace workers were any closer to freedom. With lives at stake, authorities were being extraordinarily careful in providing any information about the hostages. Even the peace workers' organization requested its name not be publicized, saying other members of its team in Iraq were worried that identification could put the hostages or themselves in jeopardy. "Release of any details is really detrimental to people who are in danger," said a Toronto spokeswoman for the group. Four foreigners were...