Show clemency to hostages
KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ Release the four, including two Canadian members of Christian Peacemaker Teams
Re Horror, prayers follow ultimatum Dec. 3. Harmeet Sing Sooden and James Loney are two Canadians kidnapped by a “previously unknown group.” Since when do we expect our neighbourly allies to care about us Canadians? Our choice was the right choice after all. The war launched in March of 2003 was, and will always be, noted as illegal. The unfortunate circumstance is that any Westerner will be related to the socalled coalition. The coalition is mostly American and the other participating countries were and will be ridiculed for their pathetic numbers. What the American administration sought was to have a multi- national force like the one in the first Gulf war. This ( present) war was launched illegally and the majority of the people of the nations that included themselves in the “ coalition of the willing” were opposed to this immoral war. Now who is to blame? Politicians? United States President George W. Bush? The two Canadians, out of the four Westerners kidnapped, are perceived as invaders since Bush speaks on behalf of all Westerners. How wrong is he and how wrong were the kidnappers? That is a question to be answered by the eversupreme commander of the “ free world”. For a people to have their land invaded and their resources stolen is something that no one will ever accept. Any questioning of the motives behind the kidnappings does not warrant the characterization of that argument as a form of justification. On the contrary, it is a way to expose the extent of abuse the powerful impose on the powerless. The Christian Peacemaker Teams have an excellent record with regard to their achievements. They have been active in the occupied Palestinian territories and have braved the indiscriminant harassment of the Israeli occupation forces and the settlers. Their selfless acts saved many Palestinian children as team members exposed themselves to killing machines.
Their ideology is being applied in occupied Iraq and their aim is to end the brutal occupation and to protect the innocents. By showing clemency and exhibiting the true face of Islam and thus freeing these four, the Iraqis will win a battle that no war waged by any supreme power can win. Humanity is our salvation in a truly peaceful world. As a Palestinian, I ask that all four hostages be released and set free to do what they do best— that is to end the suffering of the oppressed. Rashid Abu-Ghazalah, Toronto