118 Days (Canadian Edition): Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage In Iraq Review

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118 Days (Canadian Edition): Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage In Iraq ReviewChristian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) are probably unknown to most readers despite a flurry of attention in world media for about four months ("118 Days") in late 2005 and early 2006 when, "for reasons we still do not know," an Iraqi group called "The Swords of Righteousness Brigade" kidnapped four members of the CPT-Iraq team: Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Sikh from New Zealand; Jim Loney, 41, a Catholic from Canada; Tom Fox, 54, a Quaker from the USA; and Norman Kember, 74, a Catholic from the UK. Despite media appeals from a great many organizations and individuals--Muslim, Christian and secular--
from around the world, the mysterious kidnappers held the four men until March 9, 2006 when they killed Tom Fox. But two weeks later they abandoned the other three captives just 15 minutes before a military force arrived to release them.
This book describes that crisis in 23 chapters written by three of the kidnapped men and several of their CPT colleagues and supporters. Additionally, they sketch CPT's founding and growth, its programs and personnel in Iraq, Palestine, Colombia and Canada, and the impact of their work on the people they serve and on the volunteers themselves. My favorite chapter (20) is Jim Loney's eulogy for his murdered fellow captive: "Tom Fox: A Profile of an Ordinary Man's Calling to an Extraordinary Life." Chapter 15, "Writing Peace Out of the Script," describes how "In general, media coverage tended to ignore or misprepresent why CPT was in Iraq (to support local civil and religious groups and individuals in peace building and violence reduction); how long it had been there (well before American troops arrived); and what it was achieving ("modest but significant relationships and interventions which are only possible for those who come in without military protection or commerical motives"). In a short preface, "Why We Are Self-Publishing," the editor explains that two different church presses agreed to publish "118 Days" but withdrew shortly before the publishing date when CPT refused to eliminate material concerning the relationship of kidnapped CPTer Jim Loney and his gay partner Dan Hunt in the Catholic Worker Community of Toronto which they co-founded and which is described in Chapter 9, "Where It's Easier for People to Be Good." In Chapter 10, "Taken Twice," Dan describes their relationship and his own anguish--in addition to fearing for Jim's life--in learning "how thoroughly I would need to disappear in order to protect Jim" from the homophobia of Iraqi kidnappers and Western media watchers alike.
The book concludes with a "Joint Statement of Forgiveness" by the three surviving captives in a press conference in London on the anniversary of their captors' televised death threats to them. Finally, an Appendix lists 145 Muslim, Christian and secular "Persons and Individuals Who Issued Support Statements or Appeals on Behalf of the CPT Four." The book has no photographs; but each chapter ends with a short biographical sketch of the author.
This reviewer has been privileged to know the CPT-Iraq volunteer who wrote Chapter 4. Sheila plans to return to Iraq, together with her Iraqi-born former colleague and now husband, to work as a pediatric physician after finishing her study at Harvard Medical School. Her talent, energy, bravery and dedication made me eager to read this story of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq. Not everyone can undertake such a mission; but anyone who reads this book can appreciate it.118 Days (Canadian Edition): Christian Peacemaker Teams Held Hostage In Iraq Overview

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