Freed hostage returns home

TORONTO -- A Canadian held hostage in Iraq for four months before being rescued by U.S. and British forces reunited with his family Sunday, expressing disbelief at being retrieved from "a black hole."

James Loney said he was looking forward to a normal life and washing "a sink full of dirty dishes" after his airport reunion with his family.

The 41-year-old pacifist and two others were freed Thursday from a house west of Baghdad.

On being freed, the three learned that their fellow hostage -- 54-year-old Tom Fox of Clear Brook, Va. -- had been killed weeks earlier, shot in the head and chest and his body dumped in western Baghdad. All the men were members of a Christian Peacemakers Teams group.

Kember attended a church service Sunday north of London to give thanks for his deliverance from captivity, arriving through a back entrance of the Harrow Baptist Church. The minister asked churchgoers to allow the 74-year-old to worship "without having a circus around him."

"Norman was quite insistent, if he was free then he should be free to worship," the Rev. Bob Gardiner said.

Loney thanked those who worked to rescue them.

"To the British soldiers who risked their lives to rescue us, to the government of Canada who sent a team to Baghdad to help secure our release, to all those who thought about us and prayed for us, for all those who spoke for us when we had no voice, I am forever and truly grateful," he said. "It's great to be alive."

In Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where Loney's parents live, welcoming signs went up and red ribbons were tied to trees.

The four peace activists were kidnapped Nov. 26. They were shown as prisoners in several videos, the most recent a silent clip dated Feb. 28 in which Loney, Kember and Sooden appeared without Fox, whose body was found March 9.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the rescue was launched after a detainee told American forces where the hostages were. The man was captured by U.S. forces Wednesday night.

Peggy Gish, a Christian Peacekeeping Team member in Baghdad, said the rescued hostages did not appear to have been abused.

Most of the time, the captives were not tied up, and the captors -- a little-known Iraqi radical group -- provided Kember with medication for high blood pressure.

Loney said their captors gave them notebooks to pass the time.

"I'm eager to tell my story of rescue and captivity," Loney said, "but I need a little time."

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