US hostage in Iraq killed after torture: police
By Faris al-Mehdawi and Ross Colvin
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - American hostage Tom Fox has been killed and his body, showing signs of torture, left on a garbage dump in Baghdad, police said on Saturday.
One of the policemen who found the body said the 54-year-old peace activist, wearing a gray tracksuit, appeared to have beaten by electric cables before his death. He had a single gunshot wound to the head and his hands were tied behind him.
Fox, who had been in Iraq to campaign against the U.S. occupation and to work for the release of Iraqis held by U.S. forces, was taken hostage with three colleagues in November by a group calling itself the "Swords of Truth".
The group had threatened to kill the four, members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, unless U.S. forces and the Iraqi authorities freed all prisoners in their custody.
U.S. embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said Fox's body was on its way back to the United States. She had no comment on the nature of his death.
A member of the police patrol which found Fox's body told Reuters it had been found on a garbage dump beside a railway line in the capital's western Mansour district on Thursday.
The policeman, who declined to be identified, said local people had covered the body with pieces of cardboard after reporting the discovery to police.
"When we pulled back the cardboard we immediately saw it was a foreigner and called headquarters," he said.
Fox, a father of two, had expressed concern in an article written the day before his abduction about the dehumanization of Iraqis amid a raging insurgency and U.S. responses that he said often claimed the lives of innocents.
U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay said in Washington the FBI had formally identified Fox's body. More forensic examinations would be conducted in the United States.
"The family has been notified and our heartfelt condolences go out to the family," he said.
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Fears about Fox's fate were raised earlier this week when Arabic television station Al Jazeera aired a video dated February 28 showing only fellow activists Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden.
There was no word on Saturday on the fate of the three, who looked well in the video and did not appear distressed.
"We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember," Christian Peacemaker Teams said in a statement.
In the video the activists called on Gulf Arab leaders and their own governments to help free them. It was the first video since the hostage-takers said in January U.S. forces had one last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or the men would be killed.
Colton said the embassy was still working to free American journalist Jill Carroll, kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7, but had no new information on her fate. Her kidnappers had threatened to kill her by February 26 unless U.S. forces released women detainees.
"We are working around the clock with the Iraqi authorities and foreign missions to win the release of all the hostages," Colton said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the killing of Fox raised concern about the other captives.
More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Fifty-five foreign hostages are now known to have been killed by their captors. Two Germans and two Kenyans are among those still being held.
Baghdad residents interviewed by Reuters expressed dismay at Fox's killing: "We reject such a criminal act. There is no acceptable justification for killing that innocent man. Islam rejects such a shameful crime," Abu Hasanen said.
In a posting on the Christian Peacemakers' Team Web site entitled "Fight or Flight" written before his abduction, Fox reflected on the dangers of working in Iraq and in particular about the threat of kidnapping. He resolved "to stand firm" and not give into fear.
"Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying 'American for the Taking'? No to both counts.
"But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan."© Reuters 2006
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U.S. Hostage Tom Fox Killed in Iraq
By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American who was among four Christian activists kidnapped last year in Iraq has been killed, a State Department spokesman said Friday.
The FBI verified that a body found in Iraq Friday morning was that of Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., spokesman Noel Clay said. He said he had no information on the other three hostages.
Clay said he did not know how Fox was killed but said additional forensics will be done in the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is investigating, he said.
Fox's family has been notified, Clay said, and "our heartfelt condolences go out to them."
"The State Department continues to call for the unconditional release of all other hostages" in Iraq, the spokesman said.
Fox's organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, said Friday, "We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone."
Christian Peacemaker co-directors Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose said in a statement, "In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done."
"This guy was not after martyrdom by any means," said Paul Slattery, a member of the McLean, Va.-based Langley Hill Friends Meeting that Fox, a Quaker, also attended. "He actually believed in his heart that he would better them by his conviction and his beliefs and his skills, and I think largely succeeded.
"What he leaves behind is a tremendous challenge for the rest of us and a guiding force."
Fox was the one American among four Christian Peacemaker activists kidnapped last year in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera television aired footage of the three other activists purportedly appealing to their governments to secure their release.
The hostages seen in the brief video dated Feb. 28 were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74.
Allan Slater, a Canadian member of Peacemaker Teams, said at the time that he was disturbed not to see Fox.
"We certainly are hopeful when we see three of our friends alive, but also it's very distressing that we didn't see Tom Fox, and I wouldn't want to hide that because I'm sure it's very distressful for Tom's family and friends as well," Slater told The Canadian Press from Baghdad.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four workers, who disappeared Nov. 26.
The four had not been heard from since a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera on Jan. 28, dated from a week before. A statement reportedly accompanying that tape said the hostages would be killed unless all Iraqi prisoners were released from U.S. and Iraqi prisons. No deadline was set.
Iraqi and Western security officials repeatedly warned the activists before their abduction that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad without bodyguards.
Christian Peacemaker Teams had been working in Iraq since October 2002, investigating allegations that U.S. and Iraqi forces abused Iraqi detainees. Its teams host human rights conferences in conflict zones, promoting peaceful solutions.
Slattery said Fox worked on three major projects: helping families of incarcerated Iraqis, escorting shipments of medicine to clinics and hospitals in Fallujah and helping form Islamic Peacemaker Teams.
In the three years since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, insurgents have kidnapped at least 250 foreigners and killed at least 40 of them.
In one of the most high-profile cases, Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Three videotapes of Carroll delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations identified the group holding her as the Revenge Brigades.
Carroll's kidnappers have publicly demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq. The Monitor launched a campaign on Iraqi television stations Wednesday asking Iraqis, in Arabic, to "Please help with the release of journalist Jill Carroll." The list of those kidnapped and killed in Iraq includes Margaret Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq and a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq; Ronald Schulz, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Nicholas Berg, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.; Jack Hensley, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.
Associated Press writer Dena Potter in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Associated Press