[amc] Remembering Tom Fox
- From: "Ray Gingerich" <RGingerich@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'ACPJ Steering Committee'" <coremembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Austin Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 14:41:36 -0600
Friends, Sojourners Magazine issued a special edition of Sojourners
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.current_issue in memory of Tom
Fox, Christian Peacemaker Team member whose body was found near Baghdad on
March 11. The articles follow. Ray
******************************
SOJOURNERS MAGAZINE
SPECIAL ISSUE: Remembering Tom Fox, Christian Peacemaker 03.13.2006
www.sojo.net
EDITORS' NOTE
Photo of Tom Fox with Palestinian refugee children in Iraq taken in
Oct. 2005.
The staff of Sojourners extends its deepest condolences to the family,
friends, and colleagues of Christian Peacemaker Teams member Tom Fox, who was
found dead near Baghdad on Thursday. His three teammates, seen in a video
broadcast last week, are believed to be alive but remain captive.
As we mourn Tom's death, we focus on his solidarity with the unnamed tens
of thousands of Iraqi dead, disappeared, detained, and tortured. Christ is
present in their suffering (Matthew 25). Yet, we also recognize that Tom's
suffering is special because it was in voluntary obedience to Christ's call to
suffer as he did to prove his love for both neighbors and enemies: "If any want
to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who
lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it"
(Mark 8:34-35).
As evidenced by the outpouring of support and sympathy from across
religious and national boundaries, Tom's life and death are a testimony to the
truth of Jesus' gospel - and a challenge to all who claim to follow it.
- The Editors
Tom's last journey
by Doug Pritchard
Our brother Tom has begun his final journey home.
He left Anaconda military base at Balat, Iraq, at dawn on Mar. 13 (9 p.m. EST,
Mar. 12), and is expected to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware at 1
a.m. EST, Mar. 14.
CPT Toronto was originally informed by Canadian authorities at 1:30 p.m. EST
Mar. 10, that a body had been found in Baghdad which was likely that of Tom
Fox. An hour later, when the CPT Iraq team asked officials at the U.S. Embassy
in Baghdad if they could come to identify the body, they were told that it had
already left on a military transport for Dover. Officials had repeatedly
assured the team over the previous three months that CPT would be able to
accompany our colleagues home "if at all possible." They now said that their
only focus was getting the body back to the USA as soon as possible. At 8 p.m.
EST, the U.S. State Department confirmed the identity as Tom Fox based on
fingerprints.
The next day, Mar. 11, at 10 a.m. EST, CPT Iraq learned that Tom's body was
still at the Anaconda base at Balat. The U.S. Embassy arranged for Beth Pyles,
a member of the CPT Iraq team, to travel to Anaconda, and she was able to keep
vigil with Tom for the next 36 hours until his departure. Meanwhile, CPT
members Rich Meyer and Anne Montgomery travelled to Dover, and have been in the
vicinity since 5 p.m. Mar. 11, keeping vigil and awaiting Tom's arrival.
Pyles was present on the tarmac at Anaconda as Tom's coffin was loaded onto the
plane for Dover. She reported that his coffin was draped in a U.S. flag. This
is unusual for a civilian, but Tom may not have been uncomfortable with this
since he had always called his nation to live out the high ideals which it
professed. Iraqi detainees who die in U.S custody are also transported to Dover
for autopsies and forensics. On this plane, right beside Tom's coffin, was the
coffin of an Iraqi detainee. So Tom accompanied an Iraqi detainee in death,
just as he had done so often in life.
At Tom's departure, Pyles read out from the gospel of John, "The light shines
in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it" (1:5). In honour of Tom's
Iraqi companion, she spoke the words called out repeatedly from the mosques of
Baghdad during the Shock and Awe bombing campaign in March 2003, "allah akhbar"
(God is greater). She concluded the sending with words from the Jewish
scriptures, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of
the LORD" (Job 1:21).
Dawn broke. The contingent of Puerto Rican soldiers nearby saluted. The plane
taxied away. Venus, the morning star, shone brightly overhead as the night
faded away. Godspeed you, Tom, on your final journey home to your family and
friends.
Doug Pritchard is a co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Remembering Tom Fox
by Celeste Kennel-Shank
SojoMail 3-13-2006
Some said they wanted revenge. Others said they were trying to forgive those
who took his life. Others came to pay tribute to their friend and colleague.
In a discussion led by Tom Fox's colleagues and professors from Eastern
Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding on Saturday night
in Washington, D.C., participants pondered peace issues, response to Fox's
death, and the possibility of reconciliation with those labeled enemies.
It was "a conversation Tom would want us to have," said Lisa Schirch, professor
at the center and friend of Fox. Schirch, several of her colleagues, and
students in the master's degree program of the university in Harrisonburg,
Virginia, traveled to Washington, D.C., for the event.
Before joining Christian Peacemaker Teams full-time in 2004, Fox, 54, a Quaker
from Clearbrook, Virginia, studied for one semester at EMU's Center for Justice
and Peacebuilding.
Ron Kraybill, also a professor in the program, posed three questions to the
roughly 50 people gathered at a Washington, D.C., bookstore and café, Busboys
and Poets: What would you say to those who killed Fox? What would you say to
the people of the U.S. about this event? Who else do you know who is working
for peace in the world?
To those who took Fox's life, Roger Wolcott, a participant in several
delegations with Christian Peacemaker Teams, a Chicago- and Toronto-based
violence reduction organization, said, "What we wish for you is that you may
find peace." Wolcott has not traveled to Iraq. CPT currently has projects in
Canada, Colombia, Israel-Palestine, Iraq, and the U.S.
Moving to address the people of the U.S., Kraybill said: "What I would tell to
the American people is that there is hope; there is a better way. People are
working courageously around the world to create the kind of communities needed
to work peacefully. There people are leaving their mark."
Also addressing people in the U.S., and around the world, who would seek
retribution for Fox's death, Nancy Good Sider, professor at the center, said,
"There's a natural response to want to get even." She prayed, she said, to make
the nonviolent response the natural one, "to love even when horror comes my
way, because that's what Tom did."
Schirch, who has traveled to Iraq, said Fox and his abductors were both working
to end detainee abuse, but employed different means. While Fox documented
detainee abuse, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed responsibility for
taking Fox, Norman Kember, 74, Harmeet Sooden, 32, and James Loney, 41 - who
appeared in a video dated Feb. 28 but whose present situation is unknown - on
Nov. 26 in Baghdad to demand the release of the detainees.
"So many people in the world believe there is only one way to meet goals,"
Schirch said. "There are other ways to bring about security, such as the means
Tom sought."
Several CPT reservists and former delegates attended the event, coming from the
D.C. area and visiting from Chicago. CPT has roughly 30 full-time members and
125 reservists who work on projects after going through a month-long
nonviolence training. The group leads delegations to the projects each year.
Langley Hill Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in
Virginia, where Fox had been a member for 15 years, also held a service to
honor him Saturday. Eastern Mennonite University is planning a memorial service
for Fox on Wednesday.
Peacemakers around the world remembered by participants included CPT members,
Christian workers in Nigeria, and a Palestinian woman.
In a closing meditation, Kraybill said, "Thanks for this man, thanks for the
courage that was planted in his heart, thanks for Tom Fox."
Celeste Kennel-Shank, editorial projects assistant at Sojourners, attended the
Saturday event as a former Christian Peacemaker Teams delegate.
We mourn the loss of Tom Fox
Christian Peacemaker Teams 3-10-2006
CPT Statement: We mourn the loss of Tom Fox
In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion. The death of our
beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain. Tom Fox's body was found in
Baghdad yesterday.
Christian Peacemaker Teams extends our deep and heartfelt condolences to the
family and community of Tom Fox, with whom we have traveled so closely in these
days of crisis.
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.
We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman
Kember. Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus' prophetic call to live
out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge.
In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to
vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done. In Tom's own words:
"We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on
relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope
that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid
those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to
transforming this volatile situation."
Even as we grieve the loss of our beloved colleague, we stand in the light of
his strong witness to the power of love and the courage of nonviolence. That
light reveals the way out of fear and grief and war.
Through these days of crisis, Christian Peacemaker Teams has been surrounded
and upheld by a great outpouring of compassion: messages of support, acts of
mercy, prayers, and public actions offered by the most senior religious
councils and by school children, by political leaders and by those organizing
for justice and human rights, by friends in distant nations and by strangers
near at hand. These words and actions sustain us. While one of our teammates is
lost to us, the strength of this outpouring is not lost to God's movement for
just peace among all peoples.
At the forefront of that support are strong and courageous actions from Muslim
brothers and sisters throughout the world for which we are profoundly grateful.
Their graciousness inspires us to continue working for the day when Christians
speak up as boldly for the human rights of thousands Iraqis still detained
illegally by the United States and United Kingdom.
Such an outpouring of action for justice and peace would be a fitting memorial
for Tom. Let us all join our voices on behalf of those who continue to suffer
under occupation, whose loved ones have been killed or are missing. In so
doing, we may hasten the day when both those who are wrongly detained and those
who bear arms will return safely to their homes. In such a peace we will find
solace for our grief.
Despite the tragedy of this day, we remain committed to put into practice these
words of Jim Loney: "With the waging of war, we will not comply. With the help
of God's grace, we will struggle for justice. With God's abiding kindness, we
will love even our enemies." We continue in hope for Jim, Harmeet and Norman's
safe return home safe.
Learn more about CPT at www.cpt.org.
Most recent reflection by Tom Fox: 'Why are we here?'
by Tom Fox
Christian Peacemaker Teams 10-12-2005
[Note: The following reflection was written by Tom Fox the day before he was
abducted.]
The Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) Iraq team went through a discernment
process, seeking to identify aspects of our work here in Iraq that are
compelling enough to continue the project and comparing them with the costs
(financial, psychological, physical) that are also aspects of the project. It
was a healthy exercise, but it led me to a somewhat larger question: Why are we
here?
If I understand the message of God, his response to that question is that we
are to take part in the creation of the Peaceable Realm of God. Again, if I
understand the message of God, how we take part in the creation of this realm
is to love God with all our heart, our mind and our strength and to love our
neighbors and enemies as we love God and ourselves. In its essential form,
different aspects of love bring about the creation of the realm.
I have read that the word in the Greek Bible that is translated as "love" is
the word "agape." Again, I have read that this word is best expressed as a
profound respect for all human beings simply for the fact that they are all
God's children. I would state that idea in a somewhat different way, as "never
thinking or doing anything that would dehumanize one of my fellow human
beings."
As I survey the landscape here in Iraq, dehumanization seems to be the
operative means of relating to each other. U.S. forces in their quest to hunt
down and kill "terrorists" are, as a result of this dehumanizing word, not only
killing "terrorists," but also killing innocent Iraqis: men, women and children
in the various towns and villages.
It seems as if the first step down the road to violence is taken when I
dehumanize a person. That violence might stay within my thoughts or find its
way into the outer world and become expressed verbally, psychologically,
structurally or physically. As soon as I rob a fellow human being of his or her
humanity by sticking a dehumanizing label on them, I begin the process that can
have, as an end result, torture, injury and death.
"Why are we here?" We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that
exist within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by
oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop
people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter
how much they dehumanize their own souls.
Learn more about CPT at www.cpt.org.
Dikes that are overflowing, not with water, but with blood
by Michele Naar Obed
Christian Peacemaker Teams 3-11-2006
[Note: The following letter that CPTer Michele Naar Obed wrote to her
supporters has been edited for length and clarity.]
Dear Friends,
It's 3 a.m., March 11. The official word of our beloved colleague, Tom Fox, has
been made public. Tom's body was found along the road to the Baghdad airport.
He had been held captive in Iraq for more than 100 days. Our three other
colleagues, Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember are still missing. We
pray earnestly for their safe release. We pray that the hearts and minds of
those holding our colleagues will be softened and they will return our friends
to their families and communities. We pray that our own hearts will not be
hardened by this tragedy and that we are able to put any feelings of anger or
animosity to rest.
I returned from Iraq last Wednesday, March 8. For two months I worked with the
team in Baghdad. Our work there seems endless and much of it feels beyond human
ability. --[O]ur work has often felt like we were putting our fingers in the
holes of dikes that are overflowing, not with water, but with blood.
There has been way too much blood shed in Iraq. Now the blood of Tom is added
to that river. We know what it is like to lose a loved one to the insanity of
war. Just like the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi families and the thousands of
families of US and MNF [Multinational Forces] soldiers, we know what it feels
like to grieve.
Early this morning, I awoke to the sound of car bombs, the sight of black smoke
rising and the sound of guns. This time, it was just a dream. However,
somewhere in Iraq at that very moment, those sights and sounds were real.
It is enough. It has been enough. We continue to call on our government and the
governments of the multinational forces to lay down their weapons and return to
their homes. We cry out for an end to this insane vicious cycle of violence. We
call for an end to the making of widows, widowers, orphans, homeless and
displaced peoples.
We call for healing, rebuilding and repairing, not just of physical properties,
but of relationship, trust, human dignity and human rights FOR ALL PEOPLE.
CPT still has team members in Iraq working against all odds to be a part of
that healing. I've met MNF soldiers in Iraq who want desperately to be part of
that healing and know in their hearts that it can't be done with guns and
bombs. They feel trapped by "orders" from [their leaders] but they work the
best they can to extend their hands in goodwill.
Then there are the thousands of Iraqis, most of whom we will never meet or
know, that are laying down their lives, and working with a fervor to heal,
rebuild, and repair their fractured and tattered country. Their work is valiant
and this groundswell of good and decent people has not been trampled down yet.
I've had the privilege of working with some of them.
Right now, it's hard to think of going on, but go on we will. We have to.
Learn more about CPT at www.cpt.org.
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