Kidnapped but standing firm

It's now almost 24 hours since the video of my CPT friends appeared on al-Jazeera. Until that point I'd been rushing to try and return to Baghdad ASAP but since then I've been glued to the phone & net, not leaving my desk (and sleeping under it). I've been tangled up in some of Iraq's horrors before (Ghareeb, Enzo, Simonas, Marla, Khalid and my own death threat) but that's not really much of a preparation. Dozens of people across at least 7 countries have been working through the night and supporting each other through fear, exhaustion and frustration. In the intense flurry of activity (I've made more calls in the last day than maybe the last 3 months combined) its very easy to forget prayer but it is more valuable than anything else we (and you please!) can do. And not lose sight of the bigger picture. Wonderful and valuable though my friends are, they are no more valuable than the dozens of Iraqis who are murdered and kidnapped every day and may warrant no more than a nameless footnote in a newswire, if that.

CPT has now issued a full press statement in arabic and english. Also a Palestinian statement of support from Islamic forces in Khalil has been issued by people familiar with our work in the West Bank (english translation). Please circulate these. Many Iraqis friends are trying to get the word out on Arab TV. Here are some articles about CPT's work in Iraq over the last year.

In a published reflection a year ago, Tom Fox wrote: If I am not to fight or flee in the face of armed aggression, be it the overt aggression of the army or the subversive aggression of the terrorist, then what am I to do? "Stand firm against evil" (Matthew 5:39) seems to be the guidance of Jesus and Gandhi in order to stay connected with God. Here in Iraq I struggle with that second form of aggression. I have visual references and written models of CPTers standing firm against the overt aggression of an army, be it regular or paramilitary. But how do you stand firm against a car-bomber or a kidnapper? Clearly the soldier disconnected from God needs to have me fight. Just as clearly the terrorist disconnected from God needs to have me flee. Both are willing to kill me using different means to achieve he same end--that end being to increase the parasitic power of Satan within God's good creation. It seems easier somehow to confront anger within my heart than it is to confront fear. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right then I am not to give in to either. I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier. 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.