". Remember those charming Christians who went to Iraq hoping to find evidence of coalition war crimes and generally attempt to obstruct the American military and their allies as much as possible? The same Christians, who were kidnapped, tortured and (in one instance) butchered by the Jihadists whose cause they advance? The same Christians who thanked everyone but the troops who rescued them from certain rest, and whose PR department manipulated the story of their rescue, making it out to be a release? ... Think they couldn't do much worse, don't you? " You're wrong . "... Just like captured enemy persons, they're now refusing to cooperate with American and Iraqi officers sent to question them ."
Released hostages 'refuse to help their rescuers' By Oliver Poole in Baghdad (Filed: 25-03-2006)
The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday.
The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages.
Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements.
One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics professor, of Pinner, north-west London, was in Kuwait last night and was expected to return to Britain today. He is understood to have given some helpful information.
He provided details of the semi-rural area north-west of Baghdad where he was held and confirmed that his captors were criminals, rather than insurgents. Their motive was believed to be money.
The two Canadians kidnapped with Mr Kember - Harmeet Sooden, 32, and Jim Loney, 41 - were said to have been co-operative at first but less so on arriving at the British embbutty in Baghdad after being given the opportunity to wash, eat and rest.
Previous hostages have been questioned on everything from what shoes their kidnappers wore to the number of mobile phones they had. The pacifist Christian Peacemaker Teams with which the men were visiting Iraq is opposed to the coalition's presence and has accused it of illegally detaining thousands of Iraqis.
Jan Benvie, 51, an Edinburgh teacher who is due to go to Iraq with the organisation this summer, said: "We make clear that if we are kidnapped we do not want there to be force or any form of violence used to release us."
Although the CPTs has welcomed the men's release, it has not thanked the rescuers in any of its statements. It blamed the kidnapping on the presence of foreign troops in the country, which was "responsible for so much pain and suffering in Iraq today".
When told how angry the coalition was feeling, Claire Evans, a spokesman for the CPTs in America, said: "We are extremely grateful to everybody who had a role leading to the men's release."
Mr Kember, in a statement through the embbutty, said: "I have had the opportunity to have a shave, relax in the bath and a good English breakfast. I am very much looking forward to getting home to British soil and to being reunited with my family." He did not publicly thank his rescuers.
Tony Blair, in Brussels for an EU summit, said: "I'd like to say how pleased I am that he was released and pay tribute to the extraordinary courage, dedication and commitment of the British, American, Iraqi, Canadian and other forces that were involved."
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"I am slightly saddened that there does not seem to have been a note of grabreastude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives."
Asked if he meant that Mr Kember had not said thank you, he said: "I hope he has and I have missed it."
It emerged that about 50 soldiers, led by the SAS, including men from 1 Bn the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines, as well as American and Canadian special forces, entered the kidnap building at dawn.
A deal had been struck with a man detained the previous night who was one of the leaders of the kidnappers. He was allowed a telephone call to warn his henchmen to leave the kidnap house. When the troops moved in and found the prisoners alive, they also let him go as promised.
