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Tom Fox, an American taken hostage in Iraq, has been found dead. I was thinking of doing a post on him anyway, because I've been so worried about him, but now I really have to.

First of all, Tom Fox was a Quaker and a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and he was in Iraq to promote peace and help out the citizens affected by the war. I didn't know Tom Fox, but it's a small small Quaker world, and I know people who knew him. I've probably seen him at Baltimore Yearly Meeting gatherings, which I went to a few times as a teenager. He was a member of Langley Hill Meeting in Virginia, and of course there a many ties between Langley Hill and the meeting I grew up in, Bethesda Friends.

I don't consider myself a Quaker anymore, but I still feel a connection to the community, and I have great admiration for the political and pacifist work done by Quakers. So naturally it concerned me when I heard about Tom's kidnapping; aside from his connection to me as a DC-area Quaker, it just seemed so wrong to me that someone who went to Iraq to facilitate peace, to end the war, to help out people who have been hurt by the US government, would be taken hostage by Iraqis. What was their purpose in this kidnapping? The demands of the Swords of Righteousness Brigade seemed to be a release of all Iraqi prisoners. Did they really believe that these peace activists were spying for the army? Did they honestly think that the US government would give a shit about four kidnapped peaceniks, only one of whom was American? Did they really think that ANYTHING would make them release all the prisoners?

But then, why would the crowds protesting the Muhammad cartoons trash a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant? There's no logical connection between KFC and the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons. The only reason is that it's a Western business, and anything Western can stand in for anything else Western in the minds of radical Muslims, or at least that's what it seems. So maybe these four Christian Peacemakers were chosen purely because they were Western; it probably had nothing to do with their reason for being in Iraq or anything they had done there.

I have a hard time understand why anyone would protest in a violent manner; it's almost never effective. Looking at history you can see that the most successful protests have been peaceful: look at Gandhi, look at South Africa, look at the Civil Rights movement in the US. Violence only begets more violence; it makes your oppressors hate you all the more. So why do people choose these ineffective and horrific ways to protest mistreatment and occupation? The only thing I can think is that it's just anger. Frustration builds up and they feel the need to lash out, without really considering whether or not it will effect the change they want. They want to express their anger and don't think about what the outcome might be.

Last night when I looked through the mail, I found the BYM newsletter, Interchange, which had an article on Tom Fox. I sat down and read it, feeling worried and hoping that his absence from the hostage tape released earlier this week didn't mean anything. A few hours later, my mother told me they had found him dead.

I can't imagine what Tom's friends and family are going through right now. And I hope and pray that the other three hostages will be released, unlikely as it seems.

Tom Fox's blog, Waiting in the Light, last updated November 8, 2005.
The Christian Peacemakers Teams website
The Washington Post's article on Tom Fox's death
A Daily Kos post on Tom Fox
Sign the petition to release the hostages.