Abducted Canadian's family says he knew risks in Iraq
Last Updated: Saturday, December 3, 2005 | 11:12 PM ET
CBC News
The parents and sister of James Loney, a 41-year-old community worker from Toronto, told CBC News they discussed the risk before Loney left for Iraq as part of his duties for the humanitarian group Christian Peacemaker Teams.
"We knew it was dangerous," said his father, Patrick Loney, in an interview that was broadcast in part on Saturday. The full interview with Loney's family was broadcast in full on CBC News: Sunday.
"I mean, he was going on his second tour, and I told him, you know, you're asking for big trouble if something goes wrong," said Patrick Loney, who lives with his wife in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Parents of James Loney
"I said you're in a war now, this isn't child's play. He says, 'I know.'"
But Loney's sister, Kathleen Weir, said he was determined to carry out the mission.
"James wouldn't have been happy if he didn't," she said. "This was important to him and he had to go."
James Loney, a 41-year-old community worker from Toronto, and three others were abducted on Nov. 26. (CP Photo/Christian Peacemaker Teams)
Loney was abducted at gunpoint on Nov. 26, along with his colleagues Harmeet Singh Sooden, a 32-year-old former Montrealer, Norman Kember, 74, of Britain and Tom Fox, 54, of the United States.
The group holding them, the Swords of Truth Brigade, has threatened to kill all the hostages unless prisoners in U.S. and Iraqi military detention centres are released by Dec. 8.
On Saturday, the largest Sunni Muslim party in Iraq – the Iraqi Islamic Party – joined a growing number of voices – Muslim and otherwise – who have called for the release of the hostages.
- FROM DEC. 3, 2005: British envoy in Baghdad for hostage talks
Earlier in the week, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq urged the group to release the captives as a humanitarian gesture, while Palestinian activists said three of the aid workers had spent time in the West Bank helping Palestinians.
- FROM NOV. 30, 2005: Muslim clerics demand release of captive Westerners
Christian Peacemaker Teams is a volunteer organization, based in Toronto and Chicago, that sends teams to crisis zones around the world. In Iraq, the group has monitored elections, advocated for prisoners of the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq and helped with human rights activities.
Over the past two years, insurgents in Iraq have abducted more than 225 people, including four Canadians. At least 38 hostages have been executed, including one of the Canadians.
The interview will be broadcast again on CBC News: Sunday Night at 9 p.m. ET on Newsworld and 10 p.m. ET on CBC's main network.
