James Loney, the Canadian peacemaker who was held hostage in Iraq, said he and his captors shared many "moments of kindness" during the 118 days in captivity.

"They never beat us, they didn't subject us to any kind of psychological mind games or psychological terror that way," Loney told CBC Radio's The Current. "There were many acts of care that were shown to us."

James Loney in March.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Loney, 41, and two colleagues from Christian Peacemaker Teams — Canadian Harmeet Singh Sooden and Briton Norman Kember — were rescued on March 23, four months after being taken hostage by a little-known Iraqi group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.

Loney described his kidnappers — who held a $2-million ransom over their heads and eventually killed the fourth hostage, American Tom Fox — as simple people who treated them well. He said the line between captor and hostage was clear, but their guards made sure their handcuffs weren't too tight, occasionally let them out to watch television and even gave them a cake for Christmas.

"It was all decorated and it had this green sort of palm, Christmas tree on it," said Loney. "And they sang, 'Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday Jesus.' We sang them a Christmas carol, and they wanted us to sing some more."

Spent time unsupervised

Loney spoke about his shock when the kidnappers grabbed him and Sooden outside a Muslim mosque. He also recalled how he and Sooden were blindfolded and stuck in a car trunk en route to the large house where they would spend the next four months.

Loney said usually two guards watched their second-floor room during the day, but they spent most of their time unsupervised.

Discussing their escape plans, Loney and the other hostages unlocked their handcuffs using a nail they found in shoes provided by their kidnappers. It was a technique Loney said they learned from the Hollywood movie Con Air, which they watched on satellite TV with their captors.

The hostages were chained to each other in a line, Loney said, and this enabled them to break free at night so they could sleep better.

But Fox and Kember were chained to the room, Loney said, so only he and Sooden could try to escape at night.

"Harmeet was very clear that he would not attempt an escape unless all of us could go together. And I really struggled with that. I wasn't as clear as Harmeet was on that question."

Committed to not harming captors

Despite the prospect of death, Loney said he and the other peacemakers didn't want to seriously harm their captors.

"Part of it was the small question of well, we're committed to non-violence, but how could we extricate ourselves without really harming one of our captors? Because we were committed to not harming them," he said. "We had some vigorous debates about what that line was."

They didn't have to make that decision, as British, Canadian and American forces eventually rescued them, a moment described by Loney as surreal. He said they heard the whirr of a tank, people shouting with a British accent and glass smashing right below their window.

"We were like, 'Oh my God, What do we do?' Do we get down, do we try to get out of the room? Are bullets going to start flying? Are things going to start exploding? What's going to happen?"

Once the soldiers secured the house, Loney said, he was elated they were finally free, but the rescue was bittersweet.

"The thing that's difficult for me is that they (soldiers) are part of this big machine that sucks up hundreds of billions of dollars every year to perfect this machine to kill," he said. "And that's what got us. And it's that machine that is what has caused all this, so much suffering in Iraq. And it's that machine that sort of put in motion the forces that ended up with our kidnapping."

Now that four months have passed since he has resumed in life in Canada, he's beginning to adjust to his freedom.

"I love being alive. When I was first released, it was this amazing experience, a sort of altered consciousness. It was like this explosion of colour and sounds and smells. And that sort of sheen has sort of worn off and I'm starting to take things for granted now. Which is, I suppose, is a good sign of returning to normal, I guess."