Who Are the Christian Peacemakers?

March 23, 2006 — -- The rescue in Iraq of three members of Christian Peacemaker Teams provided much of the world with some very welcome good news. But many also wondered: Who are these people and why did they put themselves in harm's way?

Three churches -- Quaker, Mennonite and Church of the Brethren -- founded CPT in 1984. At the founding conference in Techny, Ill., CPT said it would offer organized, nonviolent opposition "to war and other forms of lethal inner-group conflict." The group now claims support from several other Christian denominations, including Baptists, Presbyterians and Catholics.

CPT, which has offices in Chicago and Toronto, was in Baghdad even before the war started, first sending members there in October 2002. The group says that after the invasion, Iraqis began asking for help in finding their relatives.

As CPT became more involved, it saw that the number of detainees held by occupation forces was increasing, and the group charged that these detentions violated international law. CPT took part in demonstrations in Iraq and tried to convince other countries that people held without formal charges should be released.

Two years ago, shortly before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, CPT published a lengthy report alleging that U.S. forces were abusing detainees. CPT co-director Doug Pritchard told the BBC: "We were the first to publicly denounce the torture of the Iraqi people held by occupation forces." The organization has called for an end to what it still calls the occupation.

All this might have persuaded insurgents and terrorists that CPT should be left alone to work for the withdrawal of coalition troops, but that hasn't been the case for CPT or other foreign groups with similar aims. It is still unclear why four members of CPT were kidnapped four months ago by what the U.S. military has called an insurgent kidnapping cell.

Three of the peace activists were rescued today from a Baghdad home by U.S. and British forces. The body of one, Tom Fox, was found in Baghdad on March 10.