Tom Fox Remembered

Greetings friends,

I was at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice conference in Washington, DC, this past weekend when I heard the news that Tom Fox's body had been found in Baghdad. I had just turned on CNN while still lying in bed in my hotel room. In some ways, it was what I already knew when Tom was not in the last video released last week. However, the reality did not fully begin sinking in until I saw my friends and former colleagues from Iraq, Quaker representatives Rick MacDowell and Mary Trotochard, later that morning.

It was good, given the circumstances, to be among activists and church people this weekend, folks that understood why a person might wish to go to a place like Iraq, as a living-out of one's faith and a deeper understanding of the costs of discipleship, in which one's life is no longer comfortable and safety is not guaranteed.

Anniversaries and new events this week remind me of the fragility of life and also the imperative of working for peace. It is nearly the third anniversary of our war in Iraq; it is nearly the third anniversary of Rachel Corrie's killing by Israeli forces, followed by the shootings of Tom and Brian (Tom Hurndall died last year after many months in a coma). Today I listened to another colleague from Palestine, Donatella, report on yet other colleagues in Gaza being taken hostage; I do not yet know how many of them I know from my time there.

I do not know yet what all this means for me; I do not know what it means for my life, my future, my vocational call. These are restless days, and I do my best to listen for God's direction.

I was invited to speak a little about Tom yesterday at an interfaith prayer vigil in front of the Capitol. Here is what I said:

Remarks made at the Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Peace in Iraq
Capitol Hill
March 13, 2006

"When I left Baghdad in 2004 to begin seminary studies, Tom Fox took my place there with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. I knew him to be a thoughtful and committed human rights worker who cared deeply for the Iraqi people. In Baghdad, he carried on the work we were doing of documenting and publicizing the human rights abuses taking place under the U.S. occupation.

We grieve and pray now in remembrance of Tom and the family he leaves behind, and we pray for the safe return of Jim, Harmeet, and Norman. At the same time, I ask you to pray for the thousands of Iraqi citizens in our U.S. prison camps, who have no contact with their families, no access to lawyers, and no idea when they will be returned safely home.

We do not seek vengeance against the people who killed Tom, and we believe strongly that further violence benefits no one. Tom was a member of the Quaker tradition, and as such I would like to ask that we observe a moment of silence for this time.

Thank you."

I am including links to two news stories in which I was featured this weekend, one in my local paper and one via Church World Service:

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2006/03/14/local/doc441658650bb94594421221.txt

http://churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2006/03/419.html