On November 26, 2005, Tom Fox and three other members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) based in Iraq — James Looney, Harmeet Singh and Norman Kimber — were kidnapped by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. Nearly four months later, on March 10, 2006, Tom’s corpse was found in a ditch. It appeared he had been killed the previous day. On March 23, the other three kidnapped members of the CPT were released unharmed.
Tom’s murder is particularly poignant because CPT’s efforts in Iraq have been focused entirely on supporting the Iraqi people as they determine their own destiny. CPT is a violence reduction group that has sent trained peacemakers to conflict areas such as Palestine, Haiti, Chechnya and Colombia.
Tom Fox was 54 and had two grown children. A Quaker from Virginia known for his humility and dry sense of humor, Tom had been in Iraq since September 2004. His activities there focused on documenting the stories of Iraqi detainees and their families.
Information about Tom’s experiences in Iraq can be found on his weblog at http://waitinginthelight.blogspot.com. This includes an essay titled “Why We Are Here,” written the day before his abduction.
