Ex-hostage Sees Fatigue, Worry on Faces of Christian Captives in Iraq

|TOP|A former foreign correspondent for CNN has been reminded by the latest footage of the Christian hostages in Iraq of his own harrowing experience as a hostage for one year.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Jerry Levin said seeing the video footage of the hostages, one American, two Canadians and British Professor Norman Kember, brought back “unpleasant memories” of his own ordeal.

The tremendous fatigue and wear in their faces just reminds me so much of how I felt," recalled Levin, now a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams.
"I see faces that are similar to me the day that I escaped. I looked very much like them."

Professor Kember was abducted on the streets of Baghdad on Nov. 26th 2005 together with Canadians Jim Loney, 41, and former Montrealer Harmeet Sooden, 32, and American Tom Fox, 54.

|QUOTE|The kidnappers, a little known group running under the name Swords of Righteousness Brigades, released footage of the four CPT volunteers.

Former hostage Levin, now 73, was kidnapped by Hezbollah fighters in Beirut in March 1984 while working in Lebanon as the Middle East bureau chief for CNN. The CNN correspondent became known as the first of the “forgotten” American hostages in the Middle Eastern country.

After four months as a hostage, Levin was forced to read a written statement to the cameras which revealed to him finally what his Muslim kidnappers wanted: Mr Levin would be killed if 21 prisoners in Kuwait were not released.

"I was very surprised, but naturally, with them in the room, I wasn't going to let them know that," he said.

|AD|"I was very worried. I had great anxiety. I knew there was the possibility I might die. But I also, for some reason, still had hope, that in some way or another, I would be able to return to freedom."

Speaking of the four CPT hostages, Mr Levin, from Birmingham, Alabama, said: "What has happened to them is so similar to what happened to me.”

Mr Levin was held hostage for the release of prisoners who were part of a Muslim cell opposed to the U.S. support for the then president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, in his war against Iran.

The prisoners had been tried and convicted early in Kuwait before the hostage-takers, the leader of which was related to one of the prisoners, abducted Mr Levin.

"I knew that was a demand that was probably going to be very difficult to meet," Levin said of his kidnappers' demands.

While hostage, Levin was not physically harmed by his captives, but was nonetheless underfed and kept chained in solitary confinement.

The former CNN correspondent, an Episcopalian, said he was able to endure his ordeal because he discovered religion after about a month as a hostage.

Through their trust in God and by continuing to fervently practise their faith, the four Christian peacekeepers will withstand their ordeal - no matter how it turns out, he said in The CP.

"They go into this better equipped to deal with it than perhaps other people. They have inner resources that are going to help them and carry them through this very, very difficult situation."

Mr Levin said, however, that the strong statements from both secular Arabs and “very conservative” Islamic religious leaders condemning the kidnapping of the CPT workers and the forthcoming praise for their work is one reason for optimism now.

According to The Canadian Press, the brother of CPT hostage Jim Loney said the “unbelievable support” from across the globe had enabled the family to continue on despite the worry and uncertainty.

"You have to be prepared to accept the worst if you're going to be prepared to accept the best," said Ed Loney from Vancouver.

"It's two sides of the same coin."

Levin’s ordeal finally came to an end when he was able to escape by climbing down from a balcony using three blankets tied together. He remains hopeful that the four CPT hostages will be released despite the threats from the kidnappers.

"They said it was a last chance about a month ago and we were very hopeful that it wasn't. And they said it was the last chance this last time and we're very hopeful that, once again, it wasn't."