Kember Talks About Iraq Ordeal at Greenbelt Festival

|TOP|Ex-Iraq hostage Norman Kember has opened up about his four month ordeal in the Middle East at Greentbelt festival, insisting that the suffering had not been in vain.

In an interview with Canon Lucy Winkett, of St Paul’s Cathedral, Kember explained how his fellow captives kept themselves sane while their hands and feet were chained to chairs. At times he said some of them felt suicidal. “It’s difficult to commit suicide when you’re handcuffed,” he said.

“But I thought when I get back to Pinner I’ll do something about it. It was then that I realised that I had some hope.” Kember lamented the loss of team mate Tom Fox who died under the captors but said the mission had achieved much. “The Christian Peace Makers have given attention to this cause,” he said and in reference to prayer vigils held around the country said stronger links had been forged between Muslim and Christian groups.

Kember began his ordeal on November 26 when a car full of armed men, known as the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, captured them as they visited a Muslim cleric. He explained how he and Tom Fox were held in ‘house number one’ only to be moved to ‘house number three’ before being joined by Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden.

Here they stayed until rescued on March 23 but without Fox who was tragically killed two weeks previously. Kember showed a sketch of the room, which was 10 by 15 feet and lit by a light bulb shielded to outside viewers with cardboard. The prisoners were bound hand and foot to each other, with Tom Fox chained to the door.

Sleep was not easy, he said. To remain sane the team had a time of worship together and would sing songs and hymns while praying for their situation.

They also tried to have Bible studies with some success: “A Bible study is a bit difficult without a Bible,” joked Kember. Recalling words in Micah about loving mercy and acting justly were a comfort to him while, on the other hand, he wrestled with the book of Romans: “Paul talks in Romans of obeying the government but what do you do if your government is Blair or Bush!” At one point the captors let them watch a video about the life of Jesus but in Arabic, which he said was unexpected but strangely comforting.

|AD|To pass the time they made up games. He described cutting up cardboard from an old box of socks to make a 24 piece card game similar to connect four. He also made a whole pack of cards: “I tore up lots of little bits of paper and made some cards which I used to play patience,” he said, but admitted it was difficult to play in a row of four chained men. Other games included a version of snakes and ladders where the ladders represented positive events and the snakes stood for negative events. The ‘ladders’ included a time when the captors brought them a Christmas cake while some ‘snakes’ included being videoed by the Iraqis and when the electricity ran out.

Kember became a little emotional when recalling their rescue on March 23 by the British Army. He described how the SAS burst in, cut the chains and led them outside to be driven to the American hospital. In light of General Sir Michael Jackson’s criticism about his team not being thankful enough he said: “I’m very grateful that they released me.”

Continuing he said: “I’m still convinced that the use of armed force is not the way to win a war.”

Regarding Iraq he said: “I think that the sooner the coalition gets out and some more acceptable peace keepers get in Iraq the more likely we will see a better situation.”

He was asked about what churches should be doing now.

Kember said, “The best thing the churches can do is to embrace non-violence and to encourage the government to embrace non-violence.”