It is with great regret and sadness that I bring you this report.

Today we received the news so many of us have been dreading: one of the Christian Peacemaker Teams hostages in Iraq, American Tom Fox, has been killed.

According to ABC News:

This of course is completely and utterly false. The State Department is calling for the unconditional release of all hostages except the 20,000 or more being detaiened by Occupation forces. These hostages, some of whom have been tortured and killed, are used by terrorists as a convenient excuse to capture, torture, and kill innocent Americans.

CNN reports that Fox's body had two bullet wounds, his hands were bound, and there were cuts and bruises on his body that indicated physical abuse.

Cynical warmongers such as this writer claim that Fox and his compatriots were on a fool's errand. Nothing could be further from the truth, IMHO. It is the military that is on a fool's errand, one that has cost us over a half trillion dollars and 2,400 American lives. Anyone who thinks that Peacemakers are less safe because they are unarmed has forgotten what happened in Fallujah.

On Nov 25, 2005, the day before he was captured, Tom wrote this in his diary:

A true Peacemaker, Tom recognized that the first place to look for what stands in the way of peacemaking is within.

Rest in Peace, Tom. May your legacy live on, and triumph, before it is too late for all of us.