another one bites the dust

[Hippie3]

American hostage Tom Fox has been killed and his body, showing signs of torture, left at a garbage dump in Baghdad, police said on Saturday.

One of the policemen who found the body said the 54-year-old peace activist, wearing a gray tracksuit, appeared to have beaten with electric cables before his death. He had a single gunshot wound to the head and his hands were tied behind him.

Fox, who had been in Iraq to campaign against the U.S. occupation and to work for the release of Iraqis held by U.S. forces, was taken hostage with three colleagues in November by a group calling itself the "Swords of Truth."

The group had threatened to kill the four, members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, unless U.S. forces and the Iraqi authorities freed all prisoners in their custody.

U.S. embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said Fox's body was on its way back to the United States. She had no comment on the nature of his death.

A member of the police patrol which found Fox's body told Reuters it had been left beside a railway line on waste ground used as a garbage dump in Baghdad's western Mansour district.

The policeman, who declined to be identified, said local people had covered the body with pieces of cardboard after reporting the discovery to police.

"When we pulled back the cardboard we immediately saw it was a foreigner and called headquarters," he said.

Fox, a father of two, had expressed concern in an article written the day before his abduction about the dehumanization of Iraqis amid a raging insurgency and U.S. responses that he said often claimed the lives of innocents.

U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay said the FBI had formally identified Fox's body. More forensic examinations would be conducted in the United States.

[SharkieJones]

That's a big bummer. Hope his next life is better.

[Hippie3]

An American aid worker taken hostage with three other peace activists was apparently tortured before he was shot in the head and chest and his body dumped near a railroad line in Baghdad, Iraqi police said Saturday.
Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshot wounds to his head and chest. There were cuts on his body and bruises on his head, indicating torture, he said. The corpse was dressed in Iraqi-made clothing.
At least 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in the nearly three years since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, and at least 40 have been killed.

"We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone," Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose, co-directors of Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, said in a statement.

Americans killed were Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga.; Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.; and Nicholas Berg, 26, a businessman from West Chester, Pa.

Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.

Jesus...R.I.P., my brother.

[Lazlo]

I hate to say it but; just how many people that try to make a difference in Iraq (by going over there and preaching this and that) does it take from getting captured and killed before they stop attempting this? It's not rocket science what the risks are. If that's their thing, then it is. But, IMHO just stay the heck out of there for the time being and leave it up to the pros. There no since in the risk of leaving behind your loved ones if ya ask me.

[Hippie3]

some people just don't give up so easily,
i admire that trait
even if i would not follow their example.

[dead_diver]

They must be desperate to keep killing hostages when they have to know were not going to release the prisoners. Makes me wonder if we managed to get a hold of someone who actually knows something. It would probably be very difficult for them to arrange a hit on the person to keep them quiet if they are in our custody.