Fox, Tom (1951-2006)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 20 p. 1, 7

Birth date: 1951

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American CPTer killed in Iraq

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

U.D. forces in Iraq have recovered the body of kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox, CPT confirmed on March 10.

Fox, 54, a Quaker from Clearbrook, Va., was found with his hands bound and with gunshot wounds to the head and chest the evening of March 9, according to the Associated Press.

Iraqi police, who discovered the body in a garbage dump in the al-Mansur district of Baghdad, said Fox's remains also showed signs of having been beaten before he was killed, the BBC reported.

His body clothed in a gray track suit, also had cuts and bruises and was found along a main road near a train station wrapped in a blanket inside a plastic bag, according to CNN and Aljazeera. When police saw the body was that of a Westerner, U.S. military authorities were called to the scene, reports said.

"In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion," a statement from CPT said. "The death of our beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain."

Fox was kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26 along with fellow CPTers Norman Kember, 74, a Briton and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32.

The four were seized at gunpoint by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade and have been shown in videos released by the group, which has demanded the release of all detainees in U.S. and Iraqi prisons.

The most recent video, a silent 25-second clip that aired on Aljazeera March 7, showed all of the hostages except Fox.

"We didn't know at the time what the significance of his absence was," said CPT co-director Carol Rose of Chicago, during a news conference in Toronto March 10. "My government's action got the peacemakers into this. Perhaps Tom was used as a message to the nation that took the lead in the war."

CPT has three other activists in Baghdad, in addition to the hostages. CPT co-director Doug Pritchard told the Toronto news conference that CPT plans to remain in Iraq, at least until the fate of the other three captives is resolved.

On March 10, the U.S. State Department also confirmed Fox's death.

"The FBI has verified the identity of a body found in Iraq," said State Department spokesman Noel Clay, who said the whereabouts and safety of the other three hostages was still unknown. "While additional forensic testing will be completed in the United States, we believe this is the body of Tom Fox."

Fox, who has two adult children, was a musician and had been a grocer before jointing CPT a few years ago. He also had serv3ed CPT in the West Bank.

According to the New York Times, U.S. forces carried out house raids in a neighborhood near where Fox's body was discovered, but found no signs of the other three hostages or their captors.

Meanwhile, CPT reiterated Fox's opposition to violence.

"In response to Tom's passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done," the statement said. "In Tom's own words: "We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation."

Vigils in Fox's memory and for the safety and freedom of the other three hostages were scheduled in Chicago and Toronto on March 11. At least one other gathering was to be held in Lancaster, Pa.

Fox is the first CPTer to fall victim to violence. On Jan. 9, 2003, before the U.S.-led invasion, CPTer George Weber, 73, of Chesley, Ont., was killed in an automobile accident near Basra.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 20 p. 1, 7

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At EMU, a hard blow to those who knew activist

By Jim Bishop

Eastern Mennonite University

HARRISONBURG, Va. — The death in Iraq of Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox dealt an especially harsh blow to those who knew him at Eastern Mennonite University.

Fox, 54, a Quaker from Clearbrook, had been held hostage with three other CPTers since Nov. 26. His body was discovered in Baghdad march 9.

Fox had studied one semester in EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding graduate program before going to Iraq with CPT.

Lisa Schirch, associate professor of conflict studies in EMU's Center for Justice and peacemaking, taught Fox in her strategic nonviolence course at EMU.

"May we all hood every human being in Iraq in our prayers as the trauma, anger, fear and sadness rages on and on," Schirch said in response to Fox's death. "And may we all find a way to renew our own personal efforts to transform those energies into something more positive.

"Let us remember Tom for the bravery and hopefulness that came with his determination to be in Iraq to monitor human rights and provide a different kind of American presence there — one that sought to be in solidarity with the suffering."

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber also issued a statement to the EMU community.

"Tom's death . . . reminds us of the trgic deaths of peole of all nationalities through senseless violence around the world. . . .

"Please pray for Tom's family, co-workers, friends and for CJP faculty member Lisa Schirch and others on our campus who knew him personally."

Ruth Zimmerman, co-director of EMU's Center for Justice and Pecebuilding, said that "we all have a responsibility to break the cycle of violence and vengeance that has caused the deaths of tens of thousands in Iraq, including Fox.

"The answer is not more violence, more vengeance. The answer is more people with the courage and faith of Tom Fox to stand up and say, 'Love, forgiveness, and restorative justice are the answers, not violent retribution.'"

Fox is the first to fall victim to violence of the more than 2,000 peace workers who have received training through EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Zimmerman said she is "especially proud of EMU's Muslim alumni and visiting professors who have bravely spoken on behalf of the hostages."

Khadija Ossoble Ali, a Somali Muslim who earned a master's degree in conflict transformation at EMU in 2000, responded to news of Fox's death with an emailed statemnt to her fellow alumni.

"He was the hope for a better future for all of us who have been kept hostage by a small minority in the name of religion," Ali said. "May we all pray for Tom, for his bravery and courageous work and may God bless him and give us the strength to succeed and transform our despair to a more peaceful coexistence as human beings."

EMU held prayer vigils for the four kidnapped CTP [sic CPT] workers on campus on Nov. 30 and Jan. 30.

Fox had been scheduled to speak at EMU in February.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 20 p. 1, 2

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'Deep grief' among MWC delegates

By Paul Schrag

Mennonite Weekly Review

PASADENA, Calif. — A gathering of the worldwide Anabaptist group that helped give birth to Christian Peacemaker Teams mourned the death of CPT worker Tom Fox on March 11.

The Mennonite World conference General Council, composed of about 100 Anabaptist leaders from around the world, expressed "deep grief" at Fox's death in a letter to CPT.

Word was received during the council's triennial meeting March 9-15 that Fox, 54, a Quaker from Clearbrook, Va., had been found dead in Iraq on March 9 after being held hostage with three other CPTers since Nov. 26.

"We mourn with you the loss of this courageous man, whose life and words testified to the power of the nonviolent love of God in Jesus Christ," stated the letter to CPT.

It was signed by MWC officials Nancy R. Heisey of the United States, president; Danisa Ndlovu of Zimbabwe, vice president; and Larry Miller of France, executive secretary.

MWC General Council delegates represent 95 member churches in 51 countries.

The letter noted MWC's connection to CPT's beginning.

"We recall that the challenge to begin the work of Christian Peacemaker Teams was given at the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Strasbourg, France, in 1984," the MWC officials wrote.

That challenge was made in an address by Ron Sider, now president of Evangelicals for Social Action. He challenged Christian peacemakers to be willing to take the same risks for peace that soldiers take in war.

CPT was founded two years later, in 1986, with the support of Mennonites and other peace churches.

The MWC letter to CPT was accompanied by handwritten notes of sympathy and support from General Council members.

The letter noted that Anabaptists around the world can identify with those who suffer and die for their faith.

"During our gathering, we have heard other stories of sisters and brothers in other places who suffer as they share the good news of God's love and as they work for justice and peace in communities wracked by many forms of violence," the letter stated.

"Thus, many of us have in a deep, personal way experienced the mourning you now experience and share in your ongoing, profound commitment to God's way."

Two North American Mennonite leaders — Jack Suderman, general secretary of Mennonite Church Canada, and Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA — prayed during the coundil's time of remembering Fox.

"We mourn the death of Tom Fox, your servant," Suderman said. "We pray for the peace and justice he died for."

Schrag prayed for all in Iraq who suffer due to "the terrorism of the war itself."

He prayed for Christians who face persecution in many countries, noting that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 20 p. 2

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Body brought to U.S. base for autopsy

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

The body of slain Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox accompanied the remains of an Iraqi detainee on a U.S. military flight to the United States on March 13, CPT reported.

Fox and his CPT colleagues — including three others who remain in captivity after being kidnapped with Fox in Baghdad on Nov. 26 — worked extensively with Iraqi detainees and their families.

CPT has documented abuse and other mistreatment of civilian detainees since the end of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

According to a CPT statement released March 13, the body of an Iraqi detainee who died in U.S. custody was being flown to Dover (Del.) Air Force Base for an autopsy, next to Fox's U.S. flag-draped coffin.

"So Tom accompanied an Iraqi detainee in death, just as he had done so often in life," wrote CPT co-director Doug Pritchard.

Fox's body, which U.S. forces in Iraq recovered after it was found in western Baghdad March 9, was flown back to the United States from a U.S. military base at Balat, Iraq.

Before the flight, CPTer Beth Pyles had kept vigil at the base, Camp Anaconda, with Fox's body for about 36 hours.

When Fox's coffin was taken aboard the military plane, Pyles read from the Bible and also recited the Arabic words "Allah akbar," or "God is greater" in tribute to the dead detainee. The words were called out repeatedly from Baghdad's mosques during the U.S. bombing campaign whenever air raid sirens were sounded, according to CPT.

CPTers Rich Meyers and Anne Montgomery were waiting at Dover when Fox's body arrived around 6 p.m. EST on March 13.

CPT spokesman Scott Albrecht in Toronto said the body would be held at Dover for an autopsy and released later in the week.

Meanwhile, Albrecht said, plans for a memorial service were on hold, awaiting the conclusion of the forensic testing.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 20 p. 4

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Editorial

A death, a testimony

The murder of Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox, held captive by Iraqi insurgents for more than 100 days with three other CPTers, offers a bitter testimony to the utter costliness of an authentic peace witness. In a world beset by such grim violence as that seen in Iraq, Fox's killing might seem to be just one more among thousands of others. And ironically, he might say the same himself, which should make his death and sacrifice seem no less poignant and all the more tragic to those who stand for nonviolence as he did.

Fox — in his writing and in his actions — saw himself as no different from any Iraqi civilian whose journey and plight he went to Iraq to share. That he should die because he offered himself as a voluntary witness of peace, even as a citizen of the country some Iraqis regard as an enemy, is an astonishing mystery to some — one that will not be understood too quickly, or without considerable pain.

For now, let all believers pray for the safety and swift release of the other three captives, and for all who suffer amid war and violence in Iraq and elsewhere. — Robert Rhodes.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 27 p. 1, 3

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CPT finds no signs that slain worker was tortured

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

The body of slain Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox showed no signs of torture when it was viewed by CPTers and members of Fox's family on March 16 at a Dover, Del., funeral home.

CPTer Rich Meyer said March 20 that Fox's body, discovered by Iraqi police and recovered by U.S. forces on march 9, had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, but no other signs of injury.

Media reports attributed to iraqi police officials had indicated that Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va., was bound and beaten before his killing. Newsweek had reported that Fox's throat was cut.

"We saw no signs of torture or that his throat had been slit," Meyer said.

Fox's body was discovered near a railway line in western Baghdad, where the bodies of others killed in the area have been found, CPT said.

CPT spokeswoman Kathleen Kern said it was unclear where the rumors of Fox being tortured originated.

We're not sure how those stories got circulated," Kern said March 20.

Fox's body was flown from a U.S. installation in Iraq to Dover (Del.) Air Force Base on board a military plane that also carried the body of an Iraqi detainee who died in U.S. custody.

While at Dover, Fox's body underwent an autopsy, according to Meyer, who met the body along with CPTer Anne Montgomery, CPT co-director Carol Rose and members of Fox's family.

Meyer said the group viewed the body at a Dover funeral home following the autopsy, the results of which will be sent to Fox's family in about a month. He said Fox's family viewed the body first, followed by the CPTers, who sang songs and read a letter to Fox from one of his CPT colleagues in Iraq.

Meyer said the CPTers accompanied Fox's body to a crematorium and then took his ashes to Fox's family in the Washington, D.C., area on March 17.

CPT plans to hold a memorial service for Fox on April 2 in Toronto, Kern said, and another in Chicago on a date to be determined.

Doug Smith of Langley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, Va., Fox's Quaker congregation, said a service had not been scheduled there yet. Smith said it was not unusual for Quaker memorial services to be held several weeks after death, and that Langley hill would organize one with Fox's family.

Fox was kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26 along with fellow CPTers Norman Kember, 74, a Briton, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, who remain in captivity. The four were seized at gunpoint by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade and have been shown in videos release by the group, which has demanded the release of all detainees in U.S. and Iraqi prisons.

The most recent video, a silent 25-second clip that aired on Aljazeera March 7, showed all of the hostages except Fox.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Mar 27 p. 12

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More than 300 attend EMU service for slain CPT activist

By Jim Bishop

Eastern Mennonite University

HARRISONBURG, Va. — More than 300 people attended a March 15 memorial service in Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University for slain Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox.

Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, was found dead in Baghdad on March 9 after being kidnapped with three other CPTers Nov. 26.

The service opened with a candlelight procession by current students in EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, where Fox had studied for a semester of graduate work. Fox took a class in strategic nonviolence with Lisa Schirch, associate professor of conflict studies, to prepare himself for returning to his work in Iraq.

Schirch read samples of Fox's letters and journals while a series of photos were projected on a screen of the CPT worker's activities in the Middle East.

"Tom was my student," Schirch said, "He was dedicated to praying for and working for peace. He wanted to tell the world what was happening in Iraq. He would want us to plead to God today to send down healing waters and wash the blood off of the sand."

A Tom Fox Memorial Fund to benefit EMU's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding has been established.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Apr 10 p. 5

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== WORLD NEIGHBORS
Kathleen Kern ==

What would Tom have said?

I thought I was gong to feel elated when I got the news on March 23 that my Christian Peacemaker Team colleagues Jim Loney,Norman Kember and Harmeet Sooden had been freed in Baghdad.

Instead, I felt a heaviness, because I learned they heard only after their release about the death of Tom Fox — a man who had encouraged them through weeks of fear and excruciating boredom and helped pass the time by teaching music theory.

I met Tom at our CPT full-timers retreat at Strawberry Island, Ont., in 2004. On the ride back to Toronto, he told me that of all the presidents he ahd played under in the White House band, he like Ronald Reagan the best.

"But Tom," I said, and began listing all the atrocities that the Reagan administration had committed in Central America in the 1980s.

He persisted: "I disagreed with Reagan on almost everything, but of all the presidents I played for, he was the only one who always remembered to thank the band."

I've replayed that conversation in my head a lot over the last few months.

I thought if anyone could transform the hearts of his kidnappers, it would be this gentle soul who thought the best of others. That he had elevated this personality trait to a moral principle was evident in a statement he wrote the day before he was kidnapped:

"As soon as I rob a fellow human being of his or her humanity by sticking a dehumanizing label on them. I begin the process that can have, as an end result, torture, injury and death.

"Why are we here? . . . We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls."

Because I had to deal with the media flurry after Tom's death, I had not yet fully grieved for him when the glad news came that Jim, Norman and Harmeet were free. This time, instead of a flurry, the media response was a cyclone that sucked us into a whirl of misinformation and false accusations.

They said we had been ungrateful to the soldiers who rescued our guys, that we were dupes of Saddam Hussein, that we allied ourselves with insurgents, that we didn't care about the lives of other Western hostages. They invited Iraqis who had never met our team and Western pundits who lacked the most basic understanding of what we do to comment. (This information is easily available at www.cpt.org.)

We struggled to respond in fits and starts. Fortunately, Jim and Norman's first statements to the media in Toronto and London dispelled much of the misinformation.

Afterward, I remembered that we had originally planned to wait until we had some facts about the rescue before we commented publicly. But the media attacks had made us respond defensively before we really knew what had happened.

While trying to drain energy from the cyclone, I looked up Scriptural texts about truth. consulting the Bible made me stop, shake the muddle from my head and think, "Oh yea, it's Jesus we're about, not the spin."

Media headlines constantly change. We will try to tether ourselves to the eternal gospel as we seek to work on behalf of the least of these.

And I will try to imagine the magnanimous thigs Tom Fox might have said about those who vilified us.

Kathleen Kern, of Webster, N.Y., serves with Christian Peacemaker Teams