Former CPT hostage marching for terrorists

Remember James Loney, the Canadian Christian Peacemaker Team member kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq? Remember the American with him, Tom Fox, who was murdered? Loney has decided to lend his legs to the 'freedom caravan' marching to Ottawa on behalf of closing the "Canadian Gitmo".

Say what? You heard right--Canada is holding three men without charges on suspicion of being terrorists.

The American media has been rather silent on this factoid compared with their coverage of Jose Padilla and the Gitmo gulag. Maybe it's because the ousted former PM Paul Martin's liberal government initiated the arrests and set up the camp. Just speculating here. Ironically Martin is now accusing the Harper government of tearing down everyhing he tried to build up.

Oh yeah, back to Loney. Why is he marching?

"I didn't know when I was going to be freed (or) know really why I was being held," said Loney. "It was an unjust deprival of my liberty in the same way that someone who's in jail in Canada . . . without charge."

Actually he was just returning the favor, since the three had written an open letter supporting his release last December:

"That was a gesture of solidarity that moved me very deeply," said Loney. "So, I feel personally obliged to speak out for them."

One might think the death of Mr. Fox would have moved Mr. Loney a bit more deeply by illustrating the uneven level of depravity between a peace activist and a radical Islamist. His response might be to say his protest is only about protecting the due process rights of citizens.

But he'll have a hard time convincing Canadians that terrorism suspects should be treated exactly like car thieves in light of recent events. Well, not everybody.