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CDN Hostage James Loney Rescued by SAS in Iraq

>But for Loney, the poppy represents something entirely different. It represents military preparedness to engage in war.

*shrug*  By his own admission he's made up his own interpretation.  You can believe anything you want in la-la land.
 
All this guy is doing is milking his "pacifism" for all it's worth and turning it into a business.  So, a little controversy can't hurt on the university lecture circuit. No doubt other like minded fools are already lining up to here about his heroic exploits. 

These people are living proof sheep and parrots f*ck.
 
Mr Loney, where ever you are, a word of gratitude would be the LEAST you could do. >:(
 
Well,............

I do agree with just about everyone else here (mostly) regarding the delusions of pacifists and non-poppy wearers.

BUT,

At least this guy and his buddies have the (misguided) balls to put their lives on the line. Yes, I know the good guys risked their lives to pull their fat out of the fire. Yes, I know they accomplished absolutely nothing except risking lives of good soldiers. As I said above, I agree.

However, you don't see our good friend Jack going to A'stan (or even Pakistan or SA) to talk with anyone with any connections to anyone actually involved in the conflict in country.

Wook

I think Mr Loney may be deluded into thinking we all live in a ST:NG episode, but not a hypocrite. The NDP, on the other hand ..... hypocrites.
 
Maybe he was just worried about the stark red colour clashing with his usual selection of pastels?  I liked the rainbow poppy idea. 
BTW, in as much as we have issue with the media paying attention to this dink, we now have four pages of posts for him as well.  It is November 24.  Perhaps lock it and bury it?
 
The latest on James Loney's new book here, via the Globe & Mail:
.... It has long been rumoured that just before the commandos arrived, the captors were called on their cellphones and told that it was in their best interests to leave – and very quickly.

Mr. Loney writes he doesn’t know if those rumours are true. But he is clearer on the aftermath.

“You have no idea how many people were involved, how many people risked their lives to get you out,” one “angry” soldier told Mr. Loney after he was taken to safety in a tank.

The soldier said future Christian Peacemaker teams should “think about that before they decide to send anybody else here.”

An RCMP inspector, Gordon Black, greeted Mr. Loney in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The Mountie told him he was nearly hit by mortars on the day he arrived in Baghdad. “If they’d hit a minute sooner, I’d be dead,” he told Mr. Loney.

Mr. Loney writes that he was shown the Canadian “operations room” where the rescue was planned. Although he thought he’d encounter hostility because his presence in the war zone had put people in danger, he was greeted with applause.

The windowless room had 10 computer workstations. Some of the staff were in uniforms and some in civilian clothes. “People worked here 24 hours a day, manning phones, following up on leads, talking to Ottawa,” he marvels. “I can’t believe it.”

He was also greeted warmly at Canada’s makeshift embassy by chargé d’affaires Stewart Henderson and his young assistant, Sonia Hooykaas, who had a dinner in his honour. They told him the Department of Foreign Affairs had just mandated they travel in half-a-million-dollar armoured cars because one of their vehicles was shot up a month before.

Mr. Loney writes that the rescue officials gave him some details of their operation. “By monitoring all the cellphone conversation going in and out of Baghdad, and by tracking different leads, they gradually narrowed in on the group that was holding us.”

A British book about the mission asserts that the release was preceded by 50 special-forces raids and the military interrogations of 47 people. By then, a U.S. hostage had been killed.

Although enormously grateful for the rescue effort, Mr. Loney writes that he was frequently conflicted.

A staunch pacifist, he declined to support the eventual prosecution of his suspected captors for fear they could face the death penalty. And before he left Iraq, he even had mixed feelings about whether he should take a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“What! Stephen Harper! Tell me he didn't win a majority!” Mr. Loney recalls erupting, upon learning Canada had elected a new Prime Minister during his captivity. The Conservatives had supported calls for Canada to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Loney soon got over his misgivings. “Thank you. For everything. … I mean … The government did so much,” he told the Prime Minister ....

So far, Amazon.com's only got the new book in Kindle format.
 
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