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Langley Hill Friends Meeting

An epistle to U.S. meetings and churches

Of the Religious Society of Friends

Dear Friends:

We send warm greetings and a request.  We are The Langley Hill Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends located in McLean, Virginia.  Our Meeting  was the spiritual home of our dear Friend Tom Fox, who was held hostage and murdered in Iraq.  Tom was a member and former clerk of our Meeting. As you probably know, Tom was in Iraq working for peace as a member of the Christian Peacemakers Teams International (CPT) when he was abducted along with three other CPT workers in November 2005.  We have experienced an outpouring of support from Friends and others during this trying time.  Many have asked us “What can we do to help?”

One piece of Tom’s important work in Iraq was to try to help Iraqi families learn the whereabouts and safety of loved ones who they believed were being detained by the Iraq government or U.S./Coalition forces.  Having one of our own held captive has helped us have a deep appreciation for the suffering of those Iraqi families who have missing loved ones. 

We have decided on one important thing we can do to further Tom Fox's work and to advance the cause of human rights. We are meeting with our U.S. Senators and Representatives to ask them to abandon current US/Coalition practices, and to begin publishing routinely the names and locations of all detainees in their custody and to information those in detention of the charges against them. We passed a minute to this effect (printed on the back of this letter), and have already begun our visits.

In our meetings with our own congressional representatives we are emphasizing the spiritual basis of our concern, and communicating our empathy for families who do not know the whereabouts or safety of their loved ones.

Our request to your church or meeting, is that you also make personal contact with your U.S. Senators and Representatives to urge them to make these changes as well.  We will post relevant information about this on our web site at:  http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/howtohelp.html

Yours in the Light,

Doug Smith, Clerk

	P.O. Box 118 McLean, VA  22101	Phone    (703) 442-8394 E-mail    langleyhill-owner@yahoogroups.com Web site http://quaker.org/langleyhill

Minute approved 1/15/06

Langley Hill Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends will sponsor visit to Members of Congress representing our membership to ask them to: 

(1)   Work to have Coalition Forces in Iraq release the names and locations of all detainees in their custody and to inform those in detention of the charges against them. 

(2)   Work to allow visitation by the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent with all prisoners in Coalition detention sites. 

The Meeting will urge all U.S. Quakers to communicate personally with their Members of Congress for the same purpose. 

The Meeting will also ask the Iraqi Government to extend these same rights to those being held by them. 

In communicating with others, we should emphasize the spiritual basis of our concern, and communicate with empathy for families who do not know the whereabouts or safety of their loved ones. This action helps us continue the work of Tom Fox.  

Useful links:

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Main Page

How to contact your member of Congress: (http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/ )

FCNL's Grassroots Toolkit ( http://www.fcnl.org/action/toolkit.htm )

FCNL's page on Iraq

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Main Page

CPT in Iraq