takers in Iraq but urged Christians to pray for those still in the hands of Islamic militants, reports said Wednesday June 9. He spoke as seven Turkish citizens were kidnapped in Iraq Tuesday, June 8, with their captives claiming the men were being held because they worked for the U.S, as part of ongoing attacks against foreigners.
In addition "two of my friends are still missing — Timothy Bell and William Bradley. And the soldier, Matt Maupin, is still over there. We haven’t heard a thing from them," Hamill said of the others who are believed to be captives. "There are still soldiers dying over there every day and are being wounded. Pray for all them. We need to pray for medical teams that are working on them, that we can get these guys back and get the medical attention they need and get them back with their families."
The news overshadowed reports that three Italian security guards rescued by American special forces returned to Italy Wednesday amid reported emotional scenes after nearly two months in captivity. A fourth hostage was shot dead on April 14 after Italy rejected demands that its troops leave Iraq, adding to concern among non foreign business people and aid workers, including Christians.
However Hamil made clear that at the end God is in control. "I’ve been a Christian all my life, but it’s hard to say exactly if you can put everything in God’s hands unless it just comes down to that fact," former hostage Hamill, 44, told Baptist Press (BP) news agency. "That’s what happened to me on the deal with being captured. I didn’t have anybody else to put it in, and I laid it in God’s hands."
Hamill, who works for the Halliburton Corp. subsidiary KBR, was among seven U.S. contractors who disappeared after an attack on their fuel convoy on April 9. The bodies of four others were later found. Two military men in the group also vanished; one was later found dead, and the other, Pfc. Keith M. Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, remains missing.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Hamill spent 23 days in captivity, enduring surgery by Iraqis with only local anesthesia on his wounded arm. The truck driver from Macon, Miss., then escaped after days of prayers on May 2, and was eventually rescued by U.S. troops. "I prayed to Him daily. I never did have any pain with my arm. That was one thing that amazed me because I prayed He’d ease up as much pain as He could," Hamill said. "I could stand a lot if I needed to, but I prayed He’d just do what He could to ease up the pain. The whole time I was there I never did have any pain with it," he told BP.
After a previous failed attempt and being moved several times after that incident, he looked out one day and saw U.S.humvees moving along with soldiers on foot. After breaking free, he ran to meet them and was safe at last. Psalm 23:4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil," is the verse Hamill clung to while captive, and it calmed his fears, he.said
"I prayed that every day," BP quoted him as saying. "I knew I was in a situation where anyone could be afraid, and for some reason I never was afraid. I knew He was there with me and I knew He was going to be there to protect me. I looked back on the Book of Job. He told Satan he could do whatever he wanted to with [Job] to try to change his faith, but He said he couldn’t kill him. I think that’s kind of what my situation was. The devil had me, but He wasn’t going to let him kill me. He got me through this situation and brought me home."
LACK OF SECURITY
Yet the hostage crisis in the country has underscored the lack of security in Iraq, where guerrillas killed 12 members of an Iraqi security force entrusted with pacifying Falluja, west of Baghdad. In addition saboteurs blew up a northern oil pipeline, forcing Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to say Wednesday, June 9, that his country will need foreign troops to fight guerrillas even after a U.S.-led occupation formally ends on June 30 in line with a U.N. resolution adopted unanimously overnight.
But Allawi said reporters foreign troops would not act without the consent of his government and would be asked to leave as soon as Iraqi forces were ready to deal with security, the Reuters news agency reported. "The resolution is very clear that once Iraq stands on its feet then we will ask the multinational forces to leave Iraq," Allawi was quoted as saying. "The multinational forces will not act except with the full agreement of the Iraqi government," he added in a move expected to raise fears that the situation may become more difficult for foreigners, including missionary workers, to operate.
Representatives of Iraqi Christians, who form a minority in the country, say an increasing number of Christian families are already leaving the country ahead of the June 30 transfer of power, amid fears that Iraq will be turned into an autocratic Islamic statement, something Washington has been eager to avoid.
PRAYING FOR IRAQ
Southern Baptist Hamill said it was important to pray for the Iraqi people, that they would come to understand that Americans are there to make life better for them, not to harm them. "Maybe one day they’ll realize that," he said, according to BP. He added he wants to return to Iraq to finish the work he set out to do, after consultation with his family, as he believed in the vision of President George W. Bush.
For now, Hamill is grateful for the lessons he has learned, as he awaits to recover from his ordeal.
"My life has been changed. I always wondered how I could be a born-again Christian. I didn’t have a real life-changing experience until this," he told BP. "I guess when something like this happens, you have to put it completely in the Lord’s hands. I had no one else. I couldn’t plead with these people that had me because I knew they weren’t going to do anything, and I knew that I couldn’t do anything. I knew that it had to be the Lord’s will, and His will was done," he reportedly said.
