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Along with American peacemaker Tom Fox, the three were held outside Baghdad by a group calling itself the Swords of the Righteous Brigade.

Fox was separated from the group, and found slain in early March.Loney said yesterday that it has taken him time to realize he emerged from captivity not quite the same person."When we were released, I was sure I could jump right back into ordinary life," Loney explained.

"That's what I wanted the most.

But I'm afraid, no such luck.

I'm learning the hard way that I need to take things slowly, a little at a time in eye- drop quantities."It was Loney's partner, Dan Hunt, who finally began to reveal the brutal toll of the pair's long separation."On the day that James disappeared, I had to disappear too.

That was a very painful thing in my life, painful because not being seen is so very hard," he said.In a wavering voice, Hunt said the decision to cloister himself to conceal his and Loney's homosexuality was difficult, but "unquestionably right."Hunt said Loney is "deeply alive" and that the pair have a "rich" life together i...

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