Mr Kember, 74, said in a statement: "I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my rescue."

He had been criticised by the British army's Chief of the General Staff, General Mike Jackson, for failing to publicly thank the soldiers who rescued him and his Canadian colleagues.

Kember was yesterday reunited with his wife Pat and one of their daughters at Heathrow airport. Sitting next to his wife in a hospitality lounge at Heathrow, Kember declined to talk about his experience in captivity in Iraq.

He said: "There is a real sense in which you are interviewing the wrong person."

And he added: "It is the ordinary people of Iraq that you should be talking to . . . the people who have suffered so much over many years and still await the stable and just society that they deserve."

Kember thanked those of many faiths who had appealed and prayed for his release and asked now to be left alone to reflect on his experiences.

Earlier it was claimed that the UK authorities promised the Kember family and his church that they would not attempt a rescue unless they could be reasonably confident that no one would be killed.

The Rev Bob Gardiner, of the Harrow Baptist Church, said: "We are happy to say thank you to all those who used their professional expertise, patience and restraint in the successful rescue of Norman, James and Harmeet on Thursday.

Neither the British foreign office or the ministry of defence would comment on whether any promises were made to Kember's family and friends about the nature of the rescue operation.

Kember, who spent 119 days in captivity, was freed in a multi-national military operation involving the SAS and other forces on Thursday.

Two Canadian fellow hostages, James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were freed at the same time as Kember.