Ed Kinane
Voices in The Wilderness
October 8, 2003
Baghdad

HOME SWEET HOME

My clock says 6am when I get up this morning. I spend the next hour cleaning up the place � mostly the kitchen where dishes are piled high. Yesterday we had no water � broken pump. Now all’s well. We’ll be able to flush toilets, shower, do laundry, wash dishes and drink to our heart’s content. We’ve had such good luck with water since I arrived here…and we’re so incredibly dependent on that versatile, luscious, magical stuff.

My clock, as it turns out, was a couple hours fast. That explains why it was dark then and why it’s still dark now. But it is a relief to be up when the house is quiet and guest-free. Neville, of course, is up, but in these pre-dawn hours he’s as quiet as a church mouse.

Yesterday I didn’t get to make any diary entry. Our reflection yesterday consisted in large part of my reading the fundraising letter Cynthia and I have written for the Syracuse Peace Council. SPC’s focus on Iraq has been so steady for the past year (at least). Cynthia read aloud the SPC Statement of Purpose � a statement that deserves to be much better known.

The doorbell ringing interrupted our reflection at least twice. This was before 8am and was just the beginning of a succession of visitors throughout the day and into the evening. How rich this is! And how tiring! When I try to remember everyone who visited yesterday, my mind falters. Each of us on the team develops tactics for finding time and space to be alone. Fortunately we do have various spaces in the house where we can bring guests or where we can hide out. But mostly the talk is around the kitchen table � our household pivot. So if you want a bite to eat or a glass of refrigerated water, you’re likely to get caught up in the swirl.

A quiet meal together as a team virtually never happens. I’m not sure it can be fairly said that we are a “team.” We’re more a cluster of individual activists who know some, but not necessarily much, of what each other is doing. We frequently pair up to go somewhere, but just as often we go out on our own. While we have an identity, we don’t have a mission. Except of course the broad (and imperative) mission of listening to and relaying home the voices of Iraqis we encounter.

There’s no cooking or other job rotation. There’s no coordination. There’s no long-term plan. (Hell, there’s no medium- or short-term plan either.) There’s no accountability. And yet it does seem to “work.” It certainly helps that we’re all seasoned activists. We pretty much get along with each other and value each other’s company. We’re respectful of each other’s time and space.

It’s not an optimal situation, at least in the long-term. But, except for Michael and perhaps Ewa � our two most individualistic housemates, we’re each here only a short time longer. Neville leaves at the end of October. Cynthia and I fly home from Amman November 9. Cathy’s ticket home is in mid-November. Not only must we ponder the destiny of this project, but also that of this house. Given that the rent is paid up till February, there’s very little overhead. As far as I know we don’t even have utility bills. The house is a terrific asset…with all the temporary bed space, it would be ideal for delegations. But the house takes maintenance energy. And security energy. Nor is the house without its problematic legacies.

Yes, the house has its drawbacks and limitations. But what housing situation doesn’t? Living here in this house and in Karrada is certainly a much cheaper, richer, social and more Iraqi-centric experience than lodging at the Al Fanar.
It would be wonderful if we had worthy successors. Ideally VITW could find a couple, perhaps an older couple, who would be willing to be house parents for an extended time. They could be the nucleus of a team. But where are they to come from? They probably should be VITW folks who already have some experience with Iraq. Of course, Arabic language proficiency would be a major plus, tho not a prerequisite.

Our successors wouldn’t have to be VITW folk. I think we’d be willing to consider another team or project (e.g. Christian Peacemakers Teams) taking over the house. It is essential that peace, justice and environmental activists be here documenting the Occupation. Even if VITW doesn’t continue here, it can facilitate the work of others. And of course individual Voices folks can work under other hats.

This morning James and Renato, film students from Illinois, filmed a long joint interview with Cynthia, Neville and me. I dress in my VITW “War is not the answer” T-shirt. US military veterans, J&R had spent a week filming with the CPA before seeking us out. James says the liaison officer who escorted them around this sector knows of us and would be interested in meeting. His mission seems to be of the “hearts and minds” variety, i.e. making the Occupation palatable. A mission I’m not comfortable furthering.

We tell J&R that we would not allow armed or uniformed soldiers here at the house. Cynthia suggests we could meet in a neutral place. I suggest they show the officer our interview. The NGO guidelines Rick mentioned at our meeting Sunday discourage contact with the military. Being seen with the occupying military could jeopardize any credibility an NGO might have among Iraqis. It could well be a security issue. In occupied Iraq, Iraqi translators working with the military are “fair game.”

Other guests today include:
1. Wisam, a journalist on his way out to the CPA for a press conference with General Sanchez. We brainstorm some questions for the General.
2. Nancy, an entrepreneur from Vermont with a consulting business in Amman. She’s a friend of Voices who came into Iraq with me last February. Nancy has a passion for this country and its people. She spends as much time as possible here. She’s working on helping Iraqis get contracts from the CPA. Because Iraqis have so little access to the CPA, Nancy goes there and represents them: “rent-a-whitey.”
3. Juneed, raised in Mauritious, a former Rhodes Scholar (I think) and multi-lingual journalist from Montreal, who was with Voices at the Al Fanar during the invasion. We drove out to Amman together in April.
4. Young women from downstairs: they are using our kitchen for preparing a meal for the downstairs journos.

GILGAMESH
These days I’ve been reading Gilgamesh, a verse narrative translated by Herbert Mason, Mentor, 1970, 126 pp. This Sumerian epic dates at least as far back as 2000 BC, before Homer and the Old Testament. The text is based on tablets found in Nineveh (now Mosul). Besides its antiquity, Gilgamesh’s fame rests on the beauty of the story, an exploration of friendship and mourning. It’s about the divine and the bestial becoming human.

In the Judeo-Christian world Gilgamesh resonates because it includes a familiar story:
“…tear down your house
And build a ship. Abandon your possessions
And the works that you find beautiful and crave
And save your life instead. Into the ship
Bring the seed of all the living creatures.
….
And seed of living animals we put
In it. My family then moved inside
And all who wanted to be with us there:
The game of the field, the goats of the Steppe
….
…When the seventh day
Came, the flood subsided from its slaughter
Like hair drawn slowly back
From a tormented face.
….

This land of Gilgamesh has been beset by disaster and barbarians many times. The recent invasion is only the latest episode.