Jeff Leys
Christian Peacemaker Team
Baghdad

Jeff Leys traveled to Iraq before the war with the Iraq Peace Team and is in Iraq now with the Christian Peacemaker Team.

Three long days are coming a conclusion and I can finally grab a little bit of time to reflect on my experiences here in Iraq, rather than simply pounding out a basic email update.

One thing that is particularly striking to me is the air of normalcy with which Iraqi people are going about their everyday lives. It is the same air of normalcy which I experienced while here in February of this year with Voices in the Wilderness. Then it was an air of trying to carry on with their lives even as the US prepared to unleash shock- and-awe upon them. Now it seems to be trying to carry on with life even as the occupation continues without improvements in their material living conditions and as the insurgent war continues. It is an air of normalcy in abnormal times.

I continue to be amazed at the warmth and hospitality of Iraqi people. In my limited time walking the streets here, I’ve not felt any animosity directed towards me nor any hostility directed towards me. Just a couple of examples will suffice in this regard.

This morning we went to visit the Organization for Human Rights, an Iraqi human rights organization with branches in 14 parts of the country. Its Baghdad office is located to the Ministry of Justice building. As with most such buildings, guards are stationed outside the building behind concertina razor wire and sandbags and are armed with Kalashnikov rifles-which many say are better than the M-16 in the US arsenal.

Kathleen of CPT approached one of the guards asking for permission to take a photo of the scene. I tentatively pulled my camera out of its bag and held it up for the soldiers stationed on the roof and behind the sandbags to see. They asked if I wanted to take their pictures. From the moment I said “yes” I realized that I had one problem. All the other guards starting coming out to me to ask me to take photos of them-and then to teach them how to use my camera so that one could take a photo of me with his buddies. Now my remaining problem is figuring out when I’ll have the time to get the photos developed and bring copies back to these men.

Now imagine the reaction you would have in the US if you walked up to a heavily armed guard at a secured government building and asked permission to take his photo.

The resiliency of Iraqi children continues to amaze me. While I’ve not had much time to wander the streets yet, I’ve me a number of children. As before, those I’ve met have warmly approached me-whether it is the two shy little girls standing nearby seeking attention or the many children who shout out “Hello Mister” as I walk by on the street.

There is also the family of children waving from their home. But these children, while displaying great warmth, as reflect the tragedy and crime of this war. Their home was bombed by the US during the war. Now the family has been forced to gather together cardboard to construct outer walls that were destroyed in the bombing and to erect inner walls to create room divisions within their homes.

But all is not well in Iraq these days. Our cab driver today spoke of how always, always there is a never ending traffic jam. You drive pass a gas station and the lines are inevitably several blocks long. Children, who in February might have been working as shoeshine boys, are now selling gasoline at the side of the streets.

There is still no operating phone service. To arrange a meeting with someone you have to walk to where you think they will be and hope they are there. If they are not present, you have to leave a message for them that you were there and want to see them. Hopefully, you’ll be there when they arrive to talk with you to set up a meeting. If not the walking message tag will continue indefinitely. Remember this is a city of 5 million people that covers a geographic area roughly equal to the Los Angeles area and, if people are traveling in a car, is locked up in traffic jams or Coalition roadblocks most of the time.

Despite the claims of the US occupying authority, water and electricity have not been restored to prewar levels. It’s not at all uncommon now to experience blackouts that last for hours on end. Most businesses along Karrada Street (the major street nearest to the Al Dar Hotel) have small generators to power their business when the electricity goes out. If not for the two generators at the Al Dar we would be living in darkness much of the time. Even if an area of the city which supposedly has better electricity supplies, the stated goal is to have the electricity on for three hours and off for three hours- and that’s a goal that’s still far from being reached.

And now for something truly frightening that we all must take action upon today. The Oil for Food Program run by the United Nations is now ended. This is the program under which Iraq was permitted to sell its oil under the sanctions regime, with the proceeds being used to purchase food. It is the method by which the vast majority of the population was able to survive as the government distributed food rations to the public. The rations were not even a subsistence level of nourishment, but it was food.

Now with the elimination of the Oil for Food program who knows what will happen to the rations. Over the decade of sanctions imposed by our government our country created a nation of people dependent upon the food rations for survival. Unemployment is rampant so there is no way for people to purchase food on which to survive. What will happen if the money generated by the sale of Iraqi oil goes to a private company? To the US Provisional Authority? To the puppet governing council? Will any of these agencies have the wisdom to use the proceeds from the sale of oil to pay for the continuation of the food ratinos program-or will the proceeds be used to line the pockets of the war profiteers.

The end of the food rations program could be as little as 30 days away- and if it is ended I fear the depths to which Iraqi society will fall. The perilous times which are now engulfing Iraqis will become catastrophic. And if we in the United States permit this to happen- then our country and our lives be damned.

The days are growing short. It us up to each of us to choose whether to go down the path of further death and destruction or to go down the path of forcing our government to relinquish control of Iraq to the Iraqi people. We can still choose a path of being collaborators with the Iraqi people as they rebuild their country, rather than being occupiers siphoning off the remaining wealth and dignity of the Iraqi people.

In Solidarity,
Jeff