By Cathy Breen
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad

How upside down the world is. We have no telephone service here in our neighborhood. Should an accident occur, should someone need to talk urgently to a loved one or with someone across town, it is impossible to communicate. And yet here I sit writing at an Internet center near to our apartment. The people here are very kind to us, offering help whenever needed.

Yesterday my bag went missing in the early morning–everything dear to me gone in a moment! Except, thanks be to God, my passport and ticket. My calendar, notebook, phone numbers, digital camera, house key to apartment, ID, sunglasses–things I can’t do without–I am suddenly without. My only hope at their reappearing is that Ewa, who was on her way out to the south for a few days, may have grabbed my bag by mistake. Time will tell, but I can see by the effect this has had on me that there is a lesson in this.

Ed Kinane
Voices in The Wilderness

Is it worthwhile for us to be here in Iraq? Is it worth the time, the cost, the risk?

I believe a US peace presence in Iraq is a must during the US invasion/occupation. We must not avert our gaze from this illegal, immoral, brutal and thieving war.

We need to keep tabs on the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority]. The CPA - the occupation - is a structure of violence both direct and systemic. Hopefully the presence of peace activists, if only in some small way, helps restrain CPA violence and the lies that it tells about such violence.

Ed Kinane
Voices in The Wilderness
Baghdad
September 18, 2003

UN NGO MEETING
This morning Cathy and I head out to the UN compound for a weekly NGO meeting–our first appearance. About 30 of us crowd into an air-conditioned tent. The featured presentation is by Jean Luc on security. While in the UN compound, if bullets begin flying, head for the bunkers. If there’s a mortar attack, lie on the ground.

Regarding Iraq as a whole, the south is quiet. Though there are lots of car-jacking’s on the Kut/Basra road–a road we travelled not so long ago. Although there are ransom kidnappings, so far none have involved expats. (Around the kitchen table a few days ago we all agreed that we would not want ransoms paid if we were kidnapped.)

Things are hot in Mosul. A huge CPA troop presence there. Lots of IED [improvised explosive device] attacks in the cities near Baghdad, including attacks on civilian services. In Fallujah there are anti-personnel mines. The resistance is stepping up in preparedness and organization.

Ed Kinane
Voices in The Wilderness
Baghdad
September 21, 2003

SEEKING PROFESSOR DR. ALIM

At 10a.m. Cathy and I set out with Mr. Waddah in his old car for the Al-Mustansirya University’s College of Medicine. Mr. Waddah has long been associated with Voices in the Wilderness and Iraq Peace Team. Having been attached to the Iraqi UN delegation, he lived in NYC for a couple years back in the nineties. Being linked to the ancient regime as a former government minder, these days Mr. Waddah is “between things” and most willing to be at our disposal.

At the medical college we learn that Dr. Alim Yaqoub is out of town and won’t be back until tonight. This isn’t the first time Cathy and Mr. Waddah have tried to find him. Cathy is particularly interested in linking up with him to discuss the depleted uranium issue in hopes of helping to facilitate research on the ground here. She has correspondence from medical people in the States who think it would be good if Dr. Alim could attend an international conference on DU in late October in Germany.

At the medical college we meet Dr. Jamal Rasheed who provides us with the April and July 2003 issues of the Iraqi Journal of Community Medicine quarterly [volumes 16 (2 &3)] . Dr. Alim is on the board of editors of the April issue and is the editor-in-chief of the July issue. Most of the articles are in English. Given the givens, I’m pretty impressed that this community of medical folks has managed to publish these publications. I look forward to checking out some of the articles. Cathy and Mr. Waddah will try to catch up with Dr. Alim tomorrow.

By Cathy Breen
Voices in the Wilderness
September 21 and 22, 2003
Baghdad

Dear Friends,

Today I went to the hospital to see Joaan.

Ed and I had gone the day before yesterday in the afternoon to find her sitting on the side of her bed with a plate of fish next to her. Her mother and aunt were with her, and they received us warmly. I drew encouragement to see that she was eating, and apologized for interrupting her meal. She assured us she was finished and excused herself to walk with her mother the few steps to the bathroom to wash her hands. Her movements were slow and gracious despite her weakened condition. She seemed so “stately” given her height and her thinness.

I had brought a few snapshots along of family and friends and asked her if she’d like to see them. Included among them was a snapshot I’d taken last year in Iraq of the place where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers unite. She told me how to say the names of these rivers in Arabic. Before we left I told her how many people in the United States were praying for her, sending their love and wishing for her to get well. Little did Ed and I suspect as we said goodbye that we wouldn’t see her again.