By LILA GUTERMAN
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Thursday, January 27, 2005

When more than 200,000 people died in a tsunami caused by an Asian earthquake in December, the immediate reaction in the United States was an outpouring of grief and philanthropy, prompted by extensive coverage in the news media.

Two months earlier, the reaction in the United States to news of another large-scale human tragedy was much quieter. In late October, a study was published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, concluding that about 100,000 civilians had been killed in Iraq since it was invaded by a United States-led coalition in March 2003. On the eve of a contentious presidential election — fought in part over U.S. policy on Iraq — many American newspapers and television news programs ignored the study or buried reports about it far from the top headlines.

By Peggy Gish

I saw something different in the faces of the women at the women’s wedding party in Kerbala. Their eyes were open and welcoming, ready to risk, and ready to see how much alike we are.

In Baghdad, so many eyes were heavy and tense with worry, or averted out of fear or suspicion. Even among our long-time Iraqi friends, the strain was evident. While trying to be sensitive to those who no longer feel safe to relate to us, we found ourselves pulling back from others, not wanting to put them is danger.

By Dahr Jamail

My friend from Baquba visited me yesterday. He brought the usual giant lunch of home cooked food he always brings when he comes to see me. I’m still eating it, actually. I had it again for dinner tonight. Ah, the typical Iraqi meal.

He owns four large tents, and rents them to people in his city to use at funeral wakes, marriage parties, tribal negotiation meetings and to cover gardens, among other things.

During the Anglo-American invasion of his country back in the spring of 2003, when refugees from Baghdad sought shelter from the falling bombs, many of the families inundated his city. After his house was filled with refugees, he let others use his tents, for free of course.

Refugees from Fallujah are using them now.

Kevin Benderman is a mechanic who is trained to fix Bradley armored vehicles. On December 20, 2004, he applied for conscientious objector status. Yesterday he made time to talk with us about his decision.

The following is the interview conducted by Omar Khan, editor and ‘forum’ manager of www.dahrjamailiraq.com.

Omar Khan: Kindly tell us your name and a little about your background—your age, where you live, where you were born and raised, where you went to school, things of that sort.

Kevin Benderman: My name is Kevin Mitchell Benderman. Currently I’m living in Hinesville, Georgia, with my wife, Monica, and my stepson Ryan. I was born in Alabama. I was raised between there and Tennessee. I’ve gone to various schools, and I’m currently studying Criminal Justice out of Ashworth College for a Bachelor’s Degree.

OK: A Thursday, January 13 CNN article whose subtitle tells of your “claim” that others “just don’t know how bad it is.” But that article gives none of your or any other observations of how bad it is. Can you take a few moments to tell us something about how bad it is?

KB: The things that I have seen in the war zone that I’ve been to—and I am referring to this as all war, because my father told me about things he saw during World War II, and I’ve talked to Vietnam War veterans, I’ve talked to Korean War veterans, and they’ve all told me similar things that they’ve seen. And that is how peoples homes are destroyed. That’s how people are destroyed. And just how insane, really, the entire thing is. War destroys everything in its path. It’s the most destructive force on the planet that mankind has come up with, I can tell you that.

By Dahr Jamail

Kidnapping has become the crime of choice amongst Iraqi criminal gangs. With 70% unemployment in “liberated” Iraq, crime is running rampant, with organized crime enjoying a free hand amidst the terrible security situation.

The families of the kidnapped are at times forced to pay up to several million dollars ransom—unless they want to receive pieces of their loved ones, or even their dead bodies.

While media attention has focused heavily on the kidnapping of Westerners, the kidnapping of Iraqis, in particular Iraqi women, is much more common.

As far back as July 2003, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that “the poor security situation in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities is causing women and girls to severely restrict their movements for fear of rape and abduction.”