By Anita David
Christian Peacemaker Teams

Last Monday, after a brief interview with a family, Greg and I went on a failed quest to obtain information on a disappeared man.

Today, Will and I return to the office of a small human rights organization for our second meeting with the mother and father of the man. The father carries the shopping bag holding copies of documents identifying his son. Will and I ask the parents to try to recreate the order in which they conducted their search. Their list:

Christian Peacemaker Teams

Details: On 25 June, 2005 in the village of Al-Shakh Hadid U.S. Marines staged a house raid on the home of Abdul-Hadi Al-Sumaida. His son, Mohammed, who is also the cousin to the current Ambassador from Iraq to the United Nations, Samir Sumaida’ie, let the Marines into the house. They asked him if the family had any weapons and he took them upstairs to show them the rifle owned by the family. Later the rest of the family was forced to go outside. After the Marines left the family discovered the body of Mohammed upstairs with a single bullet wound in the neck.

Action: Below is a sample letter you can use. Write, call or email your senator or representative letting them know you want a full investigation of this matter by the Senate and House Armed Services Committee. Let them know you want the many other cases of killings during house raids documented by human rights organizations in Iraq investigated as well. Let them know that killing innocent people will only fuel the insurgency in Iraq.

Additional Information: Use the following links for more information on this matter.

Iraq envoy accuses US of killing (BBC)
Or Ambassador says Marines killed his kin (San Francisco Chronicle)