March 8 - March 16
by Sheila Provencher
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Baghdad, Iraq

Monday, March 8:

ABU HISHMA

The first “vigil on the road.” While Sheila and Stewart attended a meeting between local lawyers and military officials in nearby Balad, Peggy, Cliff, Le Anne, and Matthew went to the village of Abu Hishma, a razor-wire-surrounded village where some of the campaign’s detainees and families are from. It is a small village, and the team had no translator, so they went on somewhat of a wild goose chase at first, trying to get to the vigil site, a bomb crater in a farmer’s field. It was not to be! They did go to Fayel’s house — Fayel is the father of Qusay, who has been in prison for more than 4 months. Fayel welcomed everyone, gave them tea, and was delighted to receive the poster-sized picture of his son, which the team has held for days in Tahrir Square. He also indicated that he had seen Qusay’s picture (as part of the vigil) on Iranian TV — perhaps from the media coverage the vigil received on Feb. 26. This gave him great encouragement, as did the stories of people in North America and other countries who are fasting, praying, and letter-writing on Qusay’s behalf.

The team ended up traveling to the center of town, where they were joined by crowds of children and adults, chanting “La ilaha illa’Allah” (there is no God but God). Thus the vigil became an impromptu march toward the checkpoint entrance of the town. Towards the end, ICDC (Iraq Civil Defense Corps) officers stopped the march, but posed for pictures and pretty much joined the revelry in the ways they could!

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Tuesday, March 9:

ABU SIFA

The village of Abu Sifa is home to about 80 families, and nearly that many men were detained from the village at one time. It is peopled now by women and children and the few men who were either not taken or who have been released. The villagers were not clear that we were coming, so again this vigil was quite different from the busy hours in Tahrir Square, Baghdad. As usual, the people welcomed us with great warmth. Hania and her neices met the van and walked us down the dirt road to a destroyed house, where they and other women and children joined us, holding signs and pictures of their loved ones. The walls were pockmarked with bullet holes and the entire second floor was collapsed and exposed to the elements.

A 15-year-old boy named Muhammad approached. He had been released 10 days ago, after spending time in Abu Ghraib and in the youth detention facility in Baghdad. He told his story in detail to Matthew, Cliff, Peggy, and Jane, while I (Sheila) played with the children nearby. Almost all of the little ones had fathers in Abu Ghraib. Those few who were lucky enough to have a father in the village nonetheless missed uncles, cousins, and brothers who were imprisoned. They looked close to tears as the adult women told me these stories, but they still managed to laugh with delight at simple games and “Itsy-Bitsy Spider.”

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Thursday, March 11

A woman came to the vigil today with a small photo of her 18-year-old son. According to her account, with her own eyes she saw US soldiers take her son away when, on the street, he gave a “thumbs down” sign to a passing convoy. He is now in Abu Ghraib prison. She wept as she talked to Peggy, and she asked for help. Insha’Allah, she will come with us when we take the vigil to Abu Ghraib prison on April 7th.

Azmar, a 40-ish intellectual, stopped to talk for more than a half-hour. He shared many things (including that he plays the electric guitar!) �- but emphasized up front that he didn’t think that the vigil and fast would do any good, that we could not change policies. Also, he said that he was very glad the US had invaded, that the horrible bombing was worth it, and that the first days when Saddam was gone were the best days of his life. He is more disillusioned about the current situation, but still feels that the war was right, and that we can do very little to change any problems nonviolently.

OK — maybe we cannot change policies as if we had a magic wand. But maybe we can be involved in changing hearts -� ALL of our hearts, I tried to express. Azmar himself shared many stories that ultimately pointed to this sort of transformation of heart, which is the best result anyone can hope for, really. He shared that after September 11th, he read an article from the US that was entitled “Why do They Hate Us?” He said to me, “I’ll tell you why people hate America �- because of the foreign policy!” And he said that for a long time he hated not only America, but Americans. However, when the soldiers first invaded Baghdad, Azmar spoke one-on-one with a number of soldiers. He found them to be very friendly — they let him sit in the tanks, even in the driver’s seat! “They showed me pictures of their families, saying ‘this is my daughter, this is my wife, this is my father, this is my mother.’ And suddenly I realized that they are real people, human beings, and I no longer hated them.” While as a pacifist it is painful to think that such human connection happened at the expense of all the people who died under bombs and who die in the prisons today, Azmar’s transformation and realization of the soldiers as human beings IS at the heart of peacemaking. How would we ever send young soldiers off to war if we really deeply realized they were human beings sent to kill other human beings? We would all have to go ourselves, nonviolently.

Peggy today encountered a great number of people who expressed pain and anger, and who asked the question, “Where were you when Saddam was killing us? You, and the Arab nations, and the whole world abandoned us!” Peggy said later that she decided to respond very consciously -� “I decided to try, instead of becoming defensive or upset, to try to listen and acknowledge the pain and anger. I just kept saying, ‘I’m sorry. We failed you, we failed your people during that time.’ They generally just kept expressing anger. But sometimes, they would calm and we would talk in a more gentle way. The people have not been able to publicly express their anger for 35 years, and it was good that I could listen to them.”

Another man said, “It is our fault, not yours. We did nothing when Saddam did this to us. So, now we must work, we must try to make it better!”

Haider was sad that Jim has left to go back to Canada. Soldiers drove past three times, and took pictures. Jane waved to them and they waved back! Cliff talked to many people who were asking about compensation for goods confiscated or damaged during house raids. One man showed us his Abu Ghraib prison ID bracelet and told stories of his time in detention. We heard that 400 prisoners were recently released from Abu Ghraib.

Fasting and standing vigil . . . it creates space, emptiness once filled by food and activity. The space now is filled with people, feeling, expression . . . uncovering and sharing so much of what has happened in the past painful years. Insha’Allah, it is all part of the healing process.

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Friday, March 12

Very hot today — the sun beats down into our eyes at the noon hour, and by the time two o’clock rolls around, we are ready to collapse into the cab for the ride home! Because it is Friday, people are relaxed, and more families with children stop by. One little boy posed for a photo, standing holding one of the posters as his father proudly snapped the picture.

Azmar came back and talked to Matthew about electric guitar, among many other things! Another man read the signs and claimed that there were no prisoners in Baghdad -� Matthew said “I’ve been inside the prisons, they’re full!” The man, who never shared his name, finally admitted that he simply had no hope for the future -� “I was in prison in Iran, then I was released to Iraq and I found myself in prison in Iraq. Then I went to Germany, and I wound up in prison in Germany. Then I went to the US, and I found myself in prison in California. What kind of life is this? I have no hope.” Many people who are struggling with life in general come through Tahrir Square. It is one of the reasons many Iraqis warn us about the place �- “this is a bad neighborhood, you should be careful, many thieves,” etc. But this is all the more reason to be here. If for a few people we share hope �- share hope in each other, Iraqi and North American �- what more can we ask?

Cliff shared that for him it was an amazing day. “So many people came up to me, and at first they had such suspicion. But then, as I talked in my broken Arabic and they began to understand what we were doing, they changed and were so excited about it. They especially could not believe that Americans would come to Iraq to do this. Suspicion was transformed into delight. They became our advocates, and explained to all the other people crowding around, who we were and what we were doing.”

Everyday, we meet the people who ARE the hope for the future here in Iraq. When suspicion becomes delight and anger turns to dialogue, when doubt becomes friendship and isolation becomes communion, there is always hope.

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Saturday, March 13

Matthew, Cliff, Jane, and Peggy stood in vigil today. Hatham from the district of Abu Ghraib, who comes often, attended again today and helped with the pictures and banner. Three young boys also joined in, holding up the large laminated photos of detainees. A young man from Germany and his friend from Jordan also joined us for the entire vigil.

As we have come to expect, a number of interested and interesting people stopped to talk. One man from Basrah spoke with Cliff about his experience working with Northrup Grumman, a large US military contractor. This man had trained in San Antonio, Texas, and Long Beach, California. He asked a number of questions, trying to understand what we were doing. During the conversation, another man approached and shared the stories of his father and brother �- Saddam Hussein killed his brother and imprisoned his father for 20 years. Cliff acknowledged the oppression of Saddam’s regime, and expressed that CPT holds all families in our concern �- those who suffered under Saddam and those who suffer under occupation. We want to work so that such injustice does not happen again. In the end, the young man from Northrup Grumman said more than once to Cliff, “What you are doing is VERY important!”

Jane observed that there is a whole generation here (in this neighborhood at least) who does not know how to read. Although the older adults can read, many of the children and young men display great difficulty sounding out the words on the signs. Several simply decline the flyer with a hand wave and a smile to indicate that they cannot read. Ironically, on this very day Jane and Matthew also spoke with a man who has ideas about educational reform, and wanted to know how he could contact Paul Bremer or George Bush about his concerns.

Matthew and Peggy had quieter (or at least less intense!) days that they have experienced in the past. One man did ask the “where were you when Saddam . . . .” question, but he genuinely wanted to know. He continued his thoughts saying, “We had abuses under Saddam, now we have abuses under the Americans.” Peggy also talked to a number of Iraqi newspaper reporters.

It is troubling how many expressions of hopelessness we hear. Jane spoke to a man who seemed to have great heaviness in his heart as he asked, “Can you help me get my son out of prison? He is in Kirkuk.” Another asked, “Do you think this demonstration is going to do any good,” before answering himself by saying, “It’s a mess. No hope.” But in the end, an elderly man expressed a more universal vision, not only concerning this one action, but ALL actions: “You have to have God in your heart to do any good. You need prayer, and careful discernment.” May this be so for all of us, for all people. This is our prayer today.

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Tuesday, March 16

KERBALA

Kerbala, one of the great holy cities of Iraq. Home to a Shi’a majority. And also the site of the recent devastating suicide bombings.

Kerbala reveals the truth to those who claim that the detainee problem is just a Sunni problem, that the people in the prisons are the “bad guys” from Tikrit, Ramadi, and Fallujah. On the first day of the invasion of Kerbala (April 5), a secondary school teacher named Mr. Hasain Al-Ibrihimi gathered with some friends and colleagues to form the Iraqi Human Rights Watch. They have been documenting and responding to human rights abuses under the occupation ever since. Especially troubling are the reports of young men being taken from their homes and detained for months with no clear charges. Confiscated property, ruined houses, and mourning wives and children are left in the wake of these arrests.

CPT brought the Fast for Justice and Healing to Kerbala today -� not knowing what to expect. Imagine our joy when we saw Mr. Hasain and dozens of people from Iraqi Human Rights Watch, prepared with podium, banners, speeches, carpets on the pavement, and boundless energy. Ahmed Fakhr al-Dein Zeni’s four small children were there, holding posters asking for the return of their father. Genia Muhammad Ali, a 65-year-old widow whose two sons and nephew were detained last summer, sat in a wheelchair and wept as she told her story. She still does not know the charges against her sons.

We all stood on a plaza between the two holy shrines that commemorate the deaths of early Shi’a martyrs Hussein and Abbas. Scores of people stopped and listened to readings from the Qu’ran (deliberately chosen to emphasize the brotherhood of Christians and Muslims), and speeches about the necessity for human rights for detainees. One person also read a speech criticizing elements from the new constitution -� namely, the forced inclusion of women in government, and the veto power of the minority. Others joined the demonstration, holding signs and pictures. At the end of the time, as the crowd was breaking up, the four children of Ahmed Fakr al-Dein Zeni suddenly burst into tears. I could not help but wonder �- did they somehow feel that if they took this stand, their father would come back? It is painful to imagine how they might feel.

Later, Husain shared his thoughts with us about the day, democracy in Iraq, and his hopes for the future. “Iraqis need more education for democracy,” he said. “The people there, they found it hard to believe that you as Americans could speak against the American government policies. For 35 years of dictatorship -� if you saw a demonstration like this against Saddam, everyone would be killed, immediately. So it will take a long time for the people to overcome that fear.” But he is so positive, and excited for the challenge ahead. Some of his students saw him at the demonstration, and asked why he did not tell them about it, they want to join! He also shared many stories of young people who responded to last spring’s crisis, especially concerning the thousands of articles of unexploded ordnance littering Kerbala. The military authorities did not respond to their repeated requests for help to clear the bombs, so they started doing it themselves. Over time, one young man removed hundreds of bombs. Finally one evening, he responded to a primary school headmaster’s request to take care of a cluster bomb -� school was supposed to start the next day and the children would be in danger. The bomb exploded, killing him instantly. Such are the present martyrs of Kerbala.

Remembering Hasain’s energetic words to the crowd earlier �- “These people (CPT) come from very far away to help us, so we must help ourselves!” �- I trust that he and the people in Kerbala will continue to work, teach, and plant seeds of hope for years to come.

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Sheila Provencher
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Baghdad, Iraq
sheila_prov@hotmail.com