Contact: Ceylon Mooney, Stephanie Schaudel
773.784.8065
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Experiences of Iraq Peace Team members living in Iraq during the months leading up to "Operation: Shock and Awe" and throughout the US bombing, invasion and current occupation confirm the simple adage: "Where you stand determines what you see."

On May 10, 2003, in the desperately poor Al Tharwa district in Baghdad, three generations of one family spoke with Caiohme Butterly, an Iraq Peace Team delegate, about the uncertainty and apprehension they now face: "It is like waking up from an operation," said Dr. Karim. "There is pain, and fear, and apprehension dulled a little by the anesthetic, but still there. It is pure, and complete confusion, we feel we are dreaming, waking up from one nightmare, the previous regime, perhaps to descend into another."

His mother agrees, "Oil is our curse. It brought us nothing but tragedy under Saddam. It will bring us nothing under the Americans. They should not have subjected us to another war."

Voices in the Wilderness continues to call for an end to economic sanctions on Iraq and encourages Americans and Iraqis to resist the umbrella of military violence, occupation, corporate control, and foreign manufactured leadership that Iraqis have been told by the United States administration is their "liberation."

The Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad can be contacted directly for interviews, reports for publication and the latest news on the occupation of Iraq. Please see the Iraq Peace Team website or contact IPT member Ramzi Kysia: (rrkysia@yahoo.com).

To contact IPT members who just returned from Iraq call us at 773.784.8065.