Christian Peacemaker Teams

Sunday November 21, 2004

An acquaintance of the team called and shared his experience of the raid on Abu Hanifa mosque in Adumiya district by U.S. and Iraqi troops on Friday, November 19. He had been detained and subjected to questioning. During the questioning an Iraqi police officer burned his hand with a cigarette. A U. S. soldier standing nearby just laughed. Our acquaintance noted, “We resist the occupation with political means, not with violence.”

Cliff Kindy and Sheila Provencher attended a local church for worship in the evening, which turned out to include a memorial service for Margaret Hassan of CARE. Her family was present and the CPTers expressed CPT’s deep affection for Margaret and condolences on their loss.

Monday November 22, 2004

Kindy and Provencher went to the Residency Office of the Ministry of the Interior to follow up on their requests for temporary residency. They were each granted 3-month visa extensions. The employees of the Residency office shared that they found life in Iraq very difficult right now.

The acquaintance of the team who phoned on Sunday about his experience at Abu Hanifa mosque came to the apartment to give a full account of his experience. He showed the team his car that had been damaged during the raid. He had not been given a receipt for the damage although U.S. soldiers were aware of the damage at the time of the raid. He had repaired the vehicle at his own expense.

Tuesday November 23, 2004

The team noticed heavy jet traffic from 5:00 to 6:30 AM. They later learned the U.S. had bombed an area north of Baghdad. Two friends of the team came by to visit in the afternoon. Both are interested in the idea of an Iraq/Muslim peacemaker team. The friends and the team discussed the idea of having such a team be only Muslim, or whether it should be open to include people of all faiths.

This was the first day of focused prayer and action for Iraq. (For more details see the team’s website http://prayerandactionforiraq.blogspot.com) The team did a bread and water fast, and had an hour of focused prayer. Kindy and Provencher, as CPTers and as Indiana constituents, did the “action” part by writing a letter to Senator Lugar (R-IN) calling for re- allocation of funds to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure instead of to the military.

Wednesday November 24, 2004

Kindy and Maxine Nash went to the Ministry of Planning (MOP) to drop off the required reporting as part of the continuing process for retaining registration as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Iraq. They were asked to come back later in the week as the person they needed to see was not available. In the late afternoon Tom Fox and Provencher did an interview with a friend of the team who is a priest in a Catholic church. The friend noted that he felt that Iraqi Christians could act as a bridge between Muslim communities and western society. He also said that each individual must take responsibility to save Iraq. “Yes, it is dangerous to go to school, to leave one’s home. But we need courageous people who will return to the schools to teach, to save the schools, others to save the hospitals, others to save the government structures.”

Thursday November 25, 2004

The team entertained friends (North American and Iraqi) for Thanksgiving dinner. Conversation was largely centered on the upcoming elections. The three Iraqi friends had differing opinions about the process of the elections (i.e. how parties can actually get on the ballot legally), the wisdom of having the election in January or delaying for a period of time, and what exactly will be the outcome of the election. The Iraqis reminded the group that this election is only designed to choose representatives for the body that will draft the new constitution for the country.

In talking about the general situation in the country right now, one of the Iraqi friends who was especially dispirited noted, “There is not hope for my generation, but only for our children.”

The doors of the team apartment rattled a great deal about 5:00 PM indicating that a large bomb had gone off somewhere in the vicinity. The team heard more explosions later in the evening. Fox and Nash spent the night at the home of a friend of the team.

Friday November 26, 2004

The team heard a very loud explosion at around 10:30 AM and learned later that four people had been killed in the Green Zone by a mortar attack. On the way back from the friend’s house where they had stayed, Fox and Nash observed lines of cars waiting to get gas. Some of the lines were more than one mile long. Later, friends of the team indicated that the shortages were due to sabotage attacks on refineries and on pipelines.

An old friend and former translator of the team stopped by in the evening. He now works for an American company, most often in the Green Zone. He refuses to work in the more dangerous areas of the country. Two of his Iraqi co-workers were kidnapped recently. When the team asked him if he was going to vote in the election, he answered, “I’ve never had the right to vote. Why shouldn’t I vote? Of course I will vote, even if it is dangerous.” He noted that many Americans with whom he has contact complain about the electoral system in the U.S., and mentioned his awareness that other electoral systems are not perfect, either.

Saturday November 27, 2004

Fox and Provencher went back to the MOP to drop off the required report and pick up the registration certificate for CPT as an approved NGO working in Iraq. Kindy and Nash spent the morning working with the team translator making phone calls to make appointments and contacts with some team friends and supporters with whom the team hadn’t been in contact recently. They also made calls to former detainees who had, at the time of giving testimonies to the team, indicated they would be willing to talk with media. The team has received requests lately from media asking for contact with detainees. The team needed to make sure that these detainees would still be willing to talk with media now, due to the current security situation.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present in Iraq since October, 2002. Click here to learn more about CPT’s work. Click here to view photos of CPT’s project.