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:

the local police station, a judge to obtain an official announcement their son is missing, the Iraqi Civilian Defense Center which directed them to Adhamiyya Palace (detention center), Adhamiyya Palace, an American Army patrol investigating a dead body in their neighborhood, the American military base at Kadimiyya, the brother of the missing man went to Bucca Prison in southern Iraq, the Iraqi Assistance Center, an unnamed contact who referred them to the morgue, twice to the morgue. They searched hospitals, but we didn’t list them.

At each place they were told someone would be in touch with them if their son was found.

Their frustration grows as they recall and try to put in order each event. We take a break. We read back our notes to them and slowly, slowly we arrive at order. Pepsis are brought. The director of the organization makes arrangements for a protest at the Ministry of Human Rights on the following Sunday. We assure them we will find the Ministries in charge of Iraqi police and army. They leave looking calm, relieved. They express such gratitude that I feel embarrassed/helpless.

The search they conducted covered nearly every level of civilian and military authority - American military, Iraqi military, Iraqi police. Going to Bucca is taking a great risk. The 600 mile road between Baghdad and Bucca is dangerous. It is impossible to enter a prison without a prisoner id number. We’ve been told you cannot obtain the number at a prison. The brother stood in line in the southern Iraq sun with hundreds of others waiting for a ticket he could not get. About searching in a morgue for a son, I can say nothing.

The next day, Greg and I visit a friend at the Ministry of Human Rights to learn where prisoner lists are kept for Iraqis detained by the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi National Guard. Our friend tells us to go to the Ministries of Interior and Justice respectively. No one shares information.

That night:

Greg and I are coming home from the ice cream shop when we see two soldiers running down the street. We see another three down another block. Later the five young soldiers come down our street and three of us step outside to chat. They conducted a house raid but it amounted to nothing. They are surprised by our presence here, can’t believe we would volunteer to be here. When they ask me why I am here I “hmm” for a moment and one of them answers in a soft voice: it must be a calling. I am speechless. My other teammates talk to a fourth soldier who is planning to be home in two weeks to celebrate a first birthday with his son.

God speed.

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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. To learn more about CPT, please visit www.cpt.org. Photos of CPT projects may be viewed at www.cpt.org/gallery