By Greg Rollins
Christian Peacemaker Teams

Most Iraqis dislike the police and Iraqi National Guard (ING). Many people think they are nothing but thugs with guns. The police and ING drive up and down the streets (or sidewalks) shooting into the air and blasting their sirens and horns so that people will move out of their way. They abuse their power. People tell CPT that they insult and harass people at checkpoints, and arrest and beat innocent civilians.

by Greg Rollins
Christian Peacemaker Teams

I recently talked to a foreigner I know who lives in the Green Zone, Saddam’s old palace grounds in the centre of Baghdad. The Green Zone is about four kilometres long and two kilometres wide. It holds the biggest U.S. embassy in the world, the British embassy, along with several others, the Iraqi parliament and dozens of foreign organizations and contractors. The man I spoke to works for a telecommunications company. He said the Green Zone is like a prison. He wants to leave it and live else where in Baghdad but his company won’t let him.

Cantina And Concrete (Photo: CPT)

by Greg Rollins
Christian Peacemaker Teams

Last summer my teammate Max and I took one of our many walks down Abu Nawas St. Abu Nawas runs along side a park adjacent to the Tigris River. When the U.S. ousted Saddam, they closed off part of Abu Nawas to protect the Palestine/Sheraton hotels and several business offices. The U.S. Army occupied about seven blocks of Abu Nawas. Cantina wire, waste-high concrete barriers and multiple checkpoints choked and divided the road. Almost all the shops and homes in the area were closed. Only authorized vehicles were allowed on this part of the street. People who wanted to walk in the area were forced to pass through checkpoints where guards would question them thoroughly about their business. Dust and weeds filled the park.

by Greg Rollins
Christian Peacemaker Teams

There is a gap in my memory that feels like it is a year, but is less than a second long. It stems from the thought of when will David and Mabel get here, “to what was that explosion?” The explosion shook me, made my ears ring and made time unstable. I turned around and twenty meters away a wall of dust enveloped the street. The dust dispersed quickly. In the middle of the road where someone placed the explosive device, the concrete medium lay burst.

by Greg Rollins

rebar begs
with concrete flowers
in a desert garden
tilled by rage

once dried by sanctions
such iron thickets
now bloom in bombed cities
where freedom has rained

sun soaked in dust
stubborn and bitter
the thickets will surrender
into brambles of rust

commentary

Destroyed buildings fleck the cities of Iraq; rebar grows out of the rubble and overruns the sidewalks, parking lots and roads. These ruined buildings are like the country. Once under the strains of economic sanctions where locals could not even bring in the simplest items to fix water pipes or the electricity, the nature of the ruined buildings resembles wild growth brought to life by the bombing campaign meant to free Iraq. Now people ignore the destroyed buildings as other nations ignore the country. Few see them and fewer are willing to clean them up. The remnants of buildings and country sit in the sun and dust, and rust together.

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 our projects may be viewed at www.cpt.org/gallery