CPTNet
July 25, 2003
IRAQ: Letter home from Peggy Gish
On July 13, we witnessed the launching of the new Governing Council in
Iraq, 25 people handpicked by U.S. authorities, not chosen by the people of
Iraq. There are many who find it a first step toward a more democratic,
Iraqi controlled government, but we heard a lot of frustration and
skepticism about it. It is made up of mostly people who support the
presence of the U.S. here, and who will not really challenge the
occupation. In the same way, our friend, Yanar, leader of the radical
women's organization I talked about in a recent article, was not invited to
a national women's conference, because her group did not endorse the
occupation. The women
allowed in were again "hand picked" by occupying authorities. And we are
told this is supposed to be "liberation." People, here, say, "under Saddam
Hussein we had little freedom of speech and political organization, and now
under Bush we have the same!" or "Saddam, no freedom, Bush, no freedom!"
On July 15, we spent another day in Faluja, checking out the report we had
heard that U.S. military had left the center of the city to base themselves
all around the outskirts. We found out that this was only partially true.
More have moved out, and there are less U.S. military at the governor's
office, but they still have a definite presence there. At the mosque which
had been
bombed before our last visit, we found a rebuilt wall around the part
of the building that had been destroyed. We visited in the home of a
school principal, met another tribal Sheik and met a resident who asked us
to help him find his brother who had been arrested a few days ago. We plan
to go back next Tues., and for now, are just making day trips, for making
contacts and learning about what is happening, and discerning what more we
might be able to do. It is one of the areas of Iraq where the anger against
the U.S. is increasing.
On July 17, authorities were advising internationals to not go outside
their homes, expecting there might be more violent acts on the streets.
That day was the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's coming to power, and they
were afraid that Baath party loyalists might use it for more
violent resistance. We went out to several places we thought people might
gather to protest, but didn't find anything unusual happening, and it
turned out to be a fairly ordinary day on the streets.
One gift this past week has been several invitations to visit and have
meals in Iraqi people's homes. We have gotten to know more families, and
they often introduce us to others, or take us to visit churches or other
interesting places in their neighborhood. At a home in southern Baghdad on
July 16, the owner showed us holes in tanks, a water pump and walls of their
house made from fragments from a cluster bomb which exploded there in early
April. Today, July 18, we were in the home of a man we met when we visited
Baghdad University about three weeks ago, a friend of one of our
translators, Sattar. Maureen, our team member from Scotland received a
halfjoking marriage proposal from our friendİs father, and we had fun with
that. Our translator, Sattar, has adopted us as kind of his family, and he
helped us find the apartment, and visit some interesting people and place.
Life here continues to be full and challenging. But even in the midst of so
many problems, we find so many wonderful people who have been very gracious
and welcoming and helpful to us and we are thankful for so many gifts. Love
to you all, Peggy
__________________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, send a message with
only the word, "suspend," in the body to server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Mennonite and Church of
the Brethren congregations and Friends Meetings that supports violence
reduction efforts around the world. Contact CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL
60680; Telephone: 773-277-0253 Fax: 773-277-0291.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Aug 02 2003 - 22:28:35 EDT