CPTnet
December 16, 2004

IRAQ UPDATE: December 5 - 11, 2004

Sunday, December 5
At mass, Sheila Provencher and Maxine Nash listened to the words from the
homily based on the story of John the Baptist: "The land was a wilderness,
occupied by a foreign army." On the way home, the two heard that a man from
their neighborhood had disappeared on a business trip to Kirkuk.

Monday, December 6
BBC radio news reported that seventy people had been killed in Iraq in the
previous three days.

Nash and Cliff Kindy accompanied a family to the Iraqi Assistance Center
(IAC) with their dangerously ill 45-day-old baby. A medical advisor
affirmed the seriousness of the condition and recommended assessment and
treatment in northern Iraq. If treatment is not possible in Iraq, the
family will have to travel to another country.

Nash had to wait outside the checkpoint at the IAC because the Iraqi mother
had only one ID (two are required.) U.S. soldiers told Nash that, if there
were an attack, Nash would be allowed in with her U.S. passport, but the
mother would not be able to enter.

Kindy and Nash also visited the Iraq election commission office and the
Iraqi National Society for Human Rights. They arranged a visit for CPT
co-director Doug Pritchard, relayed contact information for a program
assisting children injured during the U.S. invasion and occupation, and made
contacts for meeting the new UN human rights officer.

Tom Fox cooked a meal for the neighbor whose husband had disappeared. He
and Provencher visited with the family.

Tuesday, December 7
An Australian independent journalist interviewed CPT. She offered to assist
an Iraqi family who is seeking asylum in Australia.

Her driver explained that, under Saddam Hussein, helicopter pilots flying
low over a residential area might be shot for disturbing the families. He
asked why helicopters buzz his neighborhood all night, preventing the
children from sleeping, even though there are no problems in the district.

The translator reported that 280 refugees from Fallujah were squatting in a
school near his home. The families needed simple supplies like blankets,
kerosene for heat and cooking, and toys for the many children.

Fox asked a teenage neighbor a question about changes since the U.S.
invasion. The boy responded, "After the invasion we got mobile phones,
internet, and satellite TV. We lost gasoline, electricity, and cooking
gas." His mother works at a government ministry near the IAC. Last Saturday
she was injured when a car bomb exploded near the ministry office.

 Wednesday, December 8 A friend described the situation near the Abu Hanifa
mosque in Adhamiya. Resistance forces attack the U.S. base from areas near
the mosque in order to draw U.S. troops into street battles. The friend
said he fears the resistance even more than the U.S. forces that raided the
mosque recently
(See November 26 CPTnet release, "Raid on Abu Hanifa shrine." The friend
feels Iraq currently needs the foreign troops, but they should leave
immediately after the election.

Thursday, December 9
Provencher and Kindy met with an Iraqi human rights group to update them
about CPT activities and obtain counsel regarding security concerns. The
contact recommended shrinking CPT activities until after the election, but
also urged CPT to be election monitors in Kerbala or the north.

CPT connected the agency to a medical program offering help for children
injured in the war and occupation, and to a U.N. conference on human rights
in Geneva.

When Kindy and Provencher arrived back at the apartment, U.S. soldiers were
at the door, angry with a CPTer who took a photo of them playing with
community children (see December 11 release, "U.S. soldiers invade CPT
apartment and then stay for a visit.)

Friday, December 10
Fox and Nash interviewed a young university student from the Karrada
district. She regrets not being able to travel freely as she and her
friends used to do. If the situation does not improve, she wants to leave
Iraq after she finishes university next year.

Saturday, December 11
Fox went to the residency office to obtain his exit visa to leave for Amman
the following week.

An Iraqi colleague told of a dead body dumped at a main intersection near
his home. Apparently, as a scare tactic, Iraqi militants dumped eighteen
bodies in different sections of the city.

A human rights worker/teacher from Kerbala was finally able to reach Baghdad
after a failed attempt last week. He and the team spent good hours talking
about an exploratory CPT team to Kerbala to nurture a Muslim Peacemaker Team
(MPT.) He noted that Iraqis respect CPT because the team has stayed and
been a continuing presence in Iraq.

"With MPT, we want to live the real Islam - the loving, the helping," he
said. "[Those who destroy] are not Islam." He also told the team, "We all
hate Saddam, but we each have a little Saddam
inside of us."

He told of thousands of Sunni refugees gathering near Kerbala because of the
U.S. assault on Fallujah. They fled with few belongings, so a local Shi'a
human rights group spent about $4000 for tents, food, educational supplies,
and a small medical center for the families.