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CPTnet December 7, 2004 IRAQ REFLECTION: Surrounded Iraq feels like a prison. Our neighborhood is surrounded by the dangerous places our friends tell us to avoid. People in neighborhoods like Haifa Street are surrounded by insurgents (foreign and Iraqi) and soldiers (U.S. and Iraqi) who wage daily battles with each other. Baghdad itself is surrounded by roads known for everything from kidnapping to explosions. People in the U.S. enclave otherwise known as the "Green Zone" are in prison too. They surround themselves with blast walls, checkpoints, and razor wire, cutting themselves off from harm. But they also cut themselves off from ordinary Iraqis--the very faces and voices they claim to liberate. "You live outside the wire?" one soldier asked me. "Wow. I can't imagine that." Thousands of Iraqi detainees are still surrounded by prison walls and have to deal with slow review procedures, and unanswered questions about legal rights. I know a detainee whose spirit is surrounded by a broken body. During his detention he suffered injuries that paralyzed his right side. Now he cannot walk. An Iraqi journalist tried to get into Fallujah, but found it completely surrounded by U.S. forces. The journalist could not get in, the truth could not get out. Last week, Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad was surrounded by troops. "Ali" lay on the floor amid the screams, sound grenades, and blood, before troops hauled him away. While he was detained, an Iraqi officer burned a cigarette into his hand and mistreated other detainees as U.S. soldiers laughed. All day, every day, children in Baghdad are surrounded by sounds of generators, mortars, car bombs, gun shots, fighter jets, helicopters, humvees. An embedded journalist who joined U.S. soldiers on an overnight patrol said they too were like prisoners inside their own tanks, surrounded by the roar of metal and motion. We are ALL surrounded by fear: here, and in North America. I feel it in the air and on the airwaves. We are imprisoned by endless words and endless fears. But here in Iraq, we are also surrounded by friends. My neighbor Abu Z. insists on driving us to church, even though the building is only a few blocks away. "Please, let me do this for you," he says. A shopkeeper tells me, "Don't be afraid. If anyone tries to hurt you, I will protect you." Another neighbor says, "This is your home. Come here anytime, even in the middle of the night!" They are people in high places and low, in sumptuous houses and homeless, Sunni, Shi'a, Christian, Sabeaen, old, young, male, female. They all say the same thing. "If there is ANYTHING I can do for you, please, I am ready." They surround us with care. What else surrounds us, all of us? We are surrounded by grace. We are surrounded by family. We are surrounded by the breath of life. Grace is infinite; everyone is our Family, and every breath is the Breath of God. _______________ Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate. Contact CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680; Telephone: 773-277-0253 Fax: 773-277-0291; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 message scanned for viruses by CoreComm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nat-International/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
