Cliff Kindy Iraq Blog

February 22, 2008 Letter

2008-02-22T23:18:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

I have been home for one week now and want to fill you in on all the events as I left Kurdistan. My three teammates are still in the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) area trying to complete our CPT application for NGO status (Non Governmental Organization).

I left on the expulsion visa we had been given by Asaish security that gave us one week to leave the country. That was just one day after they had granted us a 30-day visa to complete our NGO work. We scrambled and CPT in the US made connections with Senate offices and State Department offices. It was probably AFSC and Senator Lugar contacts with Jalal Talabani’s (Jalal is the President of Iraq and head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party) son in DC that finally opened doors to get that expulsion visa extended for another 30 days. KRG offices are asking for a letter from US officials recognizing CPT and granting clearance for us to be in the KRG. It is not clear yet whether US officials will write that letter. It has seemed to me that the US and KRG are working together to assure that CPT will be unable to continue to work in the Kurdish north of Iraq.

You may have noticed in the news the last few days that Turkey has bombed the KRG area again and crossed into Iraqi territory with ground troops. They were confronted by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and it is not yet clear what the outcome will be. Journalists have been prevented by Asaish from covering the stories in the Kurdish villages. CPT was able to get an appointment with EmergenC for Susan, one of the civilians who lost her leg in the December Turkish bombings. EmergenC is a Kurdish organization that provides prostheses along with physical and occupational therapy for war victims. Watch the news to see if more Kurdish civilians become victims in this Turkish/US assault against the PKK resistance. A friend writes, “What does this mean? That the U.S. is engaged, not only in a civil war in Iraq, but also aiding the Turks in invading Iraq? I am confused.”

Remember the student group that was camped out in the local city park in Suleimaniya advocating for jobs, a role in building Kurdistan, and talking about nonviolent change? CPT had provided one training session of nonviolence in their tents. At a meeting with Asaish to try to reduce the restrictions on our visa, I had specifically asked about our work with this student group. The officer told me, “It would be better if you separated yourselves from that group.” As I walked downtown after that meeting I saw that all the tents and students were gone! We learned from students later that in the middle of the night Asiash had leveled the tents and arrested six of the students. That story is still in process as students consider bringing charges against Asaish for limiting the freedom of speech granted in the constitution.

In the last several weeks of my time in the KRG, friends came to me to talk about the Kurdish secret police. There is one unit in the Erbil KDP area - Dazgay Parastin (Protection Agency) and another in the Suleimaniya PUK area - Dazgay Zanyari (Information Agency). I was told they are among the most brutal in the world and basically invisible. Those who do come out of that system alive are threatened with death if the story is ever exposed. Those officers who are at the top of Asaish are also top officials in the secret police. This is a sobering revelation in the region of Iraq that is pointed to as a model democracy. At one of the offices I visited in my last days a staff person told me, “Here in the KRG we were very glad that the US helped us get rid of Saddam Hussein. The problem is that now we have seventeen little Saddam Husseins.”

Here at home I have been busy with some garden tasks even in the cold weather. I finished pruning the Concord grapes and the red raspberries. Arlene is making plans to start the early garden seeds inside even before the outside soil is thawed. As individuals and groups we nurture and ready the gardens for a future harvest. In local settings and around the world we also choose a different way of relating to the crises and enemies that we face. If justice and peace are to prevail, it is essential that common people, in little ways, take the steps that restrain empires and economic powers and redirect them and each other to the sustainable Way that God intends.

Remember that I am open to invitations to speak and act with you. Write kindy@cpt.org or call 260-982-2971. Blessings of peace to you!

Cliff Kindy

Turkey Bombs Kurdish Villages with US Support

2008-02-07T02:13:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

The bombing has continued two days this week and CPT is being expelled from the country on Sunday, three days from now, with little chance to intervene on behalf of the Kurdish villagers. This article by my teammate Anita David from Chicago is a helpful explanation of the complex affair. Read and respond.

Peace to this world!

Cliff
____________________
“When there is a promise, there is a tragedy.”

The tilled fields are small and the stands of undersized trees infrequent. The compressed tonal range of the scene falls between straw and the gray green of lichen. In the distance, the snow-dusted Qandil Mountains are the rawest element in this land. They form the border between Iraq and Turkey and are rendered irrelevant by Turkish fighter planes flying over them to drop bombs on villages there. 235 kilometers separate 34 mountain villages bombed in the Suleimaniya Governorate of Kurdistan from Kirkuk, the disputed oil rich region, where a referendum was to have taken place by December 31, 2007. It has been put off for six months.

“If you want to know if there is a direct line to Article 140, yes. There is!” Sitting in his office, the mayor of Rania, a temporary home to families displaced by the bombing, was emphatic in his assessment. He did not raise the issue of Article 140. Asked about the distance between the two locations, that was his response. Almost anyone in Kurdistan will say the same.

A complexity of relationships, going back in time, result in death, displacement, loss and hardship for both sides.

The Turkish government insists its only intention is to rid the mountains of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). In 1984, PKK began its armed struggle to create an independent Kurdish state within Turkey. More than 37,000 people died, and thousands of Kurdish villages in Turkey were destroyed since that time. Recently, PKK attacked Turkish soldiers, killing 13 on October 7 and another 12 on October 21. In the October 21 attack, seven Turkish soldiers were captured and later released. The Turkish government accused PKK of responsibility in two October attacks on Turkish civilians. PKK has a standing request for dialogue with Turkey, first forwarded in 1994 and reiterated this November. If the Turkish government will agree to their six requirements, they will lay down their weapons. Thus far the Turkish government has refused to talk.

Even dead, Saddam Hussein continues to affect Kurdish lives. In the 1975 Algiers Accord, Saddam agreed to allow Iran to attack Iranian Kurdish fighters within Iraqi territory. In the Istanbul Agreement, he agreed to attacks by Turkey on PKK bases inside Iraq. Turkey’s recent attacks are over 40 kilometers within Iraq’s borders. There are five Turkish outposts in Iraq. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is in contact with the outposts. Turkey notifies KRG Peshmirga when they might carry out an operation. The Peshmirga talk with police or local Peshmirga leaders who notify citizens there might be activity. These arrangements extend to Iran. Before the July 18, 2007 shelling, Iran dropped leaflets in areas where it pursued PJAK (sister organization to the PKK) along its border with Iraq. PKK notifies villagers when it learns of possible attacks in an area. People leave and then return to what remains of their homes and former lives. The attack becomes another mark in a history enveloped by memory.

In August 2007, the Iraqi central government made a security arrangement with Syria, Turkey and Iran. The central government indirectly asked for help in hunting down PKK and gave permission to attack PKK within Iraq’s borders. In September/October things heated up. On October 17 the Turkish Parliament voted to allow military operations in Iraq. The U.S provided intelligence information to Turkey of PKK movement. More significantly, it cleared the air space allowing attacks on its Kurdish ally in Iraq by Turkey.
In early September Turkey attacked in the northwest region of Dahok. Fifty to sixty families evacuated and have since returned. On December 16/17 Turkish aircraft hit 34 villages in the Suleimaniya Governorate, and in Erbil Governorate damaged or destroyed 21 villages causing over 700 families to evacuate.
On December 31, in Dahok Governorate, 13 villages received constant shelling and had to be evacuated. On January 15, air strikes and shelling occurred in both Erbil and Dahok Governorates. The shelling in these areas damaged farms and killed livestock but did not cause civilian casualties. Since October, Turkish attacks have been moving from Suleimaniya to Erbil to Dahok Governorates. Continued flyovers by Turkish reconnaissance planes cause villagers and farmers returning to their homes to fear for their lives. Bombardments continue on abandoned villages. Turkish military are present within Iraq’s borders.
As a result of the December 16/17 bombings, 370 families were displaced to towns in the Suleimaniya Governorate and 370 families were displaced in the Erbil Governorate. (Each family is counted as 6 individuals.) In Sulimaniya Governorate, one woman was killed and five villagers are injured. There is extensive loss of livestock (Picture), damaged or destroyed homes, a destroyed school (Picture) and two damaged mosques. Very few people remained in the villages. Some shepherds continued to graze their herds but found shelter overnight in caves. Villagers found shelter in rented houses or in relatives’ homes causing hardship on host communities.

The numbers don’t capture the realty of these interrupted and dismantled lives. Mr. Abdullah, Vice Mayor of Sangasar, who works directly with victims of the bombing in the Suleimaniya Governorate describes “…their life there is crippled. As a result [of the attacks] we have 30 to 40 schools closed in that region, also, some hospitals have been closed. People are worrying about their futures.” 190 of 370 displaced families in the Suleimania Governorate moved to Sangasar.

“This is about geography. For the Kurds, this is about land and the oil is in the land which we will give to the United States.” Ali Khalifa Aziz sums up the situation in these few words. Mr. Aziz survived Saddam’s death camp in the south of Iraq. He recently repossessed his home in Kirkuk. It is also about a long dirty history: the British, the monarchy, Saddam, the Anfal and Arabization of the Kurkuk region, and now the United States. Kurd’s have been yearning for their own state since before the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and were promised autonomy by both the British and the Baath Party. In Ali Aziz’s words, “When there is a promise, there is a tragedy.”

Article 140 of Iraq’s Constitution, calls for a referendum in Kirkuk and other disputed territories to determine whether these areas which underwent Arabization would revert to Kurdish authority. Arabization is the process by which Saddam Hussein replaced Kurkuk’s Kurdish population, whom he either killed or expelled, with nearly 90,000 Arabs. Kurds are returning to the city and reclaiming their homes. Turkey stated its unhappiness with Article 140 and what relates to Kirkuk. Iran, Iraq, and Syria each have Kurdish minority populations but Turkey’s thirty million Kurds is the largest group. Turkey views any authority or power in one part as a threat to them. Oil revenues coming to the KRG with the settlement of Article 140 could be used to supply and support Turkey’s Kurdish population. An autonomous Kurdish state becomes more real.

Mr. Hassan, Mayor of Qaladza, another town providing homes to displaced villagers, believes: “This is my personal opinion. There are so many issues. This part of Kurdistan has been liberated. Kurdistan has its own government so that is a threat to Turkey.”

There is a Kurdish problem inside Turkey related to the Kurdish minority there and the Turkish government’s humanitarian and diplomatic point of view. In the 1990s the PKK shifted their demand for independence to human and cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurds. The Turkish government granted some change. Kurds believe it is not enough. In October the Turkish parliament, with an overwhelming majority, gave the Turkish army one year to finish off the PKK. The current Prime Minister has challenged the military by giving it a blank check for one year. The military is nervous about the current civilian government and knows it has to prove itself for its pride and to the population. However, the Turkish army did not tell the parliament they already lost the war. 600,000 soldiers are needed to monitor, patrol and control this area. Turkish soldiers do not know this mountainous region, can’t bring large vehicles in because of the roads and winter conditions make movement very difficult.

The attacks have led to increasingly bitter feelings toward the United States. The U.S. administration seems oblivious to the negative political effects of the attacks. In the past, Kurds spoke of the United States and President Bush with great admiration. It took long conversation and building a relationship of trust before someone would express disappointment in the U.S’s lack of support during the 1991 uprising or its silence during the Anfal. Now, there is no hesitation in expressing anger with President Bush for his choice to support Turkey.

Kurds argue that Kurdish Peshmerga fought along side of U.S. soldiers in this war. They point out that Kurdistan is the only place in Iraq that is secure and peaceful and where the U.S.’s stated goal of a democracy is beginning to take hold. A program of human rights training for security police is underway. At the grass roots level, nongovernmental organizations and students pressure the regional government for change. A second issue is that as the occupier, it is the responsibility of the United States to protect the Kurds and to not make them target practice for Turkey. Finally, by supporting Turkey in its attacks, the United States breaks all international agreements including Geneva which forbid attacks on civilian populations.

From a security perspective, ridding the border areas of PKK and PJAK opens these areas to insurgents pushed out by the “surge”. There is infiltration along the eastern route between Iran and Iraq. Specifically, Ansar al Islam moved into villages in areas PJAK left.

90% of the families have returned to their villages. If their houses are still standing, villagers need to prevent snow and rain from destroying the mud bricks by covering them. If their livestock are alive, they need care and shelters should be rebuilt. Schools, damaged or destroyed must be rebuilt. People need to regain their source of livelihood. Turkey’s aim may be to subdue PKK or to forestall implementation of Article 140, but its targets are people.

February 6, 2008, Letter

2008-02-06T03:34:00.001-05:00

Roller Coaster Ride

Early December CPT went to the KRG Residency office to renew visas. The office said they should first obtain the NGO status and then get the visas. CPT started to work seriously on its application for nongovernmental (NGO) status.

The month of December was basically lost because Eid and Christmas contributed consecutive days to vacation time. Offices were regularly closed and CPT couldn’t pursue the application.

Offices opened and CPT met the Minister of Interior (MOI). This was in the context of proposing a return accompaniment with Kurdish villagers displaced when Turkey, with US support, bombed their homes.

When CPT met again with MOI there was opportunity to entertain a shortcut proposed by the legal advisor. “Why don’t you just transfer your existing NGO status from Baghdad?”

Things moved quickly. The Suleimaniya Governorate signed its approval and papers went to the Asaish security office. There the coaster got stuck. CPT was told to wait and then pick them up on Wednesday. Then, Sunday. No, tomorrow. For sure on Tuesday. “What! You don’t have your papers yet?” “Okay, just go to this office tomorrow and you can pick them up.”

CPT did and they couldn’t. Then, “We can do nothing from here. The papers are with your friends. You will have to find those who can influence a change.” CPT asked who were the ones to influence. KRG officials could not say.

CPT worked the channels. A media friend said, after hearing the tale, “It is the United States. They are bothered because you raised issues about bombings on the borders.” CPT recognized this as a factor, but other issues, like the kidnapping of two CPTers here one year ago, might also impact.

Suddenly, Residency offered one-month visas. CPT had been nearly two months without valid visas because they had CPT wait until the NGO was complete. There were restrictions, though, with these visas. Essentially, nothing could be done except work on the NGO application. This would damage the credibility CPT had gained and lose the initiative that had been grasped on the border bombings.

CPTers appealed the constraints, got them removed, and then another office took back the visas of the previous day! CPT should go buy tickets, get passports stamped with an exit visa, and leave directly.

The roller coaster crashed! In searching, though, it became clear that KRG offices were not the only roadblock to the process. Officials and advisors clarified that some US office was blocking the road and also making Kurds force CPT out.

The ride is not over. CPTers are visiting the State Department in Washington, DC. Others are visiting US Senate offices to request they get this expulsion reversed. CPT has work in Kurdish Iraq and needs clear visas and NGO papers.

In Iraq CPTers are approaching the US embassy in Kirkuk, the Ministry of Planning and the Council of Ministers in Erbil. CPT meets with a local State Department representative tomorrow. Five days remain and the roller coaster has places to go.

Yesterday CPT met with US State department officials in country and with the head of the Asaish security in the KRG. Both were clear it wasn't a fault of their office!! I suspect one is covering for the other. Three and a half days to go and we are still pulling out the stops so the roller coaster can roll on.

Beyond any of our activities here in the KRG, it feels as though things are unraveling in dangerous ways. Maybe just being here for a longer time allows for the invisible to become visible. Please pray for the people of this land.

Peace to each of you,

Cliff Kindy

Kurdish and Arabic translations of CPT Open Letter to US Officials

2008-01-31T06:12:00.001-05:00

15 /1/2008
نامةيةكى كراوة بؤ نةتةوة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا, وةزارةتى بةرطرى, وةزارةتى دةرةوة ى ئةمريكا.

ئيَمة ئةندامانى تيمى بنيانتةرى ئاشتى مةسيحى, ئيستا ئيَمة لة باكورى كوردوستانى عيَراق دةذين و كاردةكةين. لةماوةى ثيَنج مانطى رابردودا لةنزيكةوة ئاطادارين لة راثؤرتة هةوالَةكان وة وردةكاريةكان كة سوثاى توركى خاكى كوردستان ثيَشيل و بؤمباران دةكات , تيَبينى ئةوةمان كرد كة وولاَتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا زانيارى هةوالَطرى دابينكردووة بؤ ئةو هيَرشانة و والآكردنى ئاسمانى عيَراقى هةلَبذاردووة بؤ ئةو هيَرشانة.
ثةيوةندةيةكى بةردةواممان هةبووة لةطةلَ نةتةوة يةكطرتووةكان , خاضى سوورى نيَودةولَةتى , ريَكخراوة ناحكوميةكانى كوردستان كة يارمةتى قوربانيانى ئةو هيَرشانةيان داوة. لايةنى كةم ئةو هيَرشانة سآ هاولآتى كوشتووةو وة شةش هاولاَتيش برينداربوون, CPT سةردانى دوو خيَزانى قوربانيانى كرد كة ئةندامةكانى خيَزانةكانيان كوذراون و بريندارن. راثؤرتةكان ئاماذة بةوة دةدةن كةئاكامةكانى ئةو بؤمبارانة بووةتة مايةى رووخان و زيان ثيَطةيشتى خانووةكان , قوتابخانةكان , مزطةوتةكان, خةستخانةكان .

CPT سةردانى سةرؤكى شارةوانى ئةو ناوضانةى كرد كة نزيكةى 600 – 800 خيزان و 3000 كةسى ئاوارة و هةلَهاتو و ثةناهةندة لةخؤ دةطريَت , ئةو سةرؤك شارةوانييانة ويَنةو فيلميان فةراهةم كرد بؤمان سةبارةت بةو زيانانةى ناو طوندةكان و ئيَمةيان هاندا كةسةردانى هةنديَك لةو خيَزانانة بكةين كةناتوانن بطةريَنةوة بؤ شويَنةكانى خؤيان.

بؤمبارانةكة سةدةها مةرِو مالاَتى لةناوبردووة , ئةو ئاذةلاَنةى سةرضاوةى بذيَوى ذيانيانة . ئاذةلَةكانى تر لةناوضةكةدا بةرةلآن لةبةرئةوةى خيَزانةكان لةوة دةترسن كةبطةرِيَنةوة و هيَرشة سةربازية ئاسمانيةكانى سوثاى توركى بةردةوام بيَت .
جوتيارةكان دةثرسن كةضؤن دةتوانن كشتوكالَى بةهاري ئايندةيان بضيَنن؟
وةك CPT ئاخاوتن لةطةلَ خةلَكى كوردا دةكات , طويَمان لةبانطةوازيَكة بؤ وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا كة ثةيوةست بيَت بةو بنةما جيَطيرانة كة وولاَتانى تريش هةلَيانطرتووة : هاولاتيان مةكوذةو برينداريان مةكة، و هيَزى داطيركةر بةرثرسة و ليَثرسراوة بةرامبةر ثاراستنى سةرو مالَى هاولآتيان كة لةذيَر دةستةلآتيدان . وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا حكومةتى هةريَمى كوردوستان بة جؤريَك لة ديموكراسى دةناسيَنيَت, بةلآم زؤر ئاشكراية كة ديموكراسى بةوالآكردنى ئاسمانى سةربازى خزمةت ناكريَت بؤ هيَرشكردنة سةر هاوولآتيان , ئةو هاوولآتيانة هيض دةنطيَكيان نةبوو لةم برِيارةدا.
بةرِادةيةكى زؤر , طؤرانكاريةكى سةرنج راكيَشةرو بةجؤشمان رةضاو كرد لةنيَو كؤمةلآنى خةلَكى كوردستاندا لة ثشتيوانيةكى نةبوردنخوازانة بؤ بوونى سوثاى وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا لة عيَراق بؤ توورِةيي بةرةو هةلَديَريَك كة وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا يةكيَك لةثشتيوانة هةرة دلَسؤزةكانى خؤى لةخؤرهةلآتى ناوةراستدا ثةستكردووة.لةطةلَ ئةوةى طةلى كورد رووبةرووى شالآوى ئةنفال بؤتةوة لةذير دةستى ريَذيمى سةدام حوسةين ، ئيَستا ترسىئةوة دروستبووة كةثشتيوانى وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا توركيا هانبدات كةدذ بة كوردوستان بجوليَت تةنانةت زؤر بةرةقى و درِةندةيي.

هةربؤية ريَكخراوى بنياتنةرى ئاشتى مةسيحى CPT برِيارى وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا سةبارةت بةيارمةتى دانى ئةو هيَرشانة بؤ سةر هاوولآتايان رةتدةكاتةوة، تكاتان ليَدةكةين وةك فةرمانبةرانى وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا كة ئةو برِيارة ثوضةلَ بكةنةوة (دادطةرى) سةبارةت بةوةى كة ياريدةى توركيا بدةن بؤ بةكارهيَنانى توندوتيذى دذ بةهاوولاَتيان . هاني فشار خستنة سةر توركيا دةدةين بؤ طرتنةبةرى ريَطةضارةى دبلؤماسى لةكيَشةى نيَوان ثارتى كريَكارانى كوردستان و(PKK) توركيادا وةضةند مةسةلةيةكى بنةرِةتى تر. ئيَمة بانطةوازى هاولآتيانى وولآتة يةكطرتووةكانى ئةمريكا دةكةين بؤ زياتر فيَربون سةبارةت بةم رووداوانة وةبةرطريي و داكؤكى لة سةلامةتى طةلى كورد بكةن.

دلَسؤزت
ثيَطى طيش , ئةنيتا ديَيظيد, ميشيَل نار ئوبيَد , كليف كيندى

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يناير/كانون الثّاني 15/2008
رسالة مفتوحة إلى إدارة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكيةِ، وزارة الخارجية و وزارة الدّفاع الأمريكية.

نحن أعضاء فرق صانعوا السلام المسيحيةِ، في الوقت الحاضر نحن نعِيشُ ونعْملَ في كوردستان- شمال العراق. راقبنا التقاريرَ الإخباريةَ مباشرةً التي تعرض ُتفاصيل الغزوات العسكريةَ التركيةَ وقصف الأراضِي الكرديةِ خلال الشهور الخمسة الماضية. نُلاحظُ بأنّ الولايات المتّحدةَ زوّدتْ معلوماتا إستخباراتية لتلك الهجمات وإختارت فَتْح المجال الجوي العراقيِ لتلك الهجمات.

كَانَ لدينا إتصال متواصل مع الأُمم المتّحدةِ، الصليب الأحمر الدولي والمنظمات المحلية الكردستانية الغير حكومية اللاتي ساعدا الإصاباتَ مِنْ تلك الهجمات.ادت تلك الهجماتِ الى قَتل ما لا يقل عن ثلاثة مدنيين و جرح ما لا يقل عن ستة مدنيين. زارت سي بي تي عائلتان مِنْ العوائلِ ِ اللاتي كانت لديهم قَتلَى َو جَرحَى. إضافة إلى ذلك، يُشيرُ التقاريرُ بأن تلك التفجيراتِ قد كبدت خسائر جسيمة و دمرت البيوتَ، المدارس، المساجد، والمستشفيات..

زارَت منظمة سي بي تي رؤساء البلدية في المناطق الذي يحتوي على 600- 800 عوائل المرحَّلة و 3000 افراد من, الذين هَربوا للمأوى تقريباً.. أولئك رؤساء للبلدية زودونا بالصورِ و أشرطة الفيديو للأضرارِ في القُرى وشجّعونا لزيَاْرَة البعض مِنْ العوائلَ اللاتى غير قادرون على العَودة إلى ديارهم الآن.

قَتلتْ التفجيراتُ مِئاتَ الخرفان والأبقارِ، والحيوانات التي تَعتمدُ العوائلَ عليها للمعيشة. والحيوانات الأخرى تبعثروا وأهملوا لأن العوائلَ يخافون العَودة ينما يَستمر غارات الجيشِ التركيِفي المنطقة. الآن المزارعون يَتسائلونَ كيف يُمْكِنُ أَنْ يَعملونَ زِراعَتهم الربيعيةُ.
كما يتحدث سي بي تي للشعبِ الكرديِ، نَسمع نداء إلى الولايات المتّحدةِ للإلتِزام بالمعاييرَ التي تضمن بلدانَ
أخرى: لا تَقْتل أَو تجرح المدنيين وقوة الإحتلال مسؤولة عن حماية المدنين العزل والإهتمام بالذين هم تحت سيطرتها. الولايات المتّحدة ألأمريكية تعرف حكومة إقليم كوردستان كنموذج للديموقراطية ، للكنه واضح تلك الديمقراطيةِ لا تخدَمُ بفتح المجال الجوي العسكري الأجنبي لمهاجمة أهداف مدنية. هؤلاء المدنيين ما كَان عندهم صوت في هذا القرار .
على مقياس أكبر، لاحظنَا تغيير مثير في الشعب الكرديِ مِن الدعم الغير معتذر للوجود العسكري الأمريكي في العراق لغْضب في الطريقِ الذي فيه الولايات المتّحدةِ تَخلّصتْ من إحدى حلفائِها في الشرق الأوسطِ. واجهَ الشعبُ الكردي إعتدءات أنفال تحت الولايات المتحدة ونظام خوف صدام حسين، دعم سيشجع تركيا لتَحرك حتى بشدة ضدّ كوردستان.

لذا، سي بي تي في العراق تستهجن قرار الولايات المتحدة لمساعدة هذه الهجمات على السكان المدنين. نناشدكم كمسؤولون أمريكان لنقض هذا القرار الذي يساعد تركيا في العنف ضد المدنيين. نشجع الضغطَ على تركيا لمُتَابَعَة الحلولِ الدبلوماسيةِ في النزاع القائم بين بي كْي كْي / تركيا وقضايا مخفية أخرى. نَدْعو الشعب الولايات المتّحدةِ الأمريكى للتَعلم الأكثر حول هذه الأحداث وندعو لأمان هذا الشعب الكردي.ِ

المخلص
بيكى كيش, أنيتا ديفد- ميشيل نار-ئوبيد - كليف كيندى

January 31, 2008, Letter

2008-01-31T05:41:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

We have had lots of snow and rain the last few days here in the mountain bowl of Suleimaniya. There have been changes voted in the Iraqi flag, primarily because of concerns raised by Kurds. I have yet to see one of the new flags flying anywhere. I stopped at a tailor's shop two days ago and asked about it. He had one of the new flags draped over his counter, but when I asked whether Kurds would use it, he responded, "They are likely to fly the Kurdish flag with the new Iraqi flag if they use it."

Remember the roller coaster I mentioned Sunday? We are still riding it. Yesterday the one-month visa we had been granted was taken back. Instead the residency office told us to go buy tickets, then return to have our passports stamped with a seven-day exit visa. We have to go immediately. No one would say why or who ordered this deed. After lots of searching and asking questions of different levels in the Kurdish government, of Kurdish and international NGOs, and of US officials here in the KRG, we are 99% clear that the US government at some level has made this decision and asked the Kurdish officials to implement it.

Who? Probably the US State Department, but it could be the Hostage Working Group in the Baghdad Green Zone, FBI, or Department of Defense. Why? Would you like to venture some guesses? I suspect it is because we have been raising concerns about the US-supported bombing of Kurdish villages by Turkey. It may be something related to the kidnapping CPT went through about one year ago, although the Kurdish security forces who took the brunt of that have laid it behind them. As I said to the official at the Ministry of the Interior this morning, "Maybe the United States doesn't like one of my colleagues, Peggy, Anita or Michele."

CPT is working in Washington, DC, with legislators to uncover the appropriate agency and then try to get this action changed. This could be the end of CPT presence in Iraq for now. That would be sad because I feel our presence has been able to provide an important on-the-ground perspective of the US occupation of Iraq.

I will sign out of this letter and back in to paste in the Kurdish and Arabic translations of the Open Letter CPT sent to US officials to voice our concerns about the way the United States supported the Turkish bombing of Kurdish civilian villages.

Blessings of peace to your families and to your enemies!

Cliff Kindy

Roller Coaster, January 27, 2008 Letter

2008-01-27T05:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

These last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride of emotions as one minute we are confident we have the NGO approval in hand and then are clear we don't. Those papers are essential for being able to continue our CPT work here. This past week it became clear to us that a security incident with the team last year had rolled the process up into a new arena. We would need to get involvement from US officials and from the higher levels of the Kurdish government.

At the same time we were offered a one-month visa, after going for nearly two months without any, to assist us in obtaining the NGO papers. With that visa came a list of activities that would not be approved or allowed under the visa. It was clear to me that both the timing of the offer and the restrictions were unusual and must have been triggered by a decision at a higher level. I felt unable to compromise my CPT activities to that extent and am presently exploring whether I can negotiate some flexibility. I plan to be here in Suleimaniya two more weeks and maybe should have swallowed my principles.

At this point all work with the border villages after the US-supported bombing by Turkey is on hold until we discover where the unexplained glitch in the NGO process is located. That is unfortunate since we were very close to having support for the process of accompanying villagers back to their communities for their protection and to open a space for dialogue instead of violence between the actors in that horror.

The CPT open letter to US officials explaining our deep concerns about US logistical support of those cross border Turkish raids is printed in an earlier blog. We still encourage you to contact legislators with your concerns and write about those events in your local newspaper. Feel free to publish the letter as an opinion page piece.

Some of you may have read in the news about the huge explosion in Mosul when an abandoned apartment building holding explosives and weapons was detonated. Two different news releases reported that Kurdish Peshmerga or US military had earlier placed barrels of explosives in the building. Apparently they didn't know how many other explosives were in the building and take precautions to warn neighbors. One hundred homes within two kilometers were destroyed by the blast. Forty people died at last report and about 170 were injured. Please check the news you can find on this as well. It seems to have been the trigger to send huge numbers of Iraqi and US troops to Mosul for the "last important battle in Iraq against Al Qaeda."

As I near my time to leave Iraq, I am open to receiving invitations to speak about my experiences here as well as with other CPT projects in earlier years. You can email me: kindy@cpt.org or phone: 260-982-2971.

Let me close with a prayer I sent this week to Susan Mark Landis for an Iraq Concerns email prayer circle:
________
"Merciful God, may your reign come here on earth as in heaven," prays the displaced Muslim family that lost a mother in the US-supported Turkish bombing. "All Powerful God, we long for your reign here on earth as it is in heaven," the PKK Communist believer prays from her mountain cave, hiding from the Turkish attacks, purportedly against PKK terrorists. "Redeeming God, we long for your reign here on earth as in heaven," prays the Turkish fighter pilot as his crew targets the Kurdish sites supplied by US intelligence. "God of Justice, we pray for your reign here on earth as in heaven," prays the US Jewish officer from the surveillance base chapel before he heads home from work. "God of Mystery, we pray for your reign to come here on earth as in heaven," prays the CPT team as they consider a proposal to accompany displaced families back to their homes in the Kandil Mountains.

God, I don't envy your ears. I don't know how to anticipate how you might surprise all of us. I suspect I will have to change or be changed. Prepare us all for your life in the transformation you are already bringing into our midst. Amen.
____
Well, blessings of peace to each one of you!

Cliff Kindy

Libel Charges and Kurdish Mediation

2008-01-20T01:41:00.000-05:00

CPT Iraq Reflection: Kurdish Mediation

By Cliff Kindy, 17 January, 2008

Wednesday, January 16, three CPTers joined five independent journalists in a two-hour trip to Halubcha. At ten o’clock a young journalist, Nasir, would face trial. He had been charged with libelling the Peshmerga (Kurdish military) when he wrote that all Peshmerga are full of corruption. After the charges were filed, men dressed in Asaish security uniforms abducted him, beat him and ordered him to never write about the Peshmerga again. CPT attended the trial to make it clear that the international public was concerned about this issue.

Supporters, including CPT, gathered in the investigating attorney’s office. There they learned the judge had delayed the trial, ostensibly because his son had injured his hand. Some speculated he feared the international publicity with CPTers present.

The supporters returned to a hall where negotiations went on without CPT involvement because of language. But soon CPT was engaged to join a delegation heading to the Cultural Center. There the head of the Peshmerga offered a compromise. The charges would be dropped against Nasir in exchange for his retraction of the earlier statement and promise, in the future, to write only with specific evidence about the Peshmerga

It was an exciting arena as the Cultural Center director and the Peshmerga held forth for a clear apology and Nasir’s supporters gave him lots of encouragement to concede that this issue would not make him famous. The 18 supporters included other independent journalists who had faced similar difficulties in writing critical pieces, his wife, a sister, CPT and other local supporters.

Finally a sheet of paper appeared and Nasir started to write. It was a struggle as he crafted his words to say enough and yet not compromise his convictions. Supporters gathered at his side to keep encouraging him. His lawyer eventually wrote more on the reverse side of the sheet. Nasir crossed out, re-wrote and finally got paper with a carbon film to produce a second copy of the final draft.

Falal leaned over to a CPTer and said, “We reached agreement.” The discussion had gone on constantly, seemingly as a cover for Nasir to work unimpeded. Journalists made it clear to CPT that their international presence was key to the effort. “We would not have reached this middle ground without your presence pushing the Peshmerga spokesperson.”

The Peshmerga officer summed up his perspective as he said, “We support freedom of speech. We accept Nasir’s apology.” Later CPT heard there was a promise that Nasir would not experience another abduction. Supporters had planned to take him back to Suly with them to keep him safe because he feared another threat on his life.

So, with creative mediation work from two parties and a bit of “support” from CPT, a deal was reached. Nasir does not go to trial or jail, the Peshmerga polishes its image, and another round of Kurdish people building a new future passes into the pages of history.

Open Letter and Suggested Action on Turkish Bombings

2008-01-15T03:02:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

What follows is an open letter the CPT team here is sending to US leaders. It is in response to the US support of Turkey in attacks on Kurdish villages during December. We invite you to read the letter, learn about the issues and respond. You may: 1. Publish the letter as an opinion piece in your local paper. 2. Call legislators to express your concerns about the events. 3. Write your own letter to the editor. 4. Be creative with your own response!

Thank you as CPT tries to take the steps to accompany villagers back to their homes. Blessings of peace to you!

Cliff

January 15, 2008

An open letter to the United States Administration, United States Department of State and United States Defense Department:

We are members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, presently living and working in the Kurdish north of Iraq. We have closely watched the news reports that detail the Turkish military invasions and bombings of Kurdish territory over the last five months. We note that the United States has provided intelligence for those attacks and has chosen to open Iraqi air space for those incursions.

We have had regular contact with the United Nations, the ICRC and local Kurdish NGOs that have assisted the casualties from those attacks. Those attacks killed at least three civilians and injured at least six. CPT has visited two of the families who had a member killed or injured. Additionally, reports indicate those bombings have damaged or destroyed homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals.

CPT visited mayors of communities to which some of the 600-800 displaced families, approximately 3000 individuals, fled for refuge. Those mayors shared photos and videos of the damages in the villages and encouraged us to visit some of the families who are now unable to return home.

The bombings killed hundreds of sheep and cows, animals upon which families depend for a living. Other animals are uncared for because families are afraid to return as flights by Turkish military continue. Farmers now wonder how they can do spring planting.

As CPT talks to Kurdish people, we hear a call for the United States to abide by the standards to which it holds other countries: Do not kill or injure civilians and an occupying power is responsible to protect and care for the civilians who are under its control. The United States identifies the Kurdish Regional Government as a model of democracy, but it is clear that democracy is not served by opening air space to an outside military to attack civilian targets. These civilians had no voice in this decision.

On a larger scale, we have observed a dramatic change in the Kurdish population from unapologetic support for the U.S. military presence in Iraq to anger at the way in which the United States has dumped one of its most loyal allies in the Middle East. Kurdish people have experienced the Anfal assaults under the Saddam Hussein regime and fear U.S. support will encourage Turkey to move even more aggressively against Kurdistan.

Therefore, CPT in Iraq deplores the decision by the United States to aid these attacks on a civilian population. We beg you as U.S. officials to reverse this decision that assists Turkey in violence toward civilians. We encourage U.S. pressure on Turkey to pursue diplomatic solutions to the PKK/Turkey disputes and other underlying issues. We call on the people of the United States to learn more about these events and advocate for the safety of these Kurdish people.

January 11, 2007, Letter

2008-01-11T03:03:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

A raging snow storm is covering all the plastic bags and litter that get missed by the Philippine street sweepers who are brought into Kurdistan and Iraq as cheap slave labor. The cold temperatures have frozen and burst our water pipes again for the fourth time! That just means we need to carry water in buckets up several flights of stairs for laundry, bathing, washing dishes, and flushing the toilet.

Yesterday we traveled to Sangasar and a village up near the Kandil Mountains that form the border with Turkey. That region has been bombed by Turkey with US-provided intelligence and clearance of airspace over Iraq for those bombing runs. Reports from UN and ICRC document that 6-800 families, over 3000 individuals, have been displaced in the month of December. Injuries have been slight - one woman killed and fewer than ten others injured. The loss of cattle, sheep and goats appraoches 1000. Schools, homes, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed or damaged in the bombings. People traveling in and out of those villages to care for animals still living report daily Turkish flights, but only for surveillance at this point.

My previous blog contains the details of a visit with one of two families we visited yesterday, both who had a family member killed or injured in the bombing. One is renting now in Sangasar and the other is living with relatives in a rural village up against the foot of the mountains. We drove up to the final checkpoint beyond which no one is allowed. That is the region we are asking to accompany villagers home as a way to open a safe space for their return and to allow negotiation to replace military action between the PKK and Turkey/US.

The mountain scenery we saw rivals that of Montana and Colorado in the U.S! These rugged mountains seem to have shaped Kurds with strength of character, endurance and an expansive vision of what is possible.

We have a meeting tomorrow with international and Kurdish NGO's to pursue our proposal to accompany villagers as they return. The big barrier is still clearance from the Ministry of the Interior and security passes from Asaish. We appreciate your prayers for a miracle.

This CPT team is longing for additional personnel to help carry the long term work here in Kurdistan. Perhaps you are being called!! Security is very different from what folks may imagine from what they read and hear about Iraq. I see this project as much safer to operate a CPT project than even Colombia and Palestine where I have also been with CPT.

May the Spirit of Peace Bless You!

Cliff

Yesterday's Interview with Kurdish IDP's

2008-01-11T02:58:00.000-05:00

Muzheer Jalal Rafour, January 10, 2007

Peggy and Cliff met with 24 members of the family in a home they are renting in Sangasar. Musheer told CPT that if we tell their story it is better than receiving material assistance. They are from Laozha Village, Sangasar town, Suleimaniya Governate.

On December 16, 2007, he heard a sound of planes flying over like every night, but it was different this night. At 2:05AM a bomb hit the other side of their home. They went outside. The next pass of the planes, the house was bombed again. On the third pass he remembered a tiny baby he thought was still sleeping inside and returned – the windows were blown out this pass. As he exited the house, he heard his 27-year-old daughter, Susan, crying and saw a big light in the sky – everything was on fire. He went to help, but couldn’t use lights because the planes were still circling overhead. He tied her wounds with his sash, but he had no car and the planes were still overhead.

His friend called from another village, but he had to say, “Don’t come,” because of the planes. His daughter waited for three hours and the plane came back again to attack. The other children were in a ditch for safety, but they were cold. Finally he used a blanket to carry his daughter to the car of a relative. They drove the car without lights with a person ahead with black clothes to guide it. They got her to Diana Village, an hour away, where an ambulance took her on to Howler, two hours further to the hospital.

The doctor said her bone was shattered and he would be unable to save the leg, so he amputated mid-calf. Susan is still in the hospital and it has been very difficult psychologically. She feels her life is ended, there is nothing to live for. She may return home today or a week from now.

The same Turkish attack injured Haja Ajura Rasoul in the hand when a piece of the bomb shrapnel struck her. Other children have eye and throat problems from something in the bomb. A neighbor saved one child during the bombing and had to leave another child, so Muzheer’s son went to save that child.

His house was destroyed four times by Saddam Hussein during the Anfal. This fifth time was by the Turkish fighter planes. “But even if it happens ten more times, we will never give up our home.”

Seven of their Albanian cows were killed in the bombing and others are unhealthy. There are 24 families in the village, about 126 people. Maybe 20-25 animals for each family died in the bombing.

Planes are still flying overhead, apparently doing reconnaissance. Sometimes a father or a shepherd returns to care for the living animals or check crops.

Muzheer told CPT, “Please take our voice to the world. We in Kurdistan are a rich country, but we are presently chained by this political situation.”

“The Turkish excuse for the attack is the PKK, but there are no PKK targets or sites where we live. The situation in Kirkuk and the millions of Kurds in Turkey are the threats for Turkey and the reason for these attacks.”

“We heard the US supports Turkey. I don’t understand because the Kurds are the only people here who support the US. Maybe the US has more interest in Turkey than Kurdistan. An unexploded bomb in Laozha may be American. We are so disappointed. After 1974 we were abandoned. We ask the US people to support the Kurds so this doesn’t happen again. My cousin in Minnesota says the US people don’t even know about Kurds.”

Muzheer has received one million ID ($7-800, US) from the central Iraqi government to replace his house. From the KRG he got heating oil, clothes and coats from ICRC and blankets from another organization. People have been very concerned about what happened. People care. Practically, though, the response has been short. Government has welcomed their children to the local schools, though their home was 34 kilometers from Sangasar.

"It is good to write this story to the people of the US. A bigger establishment is needed to raise awareness. I am concerned about your safety, but I am ready to go with you to our border villagers when you get security approval."

If I was on TV in the US, I would say, “Stop the things that are happening. Stop the attacks. Stop the fears.”

The United States Drops the KRG

2008-01-04T03:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

It has been some time since I last wrote to you. There have been some very interesting experiences in the intervening period.

A highlight for me was a trip to Darbandakan and the mountain ridge south and east of that city. We slipped through a narrow cut with towering walls on either side of the tiny stream that must have made the cut eons ago. On the other side we ate our picnic lunch and then hiked into the mountains. It was invigorating to have to stop frequently to catch my breath on the steep climb and scrounge for handholds on the rocky face as I ascended. Sheep trails were at the higher elevations so you readers can be assured that this wasn’t too much of a test! The view near the top was worth it. We had a time limit and I didn’t make the peak.

Another visit was with Walt Goodwater, a National Guard officer from Sacramento, CA. That unit is doing training for Iraqi army units just outside of Suly. That base is a large Peshmerga Base where US contractors are also involved in training Iraqi Police and Iraqi prison guards. We did learn that some security detainees are held at this location until they are returned to home communities for trial.

This Eid just ended commemorates Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Ishmael before God intervened and the Hajj to Mecca is also celebrated. It was a nice preparation for our Christmas celebrations. Christmas in the field with CPT always feels strange because I am not with family, but it also has a depth I miss at home because of the struggle for justice and peace that is playing out in the settings I find myself.

A visit with Anita to Suse Prison finally worked out. We met with the director of this new Iraqi Ministry of Justice facility that houses 1700 prisoners from all parts of Iraq. He is a very smooth PR person or this facility is top of the line. No women or youths under 18 are held here. There are no detainees awaiting trial and the 12 US advisors who helped set up the prison and advise for daily operations play a very important role because of their experience back in the states.

The bombing attacks and ground operations by Turkey into Kurdish areas during this fall have stimulated a recruiting effort in the center of Suly and raised serious concerns by Kurdish political leaders. The fact that the US has provided real time intelligence and opened airspace into Kurdish Iraq has destroyed the strong alliance between the US and the KRG. The flights by Turkish planes continue regularly and the last bombing I have heard reported is December 31 in the Dahuk Governate. The first attacks after December 15 were about 60 – 70 miles south into the KRG and along the Iranian border. CPT is exploring whether our nonviolent presence in those villages might provide protection for villagers and open a space for genuine negotiation between the various actors. Presently those raids are provoking even more conflict over the issues of the PKK resistance in Turkey, potential Kurdish autonomy, whether the government or the military in Turkey is in charge, and who will control the oil in Kirkuk and Mosul. It is clear that the visible issue of Kurdish demands within Turkey by the PKK and the response by Turkey are just a cover for much larger issues.

We are having an impossible time with visas. All four are expired, waiting for the decision on our NGO application that has been pending since early December. We don’t know if this delay is their way to turn down our application or if, as Kurdish friends say, this is the way it is for everyone. If we are rejected I hope we are informed of the reasons. It is easy to suspect who might be putting pressure on those who make the decision. Wednesday we did obtain a signature from the governor for our NGO application and still need clearance from security.

Visits to regional leaders and individuals displaced by the Turkish bombings yesterday confirmed the importance of our nonviolent presence in those border villages and the deeper complication of the standstill on our NGO application and security clearance! Kurdistan is feeling abandoned.

Blessings of peace in the new year to each of you!

Cliff

CPT Security Statement for the KRG Area

2007-12-28T02:23:00.000-05:00

CPT Iraq Security Statement, 27 December, 2007

Security can apply differently to various populations. This statement will highlight three populations, to assist an understanding of security for this CPT project.

One: security for Kurds here in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq, the three governates of Dahuk, Erbil and Suleimaniyah, is judged in light of the end of the Baathist regime. Kurds feel any current difficulties are better than the discrimination, terror and death experienced during the Anfal. But now, practically, the KRG does not face the suicide bombings, kidnappings and random violence that have been so prevalent in the south and central parts of Iraq. 170,000 Peshmerga and an unknown number of Asaish security police and other patrols staff check points on highways and tightly control the transit of strangers and security of Kurds. The exceptions are resistance groups and voices of dissent (Islamic groups and journalists) that have been silenced, jailed and disappeared, even in recent years. Presently, the Turkish border is a potentially volatile region that will require close attention.

Two: security for the CPT team in Kurdistan was cause for very careful planning as the team returned in October, 2007. The kidnapping of early 2007, which happened outside the KRG, led to a great deal of caution and the development of security guidelines. But CPT has not been in survival mode as in Baghdad. Women are free to dress as fashion misfits – no need for an abaya or head covering. CPTers over the past two months have found little cause for security concern in the KRG. CPTers have traveled to the Iranian border region, have walked the Suly streets alone without qualms, have ventured into new areas like Halabja and within four miles of the Iranian border as a team, and traveled alone from Erbil. CPT has relaxed the tight guidelines set in place prior to our travel to Iraq. They do listen to voices of caution about particular areas, assess those warnings, and then decide how to respond. There are mined areas, especially along the borders, and they have been urged to stay away from the Penjeune area.

Three: security for a CPT delegation must be judged in light of little or no experience by delegates in this region. But there is continuous safe travel in the KRG area. Travel by bus, taxi and with hired drivers is safe. Movement of a delegation would not be a security concern. This project is operating in a security situation that is better, at the present, than the Colombia and Palestine projects.

Visit to Halapja, Story of Chemical Attack in 1988

2007-12-25T06:58:00.000-05:00

Bakrideen Haji Saleem and his wife

Anita David, Michele Obed Naar, Peggy Gish and Cliff Kindy with Shadan translating and Driver Mohammad accompanying met with this couple in their home for over three hours.

Bakrideen started by saying, “We like the US, but they do not return the appreciation. Where is the US human rights message with their support of Turkey as Turkey bombs the borders of Kurdistan? Why did it happen during our feast days?"

My home is in the old Jewish quarter, part of a very ancient city. My first home in a village near Halupja was destroyed, then a home here in Halupja, this is my third home.

The US is not alone at fault. The US people are also to blame because they vote for the government. During Vietnam the people took to the streets and stopped the government. We received the US with flowers in 2003, but got nothing in return. The US supports its enemies better than us. Our people in Turkey and Iran are being mistreated. We can provide six times the support for the US that Turkey can. Kurds are 50 million people in all countries. New ideas cannot come into the Mideast without Kurdistan.

My two sons and three daughters (the youngest 20 days) died in the chemical attack by Iraq on Halupja.

I know the US from Abraham Lincoln through civil rights, and I am just a common man. I know what happened in Cuba, Panama, and the Soviet Union. You can’t neglect other people. Now, since the Soviet collapse, the US is the father in the world. You must be faithful to your promises.

In the US there are civil organizations and students, but they are not active now. The US is more than government. Two hands (US NGO – CARE?) supported the Kurdish Revolution 40 years ago with cans of food. At that time Saddam Hussein accused us of being US agents. But to no avail; we were dropped by the US.

Two of our children remain alive, a daughter in Germany and one here with this one year old grandson playing on the floor.

Bakrideen is an art teacher (sculptor). He showed us a stone carving he did of a young boy and told us of another carving with Jesus and a lamb. He indicated strong support for Jesus as a prophet and for Christianity. He sent an oral message and pictures to father Bush in 1993 via a representative who visited with Bakrideen in his basement.

“Now we want Kirkuk. We could have had our own country with Kirkuk separately, but wanted to stay together. This is not like the Falkland Islands. There is a history; we have family there; not Babylon, just Kirkuk. In school we say Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan. Arabs came there through Arabization; Turkomans are the remains of the Ottoman Empire. 800 years ago there were no Turks. They did a genocide of Armenians, now Kurds. US Congress said genocide in Armenia, administration said not. Kissinger talked about breaking with the Kurds in some 1974 US statement about Kurds. The master of the world should not break its word.”

Bakrideen went on: Iran was not a good support of the Kurds. Iran and Iraq chose this area as a battlefield. Other areas were emptied of people. Halupja was full, about 70,000 because villages had been destroyed. That is why Iran chose this area. Iran attacked from all sides, but Iraq provided no defense for us. Iraq did not care for Kurds; Iran discovered too late. Iran was paving roads here – I saw this while in the army- and building bridges across the Sirwan River. Iraq retreated to draw Iran in.

March 13, 1988, Iran attacked. 14 and 15 they circled the city. 15th they entered; one Iraq plane observed. On the night of 16th we wanted to leave. Iranians stopped us. I was preparing for 10 days. A neighbor tried three gates and couldn’t get out, even to the caves. The river bridge was controlled and no one could leave.

We used salt and ashes in a wet towel for a quasi gas mask. Peshmerga Kurdish fighters were here in the city too. A couple hours before the chemical assault, Iraq attacked with napalm until sunset to break all the windows so the gas would work. Then there were 20,000 canisters in a couple hours. Iran trucked most of those out for metal. I bought two so there would be evidence.

I buried my dead children with their clothes on, again for evidence. I told my family to go to the basement. Mom was unconscious. Our daughter brought her small sister to me. I put the children on my shoulder; tears prevented me from seeing except at my feet. I was walking in the middle of destroyed houses. Hopeless, I sat down. My mother died. “I am just going to die.” Our 8 year old daughter said, “Not you; I will die.” {crying now.} I woke up in the morning with my wife still alive {also crying now} with daughter.

With the chemicals, maybe my children died of hunger. My son had asked for bread and water. I brought bread back in my pockets, but forgot because I was affected by the chemicals. 17th I dug a place to bury our children. A nephew had died since evening. My brother was in Suly, so I left sign so he could find the body. That evening I thought, “I am losing control.” The other daughter was still alive, eyes very red. My wife and I drank salt water to vomit, but could not open my daughter’s mouth. I was also told that fires are good to clean lungs.

Iranian soldiers told me that they would take us to Iran. I was getting ready to bury another body and the soldiers said, “There are too many dead people to bury.” “Don’t argue with Iranian soldiers,” said my friend. Then he brought a car, “Let’s go to the cemetery so we can be easily buried when we die.”

I could hear water running, but couldn’t see it. I was very thirsty. 18th before sunrise another daughter died. By then I could open my eyes. I put her body in a rice bag to protect her from animals. I was assured that my friend would return to bury her, since I wanted to save my two living daughters.

That day I chose to stay alive to save my other children. There was a village nearby; I took the rest of my family to a school there. It is only ten minutes away, but it took us four hours. I saw Iranian soldiers and an empty mosque. The Iraqis destroyed 5000 mosques in 5000 destroyed villages. This mosque was saved for Iraqi soldiers to bed in, not for worship. Iranian soldiers gave ointment for our eyes and canned food. At night we went by car to Iran.

19th we reached Kermashan in Iran. We got injections and were treated like prisoners. Traveling in a bus, too crowded, a young girl died. Ordered to get out, I argued with them. We reached a hospital then were quarantined. We got clean clothes and were guarded. Mahawand is an historical city where people, not government, brought us clothes, food and crying.

Khomeini said, “Those people are our guests.” Then treatment became better. People were still dying; I had trouble breathing; couldn’t feel air in my lungs. How can my family breathe? I couldn’t sleep for 9-10 days. Then the doctor said I was okay.

I couldn’t cry for my lost family. A doctor gave me a pill he said would sleep a horse. I was still ½ dead and ½ alive with my family. People died with smiles because of the chemicals. Parents were laughing when their children died. The gas smelled like rotten apples and orange peelings remind me of the gassing.

I woke up and started crying after 15 days. I cried for one year, like a habit. I got relief by crying. Now we are better except at each anniversary event. I was comforted when Saddam Hussein’s sons were killed. Now he and his wife could feel as we did – no son to carry on name. We didn’t want Saddam Hussein to die as he did; there was no revenge or punishment for what he did to Kurds.

Everyone in the world, with its history and civilization, should know about this story. The whole world should have objected. Kurds never attacked another nation.

Taweila village on the border was destroyed before he came to Halupja. There he had gardens, trees, property. He was also a teacher in Rania where his house was destroyed in 1974 when it was just he and his wife.

Bakrideen continued: If Kirkuk is solved, I’m okay and nothing can happen to me from now on. I will feel safe. We are not afraid of death; we only want support. I and my family are ready to sacrifice for Kirkuk. Your place of birth is very sacred, but I pass by it unaware.

Seven times I was in the army; drafted, and you know what that is like. I lost my younger son, who was everything.

I was 37 years as a teacher in the same school that children were in when they were killed. This daughter (helping to serve fruit and hot chocolate) was born in 1989. We never gave up on life; we had four others too, 13 altogether.

CPT asked about health problems. My wife has vocal cord problems and had surgery in Teheran. Her brother died. Two hundred and ten from my village were victims here in Halupja after moving from the village. 72 were relatives. I have diabetes, can’t hear well or breathe well. It affected my brain too.

Many children are affected too – missing body parts, anxiety problems. There are blood and ovarian cancers. Many women are sterile, but no studies have been done. Average life expectancy is under 50, though it used to be above 70. There are many heart attacks, brain problems.

Halupja is like a nut being cracked between two countries. Now I own nothing. I receive only 100,000 ID compensation per month from the KRG. Kurds have 12% of the Central Iraq Government. “We as a people of Halupja are satisfied with the KRG, especially compared to the previous government. This one comes from our own people – kind of holy – KRG doesn’t have the capacity to rebuild. Charities came and helped to rebuild.

Kurds (the KRG) are contracting for oil; the central government blacklisted those companies. Local oil used to come to our families, but was stopped by US. Now Kurds get cash from Central Government. One barrel is 75,000 and we also buy from a former Soviet country.

The US is paying for bases in other countries; we’d provide it for free. When France, UK and US had the no-fly zone, children were named for Mitterrand, Blair and Bush. I have a US flag which I put up in 2003. We put Bush up with Talibani. We have sympathy for US people – we hope tornadoes won’t hurt them. Kurds welcome foreigners.

Can Textiles Restore a People?

2007-12-15T02:45:00.000-05:00

By Cliff Kindy, December 11, 2007

This morning CPTers visited “The Citadel,” the world’s oldest inhabited city, according to the sign at the entrance. It is true, the ruins that date back to 7000BC are deep within the mound that rises in the center of Erbil and the buildings inside the protecting wall date back only into the last century. The oldest site still being used is a public bath that is less than 200 years old.

But the most interesting spot is the Kurdish Textile Museum, a project of Lolan Mustefa. It is located in a three story building that he renovated. The walls and floors are covered with intricately designed hand-woven woolen rugs, baby carriers, saddle bags, blankets, and sleeping pads. Scattered elsewhere are displays of mittens, hats, ropes, socks and also reed mats that serve as walls of tents. On the roof top is a goat hair tent that sheds rain when the fibers swell to close the tiny openings. Then inside the museum is another room of felt products, again with designs that indicate tribal connections and are filled with symbols, some of which have meanings lost in history.

These handicrafts are the products of traditional nomadic Kurdish tribes. The resources for the crafts are from the animals and plants that surround the migrating tribes as they move from summer pastures in the mountains to the winter camps in the lowlands. The wool crafts are the handiwork of the women and the felt crafts are traditionally done by the men.

Mustefa came by this interest naturally. His grandparents moved from the mountains and pastures to Erbil when Mustefa was a child. They maintained their connection to the animals and continued the weaving practices even in the city. The visits and time he shared with his grandparents are the germ of his interest today.

But a crisis inundated these Kurdish people in 1975 when the Iraqi government began to destroy the villages that border Iran and Turkey to establish a free fire protection zone between Iraq and potential enemies. In those forced moves, families were unable to take with them the handwork and the tools of their trades and as they planted themselves in new locations the skills were lost.

When Mustefa returned from Sweden after some years of school in the United States and a year of travel across Latin America, he began buying rugs and weavings that portrayed the best of those earlier traditions. His family and friends thought he had taken leave of his senses. Jobs were essential and this was not an income producing job! Only his deep commitment and pulsating vision helped him stay with this work.

Mustefa told CPT, “I fear these nomadic traditions have nearly been lost. My vision is that we can recover these lost skills and a living sustainable culture can again become part of Kurdish society.”

Muslim Peacemaker Teams Reports Depleted Uranium Epidemic

2007-12-15T02:42:00.000-05:00

Sami Rasouli, Dr. Najim Askouri and Dr. Assad Al-Janabi, members of Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT) in Najaf, visited with Christian Peacemaker Teams CPT) in Suleimaniya, Kurdish Iraq, on December 10 and 11. The visit was an opportunity to report the recent activities of the respective peacemaker groups and learn to know new people. But the primary activity was a forum on depleted uranium (DU) presented by Drs. Assad and Najim.

Dr. Assad is the director of the Pathology Department at the 400-bed public hospital in Najaf. Dr. Najim is a nuclear physicist, trained in Britain, and one of the leading nuclear researchers in Iraq until his departure in 1998. They have worked as an MPT team documenting information about the health impact on Najaf of depleted uranium weapons used during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars.

This was not an exhaustive study because of the limits of personnel, resources and equipment. But it did rely on accumulated public data, thorough research, and a major contribution of time and energy. The focus was Najaf, a city of over one million people, and the rural areas in the governate. The area is about 180 miles from where DU was used in the First Gulf War.

Starting in 2004 when the political situation and devastation of the health care infrastructure were at their worst, there were 251 reported cases of cancer. By 2006, when the numbers more accurately reflected the real situation, that figure had risen to 688. Already in 2007, 801 cancer cases have been reported. Those figures portray an incidence rate of 28.21 by 2006, even after screening out cases that came into the Najaf Hospital from outside the governate, a number which contrasts with the normal rate of 8-12 cases of cancer per 100,000 people.

Two observations are striking. One, there has been a dramatic increase in the cancers that are related to radiation exposure, especially the very rare soft tissue sarcoma and leukemia. Two, the age at which cancer begins in an individual has been dropping rapidly, with incidents of breast cancer at 16, colon cancer at 8, and liposarcoma at 1.5 years. Dr. Assad noted that 6% of the cancers reported occurred in the 11-20 age range and another 18% in ages 21-30.

There were three locations in Najaf that received special attention from the researchers. Al-Anzar Square is an L-shaped street less than 50 meters long. There were 13 cases in that small area. The individuals were not related, were of different ages and genders and did not have a family history of cancer. Another, Al-Fathi, is a one kilometer rural stretch along both sides of a river. There were 37 cases reported, all varied types of cancer.
The third was Hay Al-Muslameen, a very well-to-do sector of the city. Twenty cases were documented there, mostly among teachers.

Dr. Najim began his report by noting that Coalition Forces, mostly U.S., used 350 tons of DU weapons in about 45 days in 1991, primarily in the stretch of Iraq northwest of Kuwait where Iraqi troops were on their retreat. Then in 2003, during the Shock and Awe bombing of Baghdad, the U.S. used another 150 tons of DU.

When DU hits a target it aerosolizes and oxidizes forming a uranium oxide that is two parts UO3 and one part UO2. The first is water soluble and filters down into the water aquifers and also becomes part of the food chain as plants take up the UO3 dissolved in water. The UO2 is insoluble and settles as dust on the surface of the earth and is blown by the winds to other locations.

As aerosolized dust it can enter the lungs and there begins to cause problems as it can cross cell walls and even impact the genetic system. Dr. Najim shared that one of his grandsons was born with congenital heart problems, Downs Syndrome, an underdeveloped liver and leukemia. He assumes that the problems were related to exposure of the child’s parents to DU. He said, “Cancer is spreading from the conflict area as a health epidemic and will only get worse.” The cancer rate has more than tripled over the last16 years in Najaf, similarly to Kuwait, Basra and Saudi Arabia.

There are nine DU production sites in the U.S., though, at this point, several (like National Lead in Colonie, NY, and Starmet in Concord, MA) have closed because of environmental contamination. Also, there are 14 testing sites for DU weapons in the U.S., though, again, some (like Jefferson Proving Grounds in Indiana) have closed because the military says they cannot be cleaned up.

Using a simple Geiger counter the research team discovered radiation levels of 30 counts per minute in Najaf and 40 counts per minute in the rural areas around Najaf. This compared to 10-15 counts per minute in Suleimaniya and at the Tawaitha nuclear research reactor outside Baghdad.

He concluded his talk by asking, “Would it be just to ask for equipment to continue the testing to locate contaminated sites, a hospital to care for children born with a DU-impacted genetic system, a center for study and decontamination of affected areas, and support for a special environmental department at the local university?” He assumed the U.S. would not respond to a total compensation request, but did assume it was appropriate to make these requests for compensation, to clean the environment and care for those exposed to the DU.

It was a rather diverse audience in Suleimaniya that participated in this DU forum. A local physician who had earlier in his career been the director at the Najaf Public Hospital, students, a local political leader, recently returned Kurds from other countries, and a local UN worker were among those who had questions and responses for the doctors. An important benefit of the forum was to provide a model that any small group of people can duplicate in their own communities as a way to spread awareness of the serious problems as DU blows into neighborhoods across Iraq.

Advent Slips into Kurdistan

2007-12-07T03:32:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

We have had a downpour of welcome rain with accompanying thunder, hail and lightning this morning. It replenishes the reservoir that provides our limited electricity and soaks the earth so that farmers can plant their crops. I saw a farmer broadcasting grain on worked ground last week as we traveled to Erbil.

We spent that day in Erbil meeting with two members of the Kurdish Parliament to share the concerns that independent journalists had asked us to raise with them. Kurdish Iraq is being encouraged to join the "War Against Terrorism," so media freedom of speech is being throttled so that fear might be used to manipulate the population. The youth are so clear about the distinction between their elders who are living in the Anfal (the Kurdish holocaust, especially during the 1980's) mindset and their own vision of focusing on a vision for a different and positive future.

The last two days three members of Muslim Peacemaker Teams were with us. They presented a forum yesterday on their learnings about depleted uranium and its impact on their local Najaf community. They monitored sites across that city and found consistent readings at least double the background readings from the former Tawaitha nuclear site. This parallels similar findings all across south Iraq. Cancer rates are triple the rates before 1991. Rare cancers and cancers in the very young are becoming common. They report cancer spreading across their region as an epidemic. It is more sobering as the two presenters were the director of the Pathology Department at the large public hospital in Najaf and a nuclear physicist who was trained in Britain and was third in the nuclear program of Iraq until he left in the 90's.

Tomorrow we meet with the Minister of Awkaf and Religious Affairs. He will report on his trip to South Africa to learn about that reconciliation process. He wants to find application for that healing model here in the Kurdish area. We in CPT hope that we can encourage that effort as it relates to healing from the horrors of the Anfal and present tensions between locals and the large internally displaced population that has moved into this relatively safer space.

Some items of notice: Iraqi Airways ads are one of the few ads on bus windows. Old men wear the baggy sharwall trousers held up with a bulky cumberbund-type wrap while I see youths in shorts on the streets. There are young university women who appear to be poured into jeans alongside other women who are totally covered except for their eyes. On Fridays the shops that are open are internet cafes, carpet stores, money exchange fronts (The dollar has dropped in the last month from 1250 Iraqi dinars per dollar to 1217 dinars per dollar.), barber shops, and liquor stores. There are men tea shops where folks visit and drink tea, and there were tea shops for women until conservative Islamicists raised concerns. I have seen no donkey or horse carts here in Suleimaniya, a couple bicycles, motorcycles and bikes, and lots of taxis. I did see a Chevy and a Humvee automobile recently, but most of the cars are Nissan, Toyota, VW, KIA, BMW and Mercedes. The shops are filled with goods from China, Turkey, and Iran. If the economy is a sign of what influences this region, the United States is having a very small impact.

So, where is Jesus? Maybe in the guise of the elderly or the mothers with young children begging on the streets? Maybe he comes as an independent journalist? A child with cancer or a baby born with grotesque birth defects because parents breathed in depleted uranium dust? Or perhaps he comes again as a reconciler.

Come Lord Jesus!

Cliff

Broader Kurdish Human Rights Implications

2007-11-27T02:14:00.000-05:00

26 November, 2007

Dear Family, Friends and All Good People,

It is 5:15PM and only the ridges on the ring of hills around Suleimaniya are still distinct in the twilight. We have been here now for just over one month. We finished our eighth Kurdish language lesson this afternoon and have completed learning all the letters of the alphabet and are starting to read in Kurdish. As you might expect, our vocabulary is minimal, so we are not reading novels yet!

I wrote already about the human rights training for security officials and it appears we will be continuing those monthly courses. But human rights have application for others than security officials. We are uncovering: the constraints on freedom of speech for independent media, the violations of women, the tight limits on those who fled the violence in southern Iraq, and the stark contrast between those who are wealthy and those who aren’t.

The Kurdish Parliament is ready to consider a bill that could label any critique or questioning of government as an act of terror. Independent journalists are feeling the noose tighten around them just as media in Pakistan have been throttled by martial law in recent weeks.

The numbers of women’s groups may be an indicator of the problems underlying Kurdish society. There is an alliance of 25 women’s rights groups here in Suleimaniya Governate that we heard about in the last week. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross and one of the translators we met both encouraged us to focus CPT efforts on the treatment of women in this society. We do hear, though you may not, about the killings or women in Basrah as religious militias assume the responsibility to decide what women should wear, whether they should attend school, and what roles they should choose in Iraq, post-U.S. invasion. NBC said Iraq had been one of the most open Muslim countries for women and now it is approaching Taliban constraints in the south.

From Kurdish people we have heard that internally displaced persons (IDP’S) from the south are welcome here, but they will not be allowed to stay. The camps for displaced are
not even putting in water systems or housing other than tents so there will be no misunderstanding. That means that when water trucks hauling water to the barren IDP sites find impassable roads in the winter or the tents cannot keep out the cold, or jobs are not available, the IPD’s are the ones who suffer.

Interestingly, a friend told me that the Agriculture Ministry decided to encourage rural farmers by providing Nissan pickups at a heavily subsidized price. This was to assist farmers in getting produce to markets in the cities. There is lots of produce in the city markets here in Suly, but most of it is from Iran, Turkey and places like Ecuador! There are also lots of used Nissan pickups flooding the buyers market. My friend said, “We need to implement good management practices in Kurdistan. Farmers need other supports if this type of assistance is to achieve its goal.”

While hiking with us in the hills last Friday, Kurdish friends pointed out the fancy home of Jalal Talibani, the President of Iraq and head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK is one of the two main Kurdish parties, the other being the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by the Barzani clan. One of the Barzanis is among the richest people in the world. A local contact says that the monies that come into Kurdish government coffers from the oil wealth of the Iraq government slides easily into party pockets.

So this is a glimpse of some of the difficulties facing Kurdish society. Kurdish people will have to grapple with most of these. Perhaps there are points where it would be appropriate for CPT to offer support and encouragement. That is part of our task here. We are still in the midst of discerning whether and how we have a role.

Blessings of peace to you!

Cliff

Human Rights Security Training

2007-11-25T06:06:00.000-05:00

By Cliff Kindy, November 19, 2007

Venus Shamal is the deputy director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in Suleimaniya. CPT visited her office when they returned to the Kurdish north. Venus invited CPT to assist in the human rights training of 24 security officers from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

CPT hesitated because the training CPT receives does not emphasize an in-depth understanding of the block of human rights principles that has developed globally, especially over the past 60 years. But CPT agreed to this short one hour training module, plus translation, with a focus on CPT’s own experiences.

Venus had mentioned in meeting with CPT that the director of the security office in Suleimaniya, a former teacher, had placed a strong emphasis on human rights after a scathing critique of Kurdish practices from Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department. Three days before the human rights training CPT’s translator invited CPT to visit the office of her uncle, who works in the security office and coincidentally was the head of security in Suleimaniya!

Hours before the training was to start the translator CPT had arranged for the training module called to say that her relative was ill and she must be excused from translating that day. She would contact a friend who was an English teacher in the local secondary school. He came to the CPT apartment and spent an hour going over the first three pages (of a total of ten) that CPT had prepared before they had to leave for the training. Clearly the concepts and vocabulary were new to him.

When CPT arrived at the classroom, the training coordinator explained that CPT would have just one hour with the translation included. Other days a judge, a prosecutor and an NGO human rights worker has provided input for the training. CPT presenters cut sections of their talks which only made it more confusing for the translator, but the session turned out to be adequate. Venus praised Peggy for the stories she had selected from the “Report of 72 Detainees” that CPT had finished in the fall of 2004 in Baghdad.

Afterwards CPTers had a chance to visit with some of the officers. The officers were from various parts of the KRG area. One well-educated officer said, “Security is a very serious concern for Kurdistan.” A day earlier CPT had seen news reporting the detentions of 200 security suspects in four northern governates of Iraq. This was on the heels of a major news headline that 500 detainees had been released from U.S. prisons in Iraq. In the year prior to that release, during the “surge,” 10,000 new detainees had been added to the U.S. detention centers in Iraq.

The four-day training culminated with a graduation exercise during which the head of the security office came to hand out the certificates and shake hands. Interestingly, this same security office is the one that is in the process of evaluating CPT’s request for extended visas, a requirement for this project to continue. At the same time Venus has asked CPT to assist with future human rights trainings of security officers.

How Can We Add Humanity to Numbers?

2007-11-20T01:33:00.000-05:00

Friday, November 16, 2007

Greetings Family, Friends and All Good People,

On the way to the internet this morning I again passed the man who sits at the foot of the stairs leading up. He is the eyes on the world, watching a slice of humanity pass his outpost. Earlier we have just greeted each other; today we talked a bit.

So what would one see watching the world? The news from the Australian Herald Sun (review of an earlier CBS report) says that 1.6 million US military personnel have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. News reports over the past few weeks have been noting that deaths of Iraqis and US military are down in Iraq. The reports only speculate on the reasons, but are clear that the "Surge" is not the cause. One analyst points to the stepping back by the US from bombing Iran and the willingness to add negotiation to military posturing as the reason for the decrease in violence. He suggests that Iran has responded to that initiative by withdrawing support from Shia militias in Iraq. So is the violence decreasing?

The Sun article goes on. Suicides in the 20's age bracket for US returned vets are four times the national average. In 2005 the statistics (how sterile) reported that 120 of these vets each week were committing suicide. That was about the number of Iraqis being killed each day at the height of the killing. Add these numbers to the nearly 4000 US dead here in Iraq and where do you go, what do you do?

When I was in Palestine/Israel many years ago, Israeli suicides in their military were about one per week in a much smaller military. The reports said that IDF forces couldn't live with what they had done in the occupied territories. We have all heard the reports of house raids on Iraqi homes by US military, the tortures at Abu Ghraib Prison, the CIA renditions of detainees to countries where they can be tortured, but we rarely understand the tortured minds that return from the war zones and the impact they have on US society.

This week in Suleimaniya had some positive events. A week ago we met with the head of security, a former teacher. He had taken the initiative a year ago to promote human rights education in the security ministry. CPT was asked by the director of Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, a local NGO, to assist with a four-day training for 24 officers involved in interrogation and investigation of suspects (our piece was just a one-hour block). We found this effort on the part of Kurdish security forces encouraging.

As a ripped off capstone to this week, we heard yesterday a rumor that still in Kurdish Iraq terrorist suspects can be taken away, shot and buried in unmarked graves. It begins to sound to me like the impunity under Saddam Hussein's regime or the impunity of US forces here in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

Where do we go with this, remembering the eyes on the world? I'm convinced it comes back to our personal willingness to extract ourselves from the structures that allow this to continue unimpeded and then to live as clearly as we can the human-respecting relationships that are a total contrast to such inhumanity. We will have to support each other in that process, because, within the US empire, so much of the weight is in the other direction. The future is in your hands

Blessings of peace to each of you!

Cliff

Reflection on Sunday Worship

2007-11-07T08:52:00.000-05:00

Reflection on Sunday Worship
7 November, 2007
By Cliff Kindy

Sunday evening we worshiped at the Chaldean Church in Suleimaniya, Iraq, with about 150 other believers. The formal chants and longer homily seemed, in my state, stilted and unconnected with reality. The service was in Kurdish and Arabic so my attention kept focusing on other thoughts and images. There were two tiny babies, one very quiet and the other making quite a fuss. Many single men were to my right in the rear of the congregation. A young boy caught my eye – he had longer black hair and he kept looking back at me.

Suleimaniya is a city of about 800,000 people with a small Christian population of one hundred families. Khalid, the director of the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, told us earlier in the week that the first Christians came to this city in 1826. Recently nearly 160 new Christian families have moved to the city. They are fleeing the violence that is overwhelming the center and south of Iraq.

The worship ends. We gather out on the darkened plaza. I move to greet the parent of the black haired boy. Rizza is Iranian. His English is better than my Farsi, but we don’t talk much before he departs, perhaps a bit uneasy in this group of new strangers.

Ahmed approaches me. He is working in Suleimaniya now, but had to flee Baghdad because of threats on his life as a result of his translation work with the US military. His family is still in Baghdad and he returns occasionally to be with them. His father is an English teacher here in Suleimaniya, but is now back in Baghdad while his wife has surgery. His father was a translator with DynCorp, a private contractor. Ahmed asks me about working with CPT, His father and other friends also need jobs.

Schools in Suleimaniya operate with three shifts, both the Kurdish schools and the Arabic schools. The latter are especially for the new arrivals who don’t speak Kurdish well. Newcomers are finding houses and hotels in which to stay and new construction is occurring all across the city. But skilled jobs are difficult to find and a friend of CPT says the recent arrivals are welcome but must leave when the situation improves.

I reflect. It is unusual that so many men have come to worship alone. What stories might their lives tell? The Christian population has more than doubled and Christians have traditionally been the ones with connections to the US and Europe. What does this mean for the infrastructure of the city that has to carry this population explosion? What political events bring this father and son from Iran? How will the threatened bombing of Iran by the US impact other families? Babies. We are approaching the season for a baby. What are the times in which we live? Maybe I missed an emotionally charged worship. It is time to connect with God breaking in.

In Suleimaniya!

2007-10-31T13:50:00.000-04:00

Oct 30 2007 Letter

Dear Friends, Family and All Good People,

I am in Suleimaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan. Peggy and I flew out of Chicago October 25 and caught up with Anita and Michele in Amman the next evening. We flew here just over a day later. Hills and mountains ring Suleimaniya (Suly) and about an hour to the east is the Iranian border. Then we are about 100 kilometers from Kirkuk, one of the oil capitals of Iraq.

The Jordan Times had two interesting articles that caught my attention as we passed through Jordan. The first article reported that global oil wells will be producing half of the present level in 2030. The second article highlighted the propaganda buildup for the invasion of Iran by the United States. Both of these issues are having an impact on Kurdistan.

Kirkuk is set to hold a vote on whether the Kurdish region or the central Sunni region of Iraq will have control of Kirkuk. The vote is to take place in December after a census, but it seems unlikely that the latter will happen soon.

The Iranian issue is losing prominence in this area because of the increasing focus on the struggle between the PKK and the Turkish military on the northern border of Iraq. Today the military recruiters were active in the center of this city. We heard the martial music and correctly interpreted what was happening.

Our visas are still in limbo as we wait for the directorate to send our acceptance letter to the airport, so we can get our passports back! A new step in the process is that the Directorate of Awqaf (Religious Trust) and Religious Affairs approves, or rejects, our applications for visa extension to facilitate the process.

Anna just reported to us that the dam on Dokan Lake will cut back its electric production this winter and we will have many more hours without power, unless the hotel chooses to turn on the generator. It may be a dark season. Presently we have about twelve hours of electricity each day, including what we receive from the generator.

Another issue facing this region is the influx of internally displaced persons from the south and center of Iraq. The Iraqi Red Crescent estimates there are about 160,000 displaced into the three governates of Dahuk, Erbil and Suleimaniya. This city of over one million people has received about 100 Christian families and more than doubled the Christian population. The public schools are running three shifts and student numbers are about 40 in each class. It is a big effort for the schools. There are both Kurdish and Arab schools, because most of those displaced to the Kurdish area are Arab speakers.

This part of the Kurdish area is very Kurdish. I have not seen Iraqi flags. I have heard that English is the second language to Kurdish, rather than Arabic. There seems to be a clear movement toward autonomy, if not independence.

Since the issue is less visible here, all of you just make sure the US administration cannot pull off the invasion and bombing of Iran.

Peace and joy to each of you!

Cliff

Return to Iraq

2007-09-19T16:56:00.000-04:00

Friends,

For the past year and a half my CPT work has been focused on a nonviolent
campaign to stop the production of depleted uranium weapons. One year ago
I stepped back from being a full time CPTer so I could continue this
campaign. You can find out about some of our activities at
www.stop-du.org, or www.cpt.org with links to the depleted uranium
campaign.

I am scheduled to leave for Iraq again in about one month with a team of
other CPTers for four months. We will be located in the Kurdish northeast,
a part of Iraq to which I have not been before, though CPT has been there
in the past year.

There is interest in training for a Kurdish Peacemaker team, a need to
monitor a growing and permanent US military presence, difficulties for
Iraqis displaced from the horrors of central and southern Iraq, a conflict
over control of oil-rich Kirkuk, and increasing violence along the Turkish
and Iranian borders. As usual, we go to listen and learn, then to sense
where the Spirit will lead us in new peacemaking efforts.

Because I go as a reservist, I must finance my own way. Air fares are high
- over $2000 to fly to Amman, Jordan, and then into Iraq. CPT offers a
scholarship to reservists who stay over six weeks. But I will still need
to raise about $2000 for my share of four months of CPT work. You may send
support, if you wish, to CPT, PO Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680. Please help
as you are able.

Some of you may be interested in the depleted uranium campaign. We still
need delegates for the CPT delegation to Jonesborough, Tennessee, set for
October 26 - November 4. Can you join or encourage others to do so?
Information, costs ($300), and application forms are at www.cpt.org.

A friend asked why I go to Iraq at a time when the situation is
deteriorating even further. I go in expectation, trusting that the Jesus
way of nonviolence always brings more creativity and positive change to
situations of injustice and violence than the tools of war. The
resurrection for me is a sign that life trumps death. Yes, it is a high
risk project, but a project that participates already in the future for
which we pray and yearn! You may follow my writings at
cliffiraq.blogspot.com.

May God's reign of peace come here on earth as in heaven!

Blessings of joy and peace to you!

Cliff Kindy                                  phone: 260-982-2971

P.S. I am available for speaking venues on my return.

New Adventure

2007-09-17T21:34:00.001-04:00

Going to Iraq, late October to the Kurdish north.

Cliff

#19: No Easter

2005-04-15T16:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

I am home. I have been basking in the quiet of Joyfield Farm and enjoying being with Arlene again. As I left home last November, I was not certain that I would be returning since the security situation was abysmal. It is a gift to have life extended.

Peggy, Anne, and I left Baghdad early the day before Easter on the overland route to Jordan. When we arrived in Amman on Sunday, Easter was still weeks away because Jordan is on the Orthodox calendar. I flew out early Monday morning and arrived in Chicago the day after Easter. I missed Easter. Since our CPT work is so dependent on the drama of Easter - the victory of life over death and of trust over fear, I am still not clear what the implications are of my lost Easter.

I am trying to understand what people in the United States need to hear about Iraq and also where the US public stands on the issues relating to the US presence in Iraq. Is the US public trying to pretend the occupation and the war are not continuing?

My most sobering memory of Iraq was just a news story. The February 2, 2005 issue of Preventive Psychiatry carried a story about the resignation of the Veterans Affairs Secretary. He had stepped down because of the administration cover up of the depleted uranium (DU) scandal. The article reported that of the 580,400 soldiers who had fought in the first Gulf War, 325,000 were on permanent disability in the year 2000. That compares with 5% in the two World Wars of the last century and 10% in Vietnam.

Yes, more veterans live with debilitating injuries now, injuries that would have killed them in previous wars, and perhaps the definition of permanent disability has changed over the years. Nevertheless, the author reports that the US administration has been consistently covering up the facts that large numbers of Gulf War veterans have been impacted by the depleted uranium weaponry that US forces used against Iraq in 1991.

During that war, US soldiers were exposed for only two months. The impact was catastrophic, originally called "the Gulf War Syndrome," with no proof of what caused the symptoms. Apparently we have known since 2000 that our use of DU weapons caused those problems, but have chosen to hide the facts. The present war has US soldiers on the ground for months and years in Iraq where we used the same weapons all over again. It takes a 3 to 5 year period before depleted uranium begins to have its spike on the medical statistics. What have we done to ourselves? What effect will this have on the Iraqi population? What have we done to the world?

The most memorable event of my time in Iraq was our work with the Muslim Peacemaker Team in Kerbala. They have already done far more dramatic nonviolent direct action than anything we have done in CPT around the world. They have dreams of taking their training across Iraq, of sending Muslim Peacemaker teams to Darfur and to the United States. Their efforts to break down the barriers being built between religious and social groups in Iraq may be essential to the future of the country. Their ability to overcome the trauma of twenty years of war and tragedy gives me hope that the trauma we are grappling with in CPT can also serve as the impetus for important nonviolent witness in other places on conflict. MPT has the potential to be one of the transforming agents for Iraq - a catalyst to change the absolute shambles of Iraq to a miraculous salaam across the Arab world.

As I left Iraq, we had talked as a team about the long term goals for our team. One of the items on the list was the plan to place a CPT Iraq team on the ground in the US. We want to focus on escalating the level of nonviolence with the goal of ending the war in Iraq. This activist group in the states can develop a strategy to unite the resistance in the military and the varied nonviolent groups already working at these issues here at home. The legislators who approved the war are now responsible to end it. US citizens must stop the movement of war matériel from US factories to Iraq. What shape will this nonviolent direct action take? Will there be people willing to face the overwhelming power of empire with the vulnerable love of creative nonviolence? Will my Easter finally arrive?

Praying and planning so,

Cliff Kindy

#18: Out of Control

2005-03-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

(Sent by Cliff on Thursday, March 24. Sorry I am late getting this out. Andy Rich)

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

In the last month the media have carried the prominent story of the shooting
of the Italian kidnap victim and her security guard. Almost exactly the
same time, a Bulgarian soldier died as US forces opened fire from a
checkpoint on approaching Bulgarian military vehicles. These stories are in
the news, but the regular incidents of Iraqis in similar situations are
usually untold.

Monday, an Iraqi friend visited to make arrangements for our departure for
Jordan. Almost apologetically, he asked if I would like to visit his cousin
who had been shot by a passing US convoy. I agreed to join him.

Lafta Rahim, 39 years old, with four children, was at home in his bed.
Immediately his smile drew me as we met. Then I noticed contraptions on his
body. His upper left arm had an 8-inch rod parallel to the bone and
attached with six pins and two clamps. His lower right leg had a similar
rod, this time with five pins and five clamps.

Lafta told his story. January 7, 2005, about 6:00PM, he and a companion
were on their way to visit a friend. As they passed some university
buildings, shots rang out. He kept moving to get away from the scene. But
a fusillade of weapons fire stopped his car. It had 52 bullet holes in it.
There were 8 in his body and 5 in his companion's body.

The weapons fire came from a US patrol of Humvees just pulling out of the
university buildings that had become a US base. Apparently, shots had been
fired at the buildings from across the road and the convoy was responding,
but aimed all its fire at the innocent passing vehicles.

Lafta's car was not alone on the street. His car was last in a line of four
cars and the shots from the convoy all hit his car from behind. Five people
in the other cars died and fifteen were injured.

At this point I asked if the soldiers stopped to assist when they saw what
had happened. My friend interrupted, "I was returning from Jordan about a
week ago. Near the 160-kilometer marker, a driver had parked his GMC along
the road to go to the bathroom at the gas station. He returned to see that
the whole side of the empty car had been sprayed with bullets from a passing
US convoy. The soldiers kept moving."

Lafta replied to my question too. "The soldiers did not stop, but two young
people took me to the hospital." He continued, "The bad things Saddam
Hussein was doing, now the US is doing, but now they give us no help."

He and four brothers manufacture metal frames for windows and doors. He has
good family support and has had a good job. Now he will be unable to work
because he is unable to move the fingers in his left hand. His right arm
had earlier been injured in the Iran/Iraq War.

Lafta has a nicely trimmed beard and moustache and a friendly shine in his
eyes. His brother had asked a US army officer, "Why did you shoot
civilians?" The officer responded, "We have in our army too many people
acting irrationally."

Whether from fear, anger, training, or lack of it, these stories of
uncontrolled US shooting at checkpoints or from convoys represent dozens or
hundreds we have taken testimony from or read about in NGO security reports
and Iraqi news.

As we parted, Lafta told me, "I respect and appreciate you. You changed my
view of the United States."

Working for an end to this war of madness,

Cliff Kindy

#17: Celebrating March 20

2005-03-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

March 20 is the date the United States invaded Iraq on the pretenses that Iraq had been involved in the attack on the World Trade Center, had weapons of mass destruction, and was connected with the Al Qaeda terrorist network. All of those accusations were later proven unfounded, but, by then, the war had destroyed the government and the civilian infrastructure of Iraq. There was no way to bring back lives, or even to rebuild the country when most of the investment was for U.S. security.

It was two years ago that the "Shock and Awe" bombing devastated Baghdad. The dead civilians did not count, and were not counted by the United States. Dead U.S. soldiers piled up and the U.S. and Iraqi injured became hidden casualties of war.

Today, noble words flood the airwaves. "Occupying troops should be removed from Lebanon before the elections in May so that the elections can be fair." Do we forget the 160,000 U.S. troops occupying Iraq when the Iraqis voted January 30? Do we ignore the 38-year occupation of Palestine by Israel when their election took place in early January?

"Syria and Iran should stop interfering in the internal politics of Iraq." That is correct. Should we overlook the way the United States has manipulated the political and economic arena of Iraq for U.S. interests?

President Bush has demanded that President Assad of Syria set a timetable for withdrawal of troops back to Syria. Excellent! But when the Iraq Muslim Scholars' Board and Ayatollah Sistani asked the U.S. for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, the U.S. ignored the request. Why do we use this double standard?

Here is a suggestion. President Bush should not be the one to respond to the request for a timetable of withdrawal of U.S. forces. He can't see the hypocrisy of his demands. He hasn't been on the ground in Iraq to understand the implications of his decisions. CPT has been here in Iraq for well over two years. Please hear this proposal.

Let March 20 this year be a celebration of the beginning of the end of the war and occupation. This is the day the U.S. public should proclaim the end of the war.

March 20, the U.S. soldiers may return home. They can stop obeying orders to kill and detain Iraqis. They can lay down the guns and weapons of war and return home to families. Their lives and spirits don't have to be destroyed by the orders to kill.

This will also allow the resistance to lay down their weapons and return to their homes. The fighting between the U.S. and these groups has made life in Iraq unbearable. If these groups stop fighting and all foreign fighters in Iraq return home, life for Iraqis can improve!

This celebration also requires work to be done in the United States. Citizens should place ribbons around the weapons factories to close them down. They only encourage more fighting. The arms merchants of the world must be shut down. Each patriot is responsible to develop work that produces life instead of death.

Each person must encourage soldiers to refuse to obey orders to kill. Cities can celebrate the communities of support for military resisters. Each taxpayer should send a joy-filled greeting card to the IRS as they stop paying half their income tax for war.

On March 20 communities should transform homes and schools into places where children and adults learn to build friendship and understanding across lines of difference. People can invite strangers into their home. They can learn to know foreigners. They can interact across religious and cultural lines.

Volunteer peace teams can nonviolently respond to crisis when invited by local people. That response might be in Darfur or Sri Lanka/Tamil Elam. Tools of war don't repair problems in setting of violence or natural disaster.

March 20 will no longer be a time to remember war, but a time of new beginnings. This year the United States can turn March 20 on its head! The U.S. can start peace in Iraq. It can end the war and bring the troops home now. It can start to put families back together. It can heal the trauma of war and rebuild the cities that have been destroyed by sanctions and war. This year everyone can celebrate March 20 with actions for peace.

Peace to you!

Cliff Kindy

#16: Something Positive

2005-03-10T17:21:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends. Family, and All Good People,

Lores wrote me asking, "When will you write something positive?" Wow! I have really loaded you down with some pretty depressing stuff these last months. Iraq has been moving through some very devastating times, so my writing is an accurate reflection of the situation, but I want to share some positive hope with this letter.

Since early December, we have been fasting and praying every Tuesday for Iraq. We invited you to join us each week and carry out an action on behalf of Iraq each time. That continues until Easter.

Prayerandactionforiraq.blogspot.com

is the site where you will find the reflections that stimulate each week. That spiritual thread has been a stream of hope undergirding our work.

We have been privileged to work with an amazing group of creative, talented human rights workers, women's groups, religious leaders, and concerned folks from every walk of life. That initially was what kept us coming back to Iraq. Now it is the breath of hope that offers a future with promise for Iraq. These are the people who will build the new Iraq. Muslim Peacemaker Teams, the human rights group in Kerbala with which we have worked so consistently, is a bright star in the Iraqi sky.

Each day members of the CPT Iraq team take turns leading our time of worship. We represent a wealth of Christian experience, from a wide range of backgrounds. That daily period anchors us in God's reality and ties us to God's direction. Bombs rock our building during our prayer time, but it becomes clear that God is bigger than empire, disaster, or insurgency. Nation-states issue siren calls to disobedience, but worship stays our hand.

Today Peggy led our worship with a focus on beauty. Anne shared the wonder of the wheeling pigeons over our apartment, with two breaking off from the flock and charting their own course. Sheila shared the symbol that reminds her of a beautiful mentor in her life. Peggy caught the pieces of nature that brighten her heart daily. I shared beauty that comes in contrast to what is around it and comes with power to sustain that which is justice and peace.

Yesterday there were NO long lines of cars waiting to fuel up at the gas stations. This is a first since I arrived last November! Last night there were several periods of electricity throughout the night. There are more electrical towers burning each day and the water level in the Tigris River is rising with the welcome rains.

I will be returning to the US in a couple weeks. If you are interested in scheduling me to share about Iraq or join your group in actions on behalf of Iraq, please be in contact with me at kindy@cpt.org or call (219)982-2971 after April 10.

With a spot of hope,

Cliff Kindy

#15: Hypocrisy and Double Standards

2005-03-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Family, Friends, and All Good People,

There are some good standards being discussed for this region of the world. Hans Blix has called for a nuclear free Middle East. The Arab League had earlier suggested it and the United States, in the lead up to the recent war, called for Iraq to stop its nuclear weapons development and, now, for Iran to make a similar commitment. Blix and the Arab League have been clear that such a standard would include Israel as well. Of course, if that is an important standard for our world, it would be appropriate for the United States to abide by the same standards.

Many countries are now putting pressure on Syria to withdraw its occupation troops from Lebanon, appropriately so. It is right for countries not to be occupied by other countries! If that standard is good, it should also apply to Israel in its occupation of Palestine. It has been ongoing since 1967 and has had many United Nations Security Council resolutions that call for an end to that occupation. Then, if we are noticing occupied countries, we quickly note that the United States has 150,000 troops occupying the sovereign country of Iraq. Countries should not occupy other countries!

The past ten days I have been with part of a CPT delegation in the city of Kerbala. We visited with US State Department official Tom Cooney, three military medical doctors, and four soldiers from Lima Camp, a US base outside Kerbala. On the way out of the base, I fell in with a man from South Chicago in civvies. He had been in both Gulf wars and said he hoped to be in Syria and Iran by 2006. He had refused to shake my hand when we first met, but finally did as we parted. I had been talking about another way to resolve conflict than war and he was unable to even fathom the idea that we could walk outside the base unarmed. As I left, he said, "Keep your head." We also visited the Japanese military base in Samawah, but they were mum, apparently fearing that any news would increase the resistance of the Japanese public to their military presence in Iraq. At the Women's center in Samawah, Ms Bodoor, the director said, "The Japanese came just for America. They are not serious about rebuilding the city."

We entered Kerbala just three days after the Shi'a Muslim celebration of Ashura. Security was tight and the city was crowded with pilgrims from around the world. Imam Husayn is for the Shi'a much what Jesus is for Christians and this is the time and the central location for that recognition. We visited the shrines of Imam Husayn and Imam Abbas and met with the media chief for the Husayn Shrine.

A few of you may have seen the article I wrote about the visit with the shepherd from outside Kerbala. He is still trying to get recognition that he was treated wrongly. Sixteen of his extended family, including his father and mother, died when the US attacked his farm during the war not two years ago. He is Shi'a, the same group that were victims of Saddam Hussein in the 1991 uprising. In fact, near his farm there are six mass graves that he showed to Human Right Watch, International when they came to document his tragedy. He has gotten no help from the US, Iraq interim government, or anyone else. He told us, "Jesus gave his life for peace. My family is given for peace. Let the Christians of the world hear my story. I need nothing [in compensation]; I just want people to understand how it affects my heart."

Our delegates got to meet members of the Muslim Peacemaker Team (MPT) that we had trained in January. We even heard new stories of their nonviolence activity! In December 2003 their human rights office responded after three big explosions shook Kerbala. At the university they calmed the population that thought the Polish and Bulgarian troops had caused the explosion and then intervened when the Bulgarians wanted to open fire on the crowds. Assad told of lots of checkpoint and convoy attacks on Iraqis by the US. Any suspicious movement at a checkpoint is met with deadly force and convoys often deliberately crash into Iraqi vehicles, according to Assad. We have documented countless incidents that supplement his stories.

Human rights workers from Hilla who joined the MPT meeting shared about an incident two weeks earlier when a US Hummer crashed into a pickup and a small bus for no cause, killing one and injuring seven. Less than two days later a car bomb exploded in Hilla, killing 125 and injuring 150. Al Qaeda took responsibility.

The next day we had an invitation to the Diwan of Sheik Ali Kamona. He was the first mayor of Kerbala after the US invasion and this Diwan is a religious, government, and reconciliation meeting place. He was with our MPT folks in uncovering the first mass graves of Saddam Hussein's regime and facilitated the peace agreement between Sistani and Sadr's people when they were fighting in Kerbala in 2003. The talk was focusing on the 1991 mass graves and then melded into the story of an attack by the US on the tents of four Bedouin families who were meeting to decide how to escape the US invasion two years ago. 29 died as US helicopters and fighter jets struck with four kinds of bombs. One survived to tell the story. A HR worker took US military officials out to the site. They ignored it and paid no compensation.

That evening three of us found the site of the December bombing that happened just before we arrived in Kerbala last year. It was near a hotel and targeted one of Ayatollah Sistani's aides. He was not killed, but ten others were killed and many were injured. We visited the hospital just two days after it happened.

As a group we visited some of the mass graves sites around Kerbala that happened during the resistance to Saddam Hussein during 1991. They were places where people were executed and buried, one at the hospital, two outside the city at checkpoints as people were fleeing, another in what is now a parking lot. It would be good to have markers that memorialize the tragedies.

We did re-visit the Iraq Electoral Commission that granted us observer status in Kerbala for the election. They wanted a report about our activities that I have sent off.

A highlight of the week was a meeting with two representatives of Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, who is seen by some as a firebrand cleric who encourages the resistance to the U.S. One of the young men was a veterinary and the other was just elected to the new city council. They shared the overtures they are making with various political and religious factions in Iraq and the efforts they are implementing to rebuild the country. Sadr had encouraged followers (82 did) to give blood for those wounded in the tragic bombing in Hilla instead of following the more bloody Ashura displays of
beating the head with the broad side of a blade and beating one's back with chains until blood is drawn. This last is a common way to express sorrow at the way Imam Husayn was abandoned to his death by Muslim followers. Ashura is the event that commemorates that historical incident. Sadr's group is working in amazing nonviolent ways to bring change and an end to the US occupation. We are intrigued.

A trip to a fruit farm where the apricots, almonds, cherries, and bananas were in bloom was special for me. They fed us the guest dates from the only palm of that variety on the farm.

Hoping that the US will make the changes toward nonviolence that I see Sadr's
group making,

Cliff Kindy

#14: Kindy-Lugar correspondence

2005-02-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

What follows is my response to Senator Lugar's letter about the election here in Iraq. His letter to me follows mine to him. The situation in Fallujah is taking on more import as new revelations are uncovered.

Love to each of you,

Cliff Kindy
__

Dear Senator Lugar,

Yes, your comments about the election in Iraq were accurate. The difficult part is
that you did not include some other pieces of information about the election.

As Christian Peacemaker Teams, we have been in Iraq for three and a
half years. On election day we were in Kerbala as election observers,
approved by the Iraq Electoral Commission. We were only at three polling
sites, but were able to talk with election observers in other
cities and the national electoral commission staff.

The election was carried out as the country was occupied by US troops and
under heavy attack from resistance fighters and a very strong insurgency.
In Anbar Province, two percent of the eligible voters did vote. The boycott
of the election by the Sunni population was nearly total in places like
Fallujah, the Death Triangle south of Baghdad, and the region around Baquba in
the Diyala region. In Mosul there were difficulties with insufficient
ballots, polling places that did not open, and polling staff that were
intimidated and not trained sufficiently because the 800 staff for that area
had resigned under threat. The three hundred election staff in Anbar Province also resigned, though some were used in the national office in Baghdad. Even Baghdad only had a turnout of about 65% of the REGISTERED voters. Eleven suicide bombers and frequent other attacks, in Baghdad alone, made it very difficult to have conditions suitable for genuine elections.

The US assault on Fallujah in November was for the purpose of preparing for
fair and safe elections. You and I still do not know the story of Fallujah.
It is clear, at a minimum, that most of the population fled or was forced
from this city that is larger than Ft. Wayne. Hospitals were attacked,
mosques were demolished, and there are no records of who and how many people
were killed in the assault. Even now, homes are still being destroyed.
Those who have entered speak of a wasteland that mirrors Hiroshima. The
other two locations where US forces fought heavily before the election were
the other two areas that had the lowest voter turnout - the Death Triangle
and Mosul.

In Fallujah, bodies are still covered with rubble. Soldiers warn those
returning not to be risk exposure to items that remain in the city. There
are reports circulating of illegal weapons being used by the US soldiers in
the assault. One writer reports that it was the most massive armored
invasion in history against a population that was equipped with hand
weapons.

Professional medical persons are still being refused entry. The media does
not have free access to document what has happened to the city. Refugee
camps are scattered around Iraq and some of the refugees we have visited (a
refugee camp of 1300 on the campus of Baghdad University) say they will not
return as long as US soldiers remain in the city. We need an investigation
by an international body, perhaps UN, to uncover the reality that continues
in Fallujah.

I would encourage you to visit Iraq and see the quagmire into which the United States is being dragged. There are promises of replacing US troops with
Iraqi security. You should have seen the report that, perhaps, only
5000 of those already trained are capable of carrying that task. Even the Shi'a
population is not supportive of a continuing US military presence. Yes, a
few Iraqis who were in exile have indicated support for an ongoing US
presence, but what about the Iraqi population? Remember, the exiles have
not had a support base in Iraq itself. Your sources of news need to continue to be
very broad. The decisions made in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about
this region will shape the future of both Iraq and the US.

Prayers for your clarity and wisdom,

Cliff Kindy, with CPT in Iraq
__

February 14, 2005

Dear Mr. Kindy,
Thank you for your most recent correspondence. I appreciated the
opportunity to hear about your continuing experiences in Iraq, and
appreciate this opportunity to respond.
As you know, elections in Iraq were completed successfully on January 30,
with millions of people voting. The Iraqi people demonstrated enormous
bravery in turning out at the polls in spite of the threats levied by
insurgents. The scope of these elections included a 275-person National
Assembly, as well as regional bodies (provincial assemblies in each of
Iraq's 18 provinces and a Kurdistan regional assembly). The elected National
Assembly will select a Presidency council, comprising a president and two
deputy presidents, who then choose a prime minister by consensus.
Following the elections, I was interviewed on a national news program
regarding the outcome in Iraq. I was asked about our long-term involvement
in Iraq. I said that we will remain in Iraq for a few years if necessary,
but that "If the training moves ahead, if the conference of the assembly
begins to have credibility, Iraqis are going to negotiate with us for a .
withdrawal . the whole idea of occupation will dissipate to the extent that
there is a successful assembly, successful security." Interim President
Allawi has said that by the end of 2005, there will be 200,000 Iraqis with
sufficient training and ability to monitor and protect voting citizens and
to secure the country.
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will closely follow
these elections and other events in Iraq. During the last two years the
Committee has held 24 hearings on Iraq to facilitate a wide-ranging public
dialogue on the war, and to examine the details of Administration policy.
The Committee's most recent hearing on Iraq occurred on February 1, where we
discussed the outcome of the elections and the road ahead. You may be
interested to visit the Committee website, where you can read more about
this and other hearings pertaining to Iraq, at www.foreign.senate.gov
. I appreciate your continuing interest in
Iraq, and thank you, again, for writing.

Sincerely,

Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator
RGL/ewe

#13: Safest City in Iraq

2005-02-10T10:25:00.000-05:00

Received Feb. 9, 2005

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

Yesterday I read a news article that said Fallujah is the safest city in Iraq. It went on to say that 8000 people had voted in the election, in this city of 300,000 people. This observation is a bit sobering. The assault on Fallujah was defended last November as a way to insure safe and free elections. In reality, the assault led to a massive decrease in voters and then, on a larger scale, the reason Sunni voters across Iraq boycotted the election entirely.

The refugees from Fallujah that we visited on Monday told us that homes are still being destroyed there. It can take them more than twelve hours at checkpoints getting into the city. Once in, there is little water, electricity, or ability to move around. Their shops and businesses have been destroyed. They reject a permanent return until the US soldiers leave their city.

When we returned from Kerbala, we found our main land phone and our refrigerator not working. The landlord replaced our frig in three days and the phone was operating again in four. We left Baghdad, before the Muslim Peacemaker Team training in Kerbala, when the water supply for this entire city of Baghdad was off. It was off for TEN DAYS! This is a city bigger than Chicago. It is still before noon here and we have had over six hours of electricity from the grid since midnight. That is an improvement!

Additionally, our email has been working well this past week. It is a dramatic change from the four days around the election in Kerbala when we had no access to working email lines. Our driver says that lines for gasoline are still three or four kilometers long.

A delegation is coming to Iraq for the first time since last April. It is good to have the interest from delegates in spite of the difficulties of logistics and security. The delegation will be in two locations and then share from the varied experiences to enable a broader understanding of the situation in Iraq.

Seventeen of the twenty-five Ministers of the interim government hold US passports, according to our landlord. Most of the past governing council and of the present interim government leaders were in other countries in the last decades. The top names on the main party candidate lists for the election are exiles who were outside the country. Those who lived here during the wars, the sanctions, and the last years of the invasion have often said to us that these returning people don't understand the situation in Iraq very completely.

The promise now from the US administration is that US soldiers will leave when Iraqis can care for their own security and when the insurgents are controlled. I think we have missed a step in the process.

The foreign insurgents (if the US foreign fighters are not included) are a small set of the much larger group of people who are the resistance to the US occupation. Imagine if Nigeria, Cuba, Canada, or North Korea had invaded and occupied the United States, but not at our request. As long as they stayed in the US the resistance would continue growing. It would not make sense for the Cubans or others to say, "When the fighting dies down we will leave." If leaders who had lived in North Korea or Canada were elected and said, "We will ask the troops to stay for some years yet," there might not be approval from across the population. The same principles hold true in Iraq.

Here in Iraq even most of the Shi'a population wants the US soldiers to be pulled out. It is time for Iraq to be for Iraq, not for outside countries and interests. The longer US troops stay in Iraq, the larger will grow the resistance.

Safety for Iraqis will not come by killing more US soldiers. Nor will it come by US soldiers killing more Iraqis. Fallujah might be the safest city in Iraq, but the way to bring safety to Iraqis (or to US soldiers) is not to level every city as the US did to Fallujah.

Building safety calls for changed ways of living, nurturing friendships, breaking down enmities, building homes and jobs, not destroying them. This is the way I want to work for safety.

Blessings,

Cliff Kindy

#12: voting

2005-02-08T13:17:00.000-05:00

(Apologies from Andy Rich: Though Cliff sent this on Feb. 1, for some reason it went to my junk mail folder. I didn't find it until Feb. 5. So this is late.)

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

The Iraq election has just taken place. CPT is still in Kerbala where we
have observed a smoothly run election. But the information we are
gathering from the rest of Iraq portrays a catastrophe. If this election
had taken place in the United States, a revolution, coup, or collapse
would have occurred.

Alan Slater and I have been talking together, trying to picture what this
election would look like, superimposed on our respective countries.
Listen carefully as I draw the picture.

In one region of the country, Atlanta and Birmingham with their
surrounding areas, the vote went smoothly. High percentages, 80 – 90
percent, of the population voted and most had registered in advance of the
election.

In the largest city, New York, thirteen suicide bombers struck polling
sites, occupation targets, and security personnel. Resistance fighters
shot down an occupying plane and fifteen soldiers died. The city was in
turmoil as the election proceeded. It was reported that 65% of those
registered, voted.

Numbers are being used to manipulate the appearance of the election. A
Canadian spokesperson reports that 90% of the US citizens in Canada, who
are registered to cast their ballot in the safety of Canada, voted in the
election! But only 10% of the eligible citizens had registered. This
means that only 9% of the eligible U.S. citizens in Canada voted in the
election! This manipulation of percentages continued to be used from
other polling sites.

In the Death Triangle around Baltimore and Philadelphia, there was no
voting. The same is true in Dallas and Houston and also Kansas City – all
places the occupation troops had invaded to make sure that the election
could take place smoothly and on schedule! Oh, in the Dallas/Houston
area, the report was that 65% voted. No explanation that the city was a
wasteland, leveled by the troops that made it safe for an election, and
the people were mostly refugees in other places.

In Chicago, the third largest city, initial reports were that 72% of those
registered, voted. No explanation that twice all the 800 election staff
had resigned under threat from the resistance. No explanation that this
had earlier been displayed as a city that supported the occupation, but
had become a place where even most of the local police force had deserted
from the occupation as the resistance had strengthened their fight. What
really took place in Chicago? How many people voted?

In San Francisco and Los Angeles, where the occupation regime was running
more smoothly under the Japanese and the British, it was reported that
only 60 – 65% of registered voters went to the polls. The Japanese had
developed good relations with the occupied population by repairing the
infrastructure that was being destroyed elsewhere across the country and
the locals were much more supportive of this occupation presence. So why
was there such a low voter turnout?

In the U.S. Northeast the voter registration and turnout to vote was very
high. This area has been basically autonomous since the 14 years of
sanctions were placed on the U.S., so they are much more supportive of the
occupation and the election may allow them to declare independence along
with the Canadian Maritimes.

It appears at this early stage, after votes have been counted, but maybe
ten days before the election results will be reported, that the two
parties most likely to support the continuing occupation will sweep the
election. It is not clear why there is a delay in the reporting. Nor is
it clear how the candidates who support the occupation can represent the
population, which has been adamant (over 80% demanding an occupation
pullout) that the occupation troops must leave right after the election.

Yes, the election went smoothly in Atlanta, Birmingham, and the Northeast,
but the reporting about the election seems to cover up major, even
disastrous, flaws in this election that was set in place by the
occupation. The one bright side of the election is that it may be used by
the occupation itself to justify a quick withdrawal from the country.
Some of the occupied people have been allowed to express their vote freely
and, in a roundabout way, may achieve their desire to bring an end to the
occupation!

Hopefully you can see in this rough outline a rugged picture of what has
happened in Iraq with the election. This picture is based on our own CPT
experience, news from around the world, sources in the local and national
election commissions, and sources among the local and national election
observers.

Voting with my life,

Cliff Kindy

#11: A Way Out

2005-01-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

(This letter was received on Jan. 19, 2005.)

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

This morning, January 19, there were six explosions before 9AM. This is the fifth day that Baghdad has been without public water. Several days ago our landlady asked us to conserve water because the tanks on the roof are our only supply. These events are bad for the people of Iraq and all foreigners in Iraq, but another story probably has more damaging long-term significance for Iraq and the world. Check out Gwynne Dyer, Future Tense.

On January 17, Seymour Hersh posted an article titled "The Coming Wars" for the New Yorker Magazine. Hersh details the consolidation of intelligence analyses and the ensuing covert operations within the office of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Hersh lists Algeria, Yemen, Syria, Malaysia, and Tunisia on the list of targets for those strategic efforts. Hersh makes clear that Iran is already being targeted by covert operations from this office, and that there is no congressional approval or oversight of this new policy.

I realize that half of the US population does not approve of present policy in Iraq and may not give their support to the developments in the above paragraph. I heard today that a BBC worldwide poll indicated that a vast majority of the global population feels the world is a much more dangerous place since the US invasion of Iraq. So. And.?

I have just re-read A Man to Match His Mountains, about Badshah Khan, and A Force More Powerful, about the nonviolent movements that have shaped history in the past century. They depict the creative genius of unarmed people facing Nazi Germany, powerful dictators, overwhelming terror, massive empires, and brutal injustice; and successfully bringing the changes they intended. The stories show that the results depend on careful analysis, strategic planning, undergirding faith, and bold action. Changes came as a few people began to work for the changes they wanted and others joined them.

In our circumstances there is hope only if people begin to act for change. It begins, perhaps, as we realize that we all are complicit with the violence and also the victims. A December 16 New York Times article (thanks, Gene) about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicates that one third of our recent war veterans may be impacted by PTSD, as in Vietnam. The churches and our home communities must become the healing places for this tragedy. The Iraqi population carries the wounds even more visibly. We start that healing by getting our military out of Iraq and other zones where we are nurturing terror.

It will require us to be willing to take risks, major risks. We must stop our complicity at every point we see it. Otherwise leaders will say, "The election is a confirmation of our policy in Iraq." Half our tax monies continue to go for war-related policies. We must stop paying, whatever the consequence, or we affirm the results to Iraqi victims and US soldiers. We can support the growing resistance within the military, a group that feels very alone. Our tools are endless - letters, sermons, leaving jobs that somehow support the ongoing violence, pictures drawn by school students of their friends in other countries, Women in Black standing across the battle lines as the mothers of the dead and injured, poems that unleash our deepest emotions, strikes that stop the production of war or impede the normal operation of war and covert operations, marches that break through the fear of terror, rebuilding our local communities - in the US and Iraq - as places that nurture and support all human beings.

It will necessitate taking back the decisions that affect our lives. The medical decisions must be close to those who are the patients and care must be available to all. Job creation must be local and the decisions about a business cannot be placed in some faraway corporate office that will not care about the consequences for the local people and the local environment. Income can no longer be the focus of our time and energy. We must focus on the future we are building. Our churches, schools, and families must nurture communities that care for everyone. Our lifestyles must not require a military to defend them, so we must make dramatic changes. Where will you start? What support group will hold you accountable?

Our actions must always be nonviolent. For those of us who are Christian, we must model Jesus' forgiveness and love of enemy. Similar religious tradition or an understanding of our common humanity undergirds others. God's Spirit grants grace to our diversity in this unified endeavor. The perpetrators of this global nightmare must also be granted space to change. Everyone is needed to imagine a different future and all our energies will be needed to do the work that lies ahead.

This morning Hussain said he is working for a future that he trusts his daughter and son will see. I suspect we already participate in that future by the Way in which we work toward the future. In my peacemaking work, that has been the reality that has sustained me.

In that Way and toward that goal,

Cliff Kindy

#10: How Will They Treat Us?

2005-01-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

Received Jan. 14, 2005.

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

Desmond Tutu writes, "If the victim can forgive only when the culprit confesses, then the victim would be locked into the culprit's whim, locked into victimhood, whatever her own attitude or intention. That would be palpably unjust."

Iraq needs to move beyond the injustice of the US invasion and occupation, but it must be in Iraq's own time. Yes, the US manipulated the causes for the war, all later shown to be false; yes, the occupation has been brutal and further destroyed a society already devastated from twelve years of US sanctions. But Iraq will recover only as the people can move beyond anger and begin the process of rebuilding their lives and society, in their own creativity and with their own resources.

The madness goes on, though. Remember that map of 18 US prisons in Iraq that I mentioned last week? Four of those have sections specifically for interrogation, operated by intelligence units. Almost every US military base here in Iraq also has its own interrogation personnel and a temporary holding facility. The stories surfacing in the media about US treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo get worse every day.

Our CPT work involves regular contact at the Iraq Assistance Center (IAC) in the Green Zone. An Iraqi was helping us try to find a young man who had disappeared in US custody. The young man was in business and had a new car. The resistance kidnapped him and stole his car. At a checkpoint, the resistance dropped him, took the car, and escaped to save themselves. Media filmed US forces taking the young man away in a wheelchair. Now he has disappeared and his father has been persistently trying to find him.

The IAC person told us to just keep coming back. Maybe he would show up. We went then to talk to US staff person at the parallel organization for detainees. His "hopeful" comment to us was that he had been with a family that had persisted patiently for over a year, and finally their family member appeared in the system. What kind of bumbling organization is it that allows a human being to disappear under their care? What kind of accountability should Iraqis be able to expect? What do the human rights accords say? How would we want to be treated in a similar situation? Are we setting the standards for future treatment of prisoners as yesterday's Human Rights Watch Report indicates?

A general from the US Army Corps of Engineers reported that electricity production is lower than any point since the 2003 war, and below what was being produced by Saddam Hussein under the stringent sanctions. We have had days of just two to four hours of grid electricity. Some communities have been three days without electricity. Our landlord has a cache of diesel fuel that we are using now to give us electricity at night, because his son and daughter are studying for university exams. He has been unable to buy more and warns that when we run out, that is it.

The military officer, who demanded that Tom delete the photo he took of US soldiers playing with the children, came back to the apartment. He had a unit of soldiers in the next block with some of the neighborhood children. Would I be interested in taking a picture? I couldn't because Sheila and Maxine were gone and I needed to cover the apartment.

Sheila left Tuesday for language study in Amman as Peggy Gish and Allan Slater came to join the team. We try to coordinate and minimize trips to and from the airport because it is one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in Iraq.

I read the Bhagavad Gita, with an excellent introduction by Juan Mascaro, this week. It is an amazing story of the many faces of God. It parallels the Muslim ninety-nine names of God. In Christianity we talk about the different roles or ways we understand God, but I have not usually been so specific. Try to list one hundred words or phrases that describe God for you. Are mercy, justice, and forgiveness in your list? In these times we need to model these attributes of God.

The gentle love of God to you,

Cliff Kindy

Cliff #9: Nonviolent Power

2005-01-05T14:01:00.000-05:00

Received Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

The good news is that we had 5 electrical generating towers burning a week ago and one day we had 17 hours of electricity from the grid! The bad news is that two days later the oil refinery in Dura got bombed and the fuel capacity for the electricity plants in Baghdad was knocked out and we have had only 3 - 7 hours of grid per day since then. The good news is the warm weather and sunshine that came since Christmas. The bad news is that we have had so many suicide bomb blasts and so much helicopter and fighter jet traffic that the smog blocks the sun. But I am alive, my spirits are good, and spring is just a month or so around the corner!

This week we have received more information about Fallujah and the 200,000 refugees who fled that city of 300,000. We have visited refugees, gotten our own reports from Red Crescent, and talked with Iraqi and foreign journos who have been in the refugee camps. I read a report that said the US invasion of Fallujah was one of the largest armored invasions in history. The resistance was well dug in and able to knock out Abrams tanks with shoulder fired rockets. Many US soldiers and resistance fighters died, but the civilian population bore the brunt of the catastrophe. The resistance still controls large sections of the city. Little infrastructure is left, half of the 90 mosques are totally destroyed, reports I have seen mention
that homes are unlivable, belongings have been trashed and burned. Detainee numbers have nearly doubled, we heard today from a human rights worker west of Baghdad. He says that the prisons and the treatment of detainees by the US is the best training camp for the resistance. Our contacts in the US military and Iraqi government tell of two prisons; this colleague shared an al-Harat report from Britain detailing 19 US prisons across Iraq and 150 contractors working on another huge one near Nasariya. We have not been able to get reliable reports of what is happening with these detainees from recent operations. This HR worker says many are being held long-term in US military bases so they are not listed on the detainee files.

As the difficulties continue in Iraq, three Iraqi families stopped this week to visit and encourage us. One man calls us each day to see how we are and if we need anything. We visited the Sunni mosque in Adhamiya where the sheik welcomed us warmly. He remembered that he had not seen me personally for ten months and offered condolences for the death of a CPTer who had worked with us last year.

Our Kerbala human rights colleague stayed overnight again on the return from Suleimaniya. We are making plans for a training to nurture a Muslim Peacemaker Team. Some of you ask what that entails. Let me offer more specifics.

First, we need to be nurtured by the stories of nonviolence. The group in Kerbala has done five dramatic nonviolent actions, some totally successful, others less so. We must deconstruct those actions to learn the pieces, what works and what doesn't. Second, we must recognize that nonviolent power is much greater than the power of weapons. Recent history shows that the tools of war do not work - see the story of the US assault on Fallujah above. That nonviolent power is available to each of us. Third, what are the spiritual disciplines and routines that undergird this work of nonviolent peacemaking? How do we strengthen our spirituality for the towering tasks we face? Fourth, how do we build the confidence we need as peaceworkers to be able to take the initiative from the actors of violence? What are the constructive social programs that build the future that we want to see? Fifth, how do we learn the logistics of decision making, holding an effective meeting, dividing up roles and tasks, increasing skills with camera, documentation, media, and team dynamics.

Does that help? What counsel and suggestions do you want to add? How will you do this in your own community? Will you be able to take back control of the decisions that impact your life?

May God's power flow through you,

Cliff Kindy

#8: Spiritual Christmas Action

2004-12-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

Received Dec. 27.

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

It is a rainy Christmas Day in Baghdad. Rain is a special gift in this arid land, so I will rejoice with the Iraqis for this Christmas present from God. Our team arrived back in Baghdad from Kerbala just before noon today. We had been there since Tuesday.

There have been some very heavy weeks since I last wrote. Two explosions in Kerbala and another in Najaf killed over 60 people. An attack at a US military base in Mosul killed over twenty soldiers. Attacks in Baghdad continued the assault against election workers and those working with the US occupation.

This week, near Kerbala, at a refugee camp we talked with a young man who had been back to visit Fallujah in the last four days. His report was that the resistance still held the city. A woman said the bombs fell like rain. I was skeptical.

Then I saw the NCCI (NGO coordinating committee for Iraq) report yesterday. "2000 people will be returning to Falluja on Dec 22." Then in the next paragraph: "A high ranking ING (Iraq Nat'l Guard), Ismail Fayyad, told the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent: 'We made a big mistake when we told them [Falluja refugees] that they could return to Falluja. I think now that the battle has begun all over again in Falluja or that history has taken us back to the first day of the battle once again. They [the resistance] are like water, as soon as you grab hold of them, they slip from your hands'"

Is this accurate? We hear reports of heavy bombing raids over Falluja in the press and hear the bombers in the skies over Baghdad. Early reports in November said only mopping up operations were left, but still, in late December, there are reports of house-to-house raids and searches, and reports of soldiers killed, and ING not being able to carry security roles. This is well over a month after the assault started with massive technical and personnel superiority and it drags on. Something is wrong with the picture.

With the capture of Saddam Hussein, the turnover of power, the assault on Fallujah, and now, the upcoming election, the US administration promised that the situation would change. Yes, it was so. At each point the situation for Iraqis and the US occupation has changed - the situation has deteriorated.

This week made it clearer. For these last five days in Kerbala, there were no fighter jets and helicopters in the air, the daily mortars and suicide explosions ended, gunshots did not echo through the air, and I only saw two US convoys on Kerbala streets. It doesn't have to be madness and violence.

The question that I face daily is: How do the people of Iraq take the initiative away from the two sides that keep increasing the violence? How can the violence of both the US occupation and the forces of resistance be de-railed?

CPT went to Kerbala to explore ways to nurture a Muslim Peacemaker Team. A human rights office there has worked with us regularly, and we with them - praying at the mass graves, vigiling against the US detention and mistreatment of thousands of innocent Iraqis, and joining the human rights folks in the mass nonviolent march, called by Ayatollah Sistani, that stopped the violence of the US military and Sader's militia against the city of Najaf.

This visit we talked about CPT at a university. Students are intrigued and wanted to learn more. A local community action club heard about our university visit and came to explore options. We also visited the Fallujan (Sunni population) refugee camp an hour from Kerbala. A poor Shi'a village, Ein Tamer, offered hospitality to the refugees. Our human rights contacts were among the ones who bridged the religious walls.

How can a Muslim Peacemaker Team expand the nonviolence work that is already happening? Which parties will be active in peacemaking efforts? How will it become more intentional and organized? Is training necessary? If so, what will it look like? What actions will build confidence for MPT? How can CPT learn from this process? Can CPT experience in conflict zones help MPT? Can we work together across religious boundaries in such a way that our interchange can be a model for other places in our world? How does our spiritual undergirding carry us in this path?

Toward this spiritual Christmas action,

Cliff Kindy

#7: Iraqi High

2004-12-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

Received Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004

Iraqi High

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

I am riding an emotional high today! We met our friend Hussain from Kerbala this past weekend. His travel went well both directions and we spent quality time discussing how to nurture the development of a Muslim Peacemaker Team. We will go as a small exploratory team to Kerbala next week to meet with various religious, professional, and educational groups who have expressed interest in this idea. Those days of experience will serve as the basis for making a decision whether to have a longer-term presence there for this work.

Today, one year ago, Saddam Hussein was apprehended. That was the focus of US efforts, but now thousands more Iraqis have been rounded up as enemies. It appears he was not the only objective. The living situation for most Iraqis is much worse than a year ago and I see no end to continuing detentions and continuing resistance.

Two years ago, about this time, the US, through the UN, had demanded a full accounting of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Any omission would be grounds for war. Iraq sent 11,800 pages documenting the removal and demolition of their weapons. We now know that the UN and US inspectors believed that all WMD in Iraq were gone by 1994. The US released 3,800 of the pages to the UN, but detoured the rest into some US black hole. Do you know what those 8,000 pages said? Why did the US keep them from the UN? There are some hints of answers to those questions in Oil, Power, and Empire, by Larry Everest, page 116.

Since I am asking questions, it seems that oil was one of the factors leading to the decision by the US to have a war. How much petroleum does the US use for the military bases that the US has in 120 countries around the world? Or, just here in Iraq, how much petroleum is required to fuel the jets, planes, humvees, helicopters, and other military transport vehicles that are constantly in the air and on the roads? Here are some research projects for you students out there.

This morning in worship Maxine led us further in the study of Daniel. Today we read chapter three about the huge statue that King Nebuchadnezzar built on the plain of Dura. Since I was here before the fall of the previous regime and now during the US occupation, it is clear, as Doug pointed out this morning, that statues are still being built and lots of people are still worshiping what is not God.

A conscientious objector under Saddam Hussein visited this week. He was very depressed. A friend of his had loaned him money, but now wants it all back, immediately. His friend's calling him names led to a fight in which he injured his friend, who was hospitalized. His friend may be afraid of him; he doesn't want him around. In fact, he has asked for his imprisonment. The CO spent very difficult time in jail, often tortured and deprived. He is to be jailed December 25 because he doesn't have the money. He asks, "Where is justice, law? When I am sleeping in the streets, where is justice? When they cut my ear for refusing to fight in war, where was justice? I don't have a job, a salary, or a house. Where is the law?" He ended with an Iraqi parable: Time is like a sword; if you don't cut it, it
will cut you.

After I wrote the above, the CO friend visited again. Someone paid his debt! He is ecstatic! Suddenly the world has a happy ending.

Yesterday and today as we were in worship, explosions rocked the city at the same time. Yesterday, there were 13 dead and 15 injured, victims of a suicide bomb attack at a checkpoint into the green Zone. I haven't heard about today, but it appears to be the identical location.

Last Thursday, Sheila and I returned from a meeting with a human rights office to see a humvee parked at the end of our street. Before I could check it out, five soldiers were at our door, demanding to be let in and shouting about a camera. Tom came down from the roof just then and I began to understand that he had snapped a photo of the soldiers playing with the children on the street. Tom has been in the Marines, so was anxious to show a gentle side of military life as a contrast to the focus on killing. Jeff, the charge officer of this First Airborne unit, forced Tom to delete the picture, but CPT will vouch for them playing with the children on our
street!

So, nurture the gentle that is in you and others. Dump that which is not. Jesus was clear - goodness is always more powerful than badness. Ride that Iraqi high!

Cliff Kindy

#6: Violence is Passe

2004-12-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

(Received from Cliff Kindy, Christian Peacemaker Team member in Iraq, on Monday, Dec. 6, 2004. The letter ends abruptly without a signature; I don't know why. )

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

This has been a week with varied activities. Though I have been spending much more time at the apartment than I usually do, I have not been bored. I have been doing lots of reading - a confession.

Our meeting with the Communist Party was interesting. They had been banned by the right-wing nationalist Ba'ath regime; so many had spent years in exile, if they survived the purge. The CIA had passed on to the security apparatus a list of names that fueled the killing of many party members. Shakir al-Dujaily was clear that the political process is always a better way to bring change than the ways of violence being used by many actors here in Iraq. He is an optimist, feeling that the political process and election that the US occupation started will be quickly out of their hands and Iraq will soon be genuinely autonomous and the occupation forces will be asked to leave.

Kidnappings were a theme this week. The husband of family friends of our landlord was kidnapped and released only after the family paid a $20,000 ransom. They left for Jordan. A news article carried the details of seven kidnappings daily here in the capitol. Then, coming home from church tonight, Maxine and Sheila heard of a neighbor man who had been kidnapped up north in Kirkuk, while working.

The London Times did an article on CPT this week. The reporter, Stephen, focused on our being one of the few, or last, NGO's in Baghdad. He had experienced a kidnapping in the spring, taken first by robbers and then transferred to a political group that supported the previous regime. The kidnappers released him and a colleague after 10 hours.

Thursday was a day full of explosions. At 10:20 there were four mortar strikes in the Green Zone. At 10:45 there were four explosions close to us, about a block away. One was a Kashuka rocket that hit a car and injured two people. We had planned a meeting with a local Muslim cleric to talk about justice and peace in the Koran, but he was unable to come. Sheila and I visited an art gallery where a friend had displayed her paintings. We had a movie night and watched The Cradle Will Rock, about the National Theater Program, a public works effort during the Depression. Tom's daughter, Kassie, recommended it.

The next day there were two major attacks, one on police station on Airport Road when 10 police died and another at a Shi'a mosque in North Baghdad where 30 died. Two days earlier Maxine and Tom had visited the largest Shi'a shrine in Baghdad, where a cleric friend is responsible. US convoys regularly travel the road to the airport because of the bases and prison camps at the airport. Yet, the 100 insurgents mortared the station, released the prisoners, looted the arsenal, and then killed the ten police. There are not very many locations that the resistance cannot take over as they wish.

An Australian friend visited to share about the transformed situation of the street boys she and others had been working with last year. They are in school, work, and sports. Hugs, cuddles, and love did miracles. There are three major fun parks here in Baghdad, but they are now US military bases. A local Iraqi group wants her to raise money to build another place where children can play.

Saturday, a huge car bomb hit the police station across the road from the Green Zone, killing seven people. Our rooftop is the place from which we usually can monitor nearby explosions and attacks. US jets and helicopters are daily features in the Baghdad sky, reminding me that I only saw three flights of Iraqi jets in the skies during the five months I was here before "Shock and Awe" hit Baghdad.

Hussein was to be with us this weekend so we could make plans for an exploratory visit to Kerbala to test the viability of a Muslim/Iraqi Peacemaker Team. He didn't come. Phones are down to Kerbala, so we don't know what happened. NGO security says that the roads between us are not safe because of the US military house-to-house sweep in the region south of Baghdad controlled by Wahabi militants. It has parallels to the assault on Fallujah, but I doubt you have heard much about it.

That meeting in Kerbala to encourage the developing movement of nonviolence feels very important to us as we work with Iraqis to take the initiative away from the actors of violence. It is clear that violence will not bring democracy or justice. It is a tool that does not work, a tool that destroys people and societies. Nonviolence must replace violence as the way for people to relate with each other in settings of conflict.

Cliff #5: Difficulty Will Make Us Stronger

2004-11-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

November 28, 2004

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

It is a bright, sunny day in Iraq. I can see my breath on the rooftop and it is 62 degrees in the office. Three mortars and what looks to be a car bomb have hit the Green Zone already this morning before 9am. The interim Iraqi Government building is a target, judging from rooftop observation.

Shortly after arriving in Iraq, I finished reading Robert Cole's The Moral Life of Children. On page 93 he quotes from George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier: '.many of the qualities we admire in human beings can only function in opposition to some kind of disaster, pain, or difficulty.' Cole goes on to argue about the word "only," based on his own observations of children in very tragic circumstances.

Orwell's words resonate with my experiences here in Iraq. Sheila and Tom visited Father Yousif, a Dominican priest, at St Joseph's Church this past Wednesday. He spoke of Gandhi, King, and Mandela as people who had the courage to dream, then concluded with, "Iraq needs such people." Across Iraq, people are creatively rising to the challenges that Iraq faces. The difficulties make us more than we would usually be.

Yes, obstacles can drive us to flatten Fallujah, if it stands in our way, but they also draw from us the bold nonviolent opposition voiced by the peaceful crowd calling for the end of the US occupation - an act in volatile Adhumiya District that impelled the US tanks to withdraw. Last year we CPTers had identified Husain, a teacher, human rights worker from Kerbala, as the next Badshah Khan (Gandhi's colleague from north India) of Islam. Husain has been birthed from the difficulties. What need is there for a Gandhi, King, or Mandela if life is smooth?

This week there is rising resistance to the scheduled January election of an Iraqi National Assembly of 275 members. There had been a boycott call from Sunni parties as the assault on Fallujah developed, but now even major parties are joining the push. A friend who works regularly with US soldiers and contractors wants the election to go as scheduled because "It is a start." Our Thanksgiving dinner degenerated into a disagreement between the Sunni and Shi'a guests over the timing and validity of the election. It was interesting to note that the Iraqis had the deepest thankfulness to express as we shared around the table!

We hear of more kidnapped Iraqis. Friends of close neighbors experienced a kidnapping with a ransom of $20,000. The husband was released with the payment and the family plans to move to Jordan. Another friend has two co-workers who were kidnapped recently. They released themselves (!) unharmed. The 11-year-old son of another friend lives with his grandmother so he is closer to his school and less likely to face kidnapping.

Join us for our Tuesday fast, prayer and action day. Check http://prayerandactionforiraq.blogspot.com for the reflection focus and the suggested action. Feel free to invite others to join us weekly until Easter.

We downgraded our security alert yesterday. We won't change our cautionary, low profile presence, but we want to recognize the change in danger that we sense.

This week we have been only 2 - 6 hours daily on the electrical grid. Some communities in Baghdad get only 1-2 hours daily. On a trip to spend the night with friends, Tom and Maxine noted a line of cars to a gas station that was two to three miles long. We have not been able to get gas for the cook stove for the past two weeks. Oh, and this country has the largest petroleum reserves in the world next to Saudi Arabia.

To look at the bright side of the situation, we can only expect that this difficult US occupation will only generate dozens of Mandelas, Iraqi and elsewhere. They will throw off the occupying empire and build a new society on the rubble of destruction. Would that the Church had such impetus and vision!

Praying and working for that Day,

Cliff Kindy

What's Happening

2004-11-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

Received from Cliff on Monday, Nov. 22.

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

I trust you to keep up with the news, but I suspect that much that happens here in Iraq escapes the notice of the newsmakers in other places. So I want to start by sharing some of the daily events.

Not so daily is the announced release yesterday of our colleague and friend Theresa, a Polish Iraqi who has worked in justice issues! A photo on a Yahoo News item showed her at a press conference in Poland. CPT Iraq held a memorial service and sent out a release this week for Margaret, another kidnappee. Last night two of us were at a church with her family for her memorial mass.

A friend stopped by to give the testimony of the disappearance of his cousin. The cousin and four companion laborers, their driver, and foreman disappeared when delivering a truckload of water to Al Taji military base for Iraqi troops. A check of police stations, morgues, hospitals and a grilling of people along that route turned up nothing. We explained that, if US forces had detained them, they wouldn't be placed on the public detainee list for two weeks. We told them the process to check at their local Information Center and the one inside the Green Zone.

Saturday, I heard an explosion, raced to the rooftop, and saw the smoke from what turned out to be a car bomb that targeted a police cruiser and killed an officer and five civilians.

Following Friday prayers at the Abu Hanifa Shrine in Adumiya District of Baghdad, US forces cordoned off the area and Iraqi National Guard troops raided the most prominent Sunni mosque in the city. Forces killed a religious leader and three others and detained 41 people. We feared for Sheik Moayad, a regular contact of CPT in that district that has been frequently under assault by US forces since the invasion. Moayad had been 7 years in prison under the Sadaam Hussein rule and was anticipating a change of spirit across the land. He is presently okay, but the raid would be like an assault by Muslim storm troopers (if there were such) on St Peter's Square in the Vatican following a holiday mass by the pope. It WILL NOT calm the resistance.

One of the translators of our written materials into Arabic experienced a robbery of her shop about a week ago. A woman with two children entered her shop after dark, got her preoccupied and made off with money, phone, identity cards, and her trust. This week the mother of the translator returned from her pilgrimage to Mecca. Her bus was traveling through an area south of Baghdad controlled by Wahabi, Sunni Muslim militants. Armed persons in vehicles pulled alongside the bus trying to force it off the road. The driver told passengers to duck and he sped on. The cars dropped back and stopped a trailing small car instead. An AP news report this week noted that bounties are out for Shia Muslims, Iraqi security persons, and US citizens, $1000, $2000, and $3000 respectively, per person, dead or alive. A friend visiting last night said, "No, it is $30,000 for Americans. Unemployment at 70% enables the growth of alternative industries like this and encourages the Mafia to move into Iraq, a country without any order, just as happened in the former Soviet Union. The US must begin to pay Iraqis to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed in the war and occupation.

This week has been unique! One day we had 15 hours straight of electricity from the grid! Sure, most of it was at night, but we think it sets a record back to before the US invasion. Okay, the grid electricity went off as I was shaving this morning at 7am, and we don't have much generator electricity because of long lines and high costs, but. J

At the Communist Party office nearby we went to hear about election plans. (Yesterd, news reports intimated that they might be delayed for three months!) Instead the person we talked to told us of an attack against a member of their Politburo. The attackers killed the ranking party member and his two companions. The office suspected former Iraqi security personnel because the body was mutilated as well.

Have I inspired you to prayer yet? We have started a weekly day of prayer and fasting - Tuesdays until Easter. We will gather at 5pm Iraqi time and invite people around the world to join us. Included will be some weekly action suggestions to put feet on our prayers. Check the CPTNet listings or a blog we will have up shortly for weekly details. Prayer changes things and, if our complementary actions convince God that our prayers are serious, God will join us.

In the prayer and action,

Cliff Kindy

#3: Gehanna is Burning

2004-11-17T13:02:00.000-05:00

(Letter from Cliff Kindy, Christian Peacemaker Team member in Iraq.
Received, Wednesday, Nov. 17. Andy Rich)

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

Smoke rises continually from the acres of garbage that fill the river bend
in the Green Zone, US occupation headquarters, across the Tigris from our
apartment. Apparently, with the security risks of dozens of garbage trucks
entering and departing the Green Zone daily, someone decided to dump it all
along the river, outside the concrete walls. It must be like the constantly
burning "Gehenna" or hell that Jesus mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount
(see Matt. 5:29 and 30). My memory is that Gehenna is an image of the
valley below Jerusalem where the garbage was dumped and burned.

Here in Iraq it represents the waste that accumulates as the US war against
Iraq soon enters month twenty. There are over 1200 dead US soldiers and
maybe 20,000 injured. Iraqi civilian deaths are between twenty and one
hundred thousand. Injured aren't counted. Dead Iraqi soldiers and
resistance fighters - anyone have any numbers? It was all to remove one
man, Sadaam Hussein, from power. The country of Iraq is in shambles and
going down. The price of gasoline in the US has increased about one dollar
per gallon. The reputation of the US around the world - want to measure
that change? The US deficit is incomprehensible. But I hear we are
winning.

It isn't that the Iraqis couldn't have removed their president by themselves
had they been given a space without sanctions. Iraqis are talented,
well-educated people. Civilizations have risen from the lands between these
rivers and will again, I'm sure. They need the chance again after we
provide the resources to rebuild what was destroyed in the war and, at
least, pull US troops back to their bases.

This past week has been celebrative. Muslims ended the month-long period of
fasting and spiritual focus, Ramadan, with three special days of Eid. The
seven-acre park across the street is filled with activity. Children romp on
the swings, slides, and climbing bars. Older couples sit with a picnic in
the grass. Young men gather for a rousing soccer game. Wedding parties
pass on the street with bands playing. It is a calm, welcome change from
the spirit that has dominated Baghdad since I arrived almost two weeks ago.

A friend who works with us said, "I want to do what is best for my country."
He represents the majority of Iraqis. He lives presently in one of the most
difficult neighborhoods of Baghdad. One evening this week at 9:20pm
insurgents with automatic weapons and pistols set up a checkpoint on his
street to apprehend Iraqi police and National Guard troops, contractors, and
other internationals. This is within one mile of the Green Zone. It
indicates the inability of the occupation to improve the security situation.
Yet, our friend risks his life as he works with us to end the checkpoints
and occupation.

One team focus for the next months is to encourage a Muslim or Iraqi
Peacemaker Team. There has been interest expressed over the last year from
different Iraqis. There have been dramatic nonviolent actions by Iraqis
that have reduced violence and changed impossible situations. Can CPT be
part of a process to nurture those seeds, learn for our own work, and join
in the creative action that builds new possibilities on the trash heaps of
the past? (See my CPT Net reflection, Violence or Nonviolence in Fallujah?).
Robert Burrowes, The Strategy of Nonviolent Defense, has stimulated my
thinking.

"Baghdad is the third or fourth largest US city," a friend pointed out to
us. Unfortunately it parallels the urban disasters that sweep across the
United States. There have been added complications here, such as sanctions
for 13 years, a heavy bombing war, two previous wars, and an occupation that
continues. Baghdad has the potential to end up on the garbage heap of
history. But Iraqis who want to do what is best for their country are all
over Iraq. For Jesus, Gehenna was not the end, but a sign from which to
call for a totally different way of living.

Gehenna is burning, but Advent is at hand.

Cliff Kindy

Making Things Better

2004-11-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

Letter #2: sent on Monday, Nov. 8.

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

I traveled through Amman on my way to Iraq. On my way into Amman I picked
up the November 2 issue of the Guardian with a front-page article, "Things
grow better with Coke." John Vidal writes that farmers in India are using
Coke as a pesticide on cotton and chili fields. An Indian government
committee supported findings that Coke (and Pepsi) had unacceptable levels
of pesticides in the water they used for bottling their drinks. Vidal goes
on to write that Coke has worked well to remove rust spots, clean
lavatories, and reportedly was used as a spermicide in China! I know that
the CPT team in Colombia has urged a boycott of Coke because of its targeted
killing of union organizers, but we need to realize the broad ways in which
Coke makes things better!

Here in Iraq we find a similarly interesting feature. All parties think
that the US military can make things better for them. The US military is
presently engaged in a massive assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Interim Prime Minister Allawi is convinced the US military can eradicate the
terrorists there. The US administration believes they are the best tools
for bringing democracy to the Middle East, starting with Iraq. The US
government has also asked the military to carry a primary role of rebuilding
the Iraqi infrastructure, judging from the many reports of military
personnel painting schools so students can return. In addition, across Iraq
the US military social action components are being used to win the hearts
and minds of local populations. Here in Iraq, the US military is being used
by other actors to "make things better." Unfortunately, that "better"
happens in ways that don't benefit the military personnel themselves, the
country of Iraq, or the United States.

The numbers of addictions, suicides, and deaths of US soldiers continue to
rise as they grapple with the trauma and risk. The country of Iraq is
imploding from the violence that has been planted here. A friend of Sheila'
s reports there were more than 100,000 hits on the Canadian immigration web
page the day after the US election.

The mosquitoes have been bothersome in our apartment, but a net over my bed
does the job! Some autumn rains are falling, a welcome diversion from other
falling objects.

Though readers probably don't get the reports in North American media,
dozens of explosions daily rock the nearby parts of Baghdad as the attack on
Fallujah proceeds. Yesterday, a few blocks down Karrada, an explosion
targeted the minister of finance. A guard was killed. Today about the time
Matthew arrived at the airport, an explosion killed two people near the
entrance. Tonight bombs hit two churches in Doura, just south across the
Tigris.

Today two of us went late in the morning for blood tests as initial steps
for an extended visa. The technician told us that nine foreigners had been
there earlier in the day. We are not the only foreigners in Baghdad!

Remember, if you have problems with beetles on your roses or terrorists in
your yard, there are ready answers. Just be careful with the union
organizers and the soldiers.

Peace to each of you,

Cliff kindy

Cliff arrives in Baghdad

2004-11-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

Arlene (Cliff's wife) reports that Cliff had a few days in Amman, discussing with other members of the CPT team what to do next. They flew to Baghdad on Friday, Nov. 5, and are settling in there.

Cliff's First Letter - Tending the Garden

2004-11-06T17:28:00.000-05:00

(Cliff wrote this on Sunday, Oct. 31 and left for Iraq on Monday, Nov. 1)
Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

I am returning soon to Iraq for another five months with Christian Peacemaker Teams. I plan to write regular letters which Andy Rich will be sending out. If you wish not to receive this series of letters, please send a note to Andy.

One of my major summer tasks is to help Arlene with our organic market garden from which we sell fruits and vegetables for our income. Working with a friend in the garden this summer, I made the comment that, in spite of all the peacemaking work we do in various parts of the world, maybe the most important peacemaking work we do is building up the soil.

Right now we are putting all the old plants from the summer garden onto the compost piles. Those piles are the bank deposits for next summer's soil. We are also dumping truck loads of leaves that the town delivers to the farm and loads of horse manure/sawdust in strategic locations around the gardens. Then we are planting a cover crop of oats and soybeans on each of the cleared rows. Each of these tasks are steps that enrich the soil for the crops of the next year.

Removing the trash from the garden reduces the insect and disease problems and allows the garden residue to become compost. Leaves and manure will be the mulch that holds moisture, discourages weed growth, and slowly decays into rich earth. The cover crop will prevent erosion from the winter winds and rains and add humus and nitrogen for future crops.

Extending out from Joyfield Farm, building up the soil has an impact on justice and peace in conflict zones. Poor soil causes hunger, poor farming practices can pollute air and water supplies, and inequitable land ownership can produce the injustice that leads to war. Good soil feeds people, good farming practices purify air and water, and access to land can nurture justice. Good soil grows peace.

In a similar fashion, each one of us builds up the soil for a culture of peace. Nurturing understanding in family and community is a building block of a peaceful future. Reconciling differences in peaceful ways strengthens a feeling of self worth and allows differences to empower social units. Learning from other cultures recognizes the contributions that language, faith, and practices bring to this world. Crossing through barriers of hatred and fear can open possibilities for relationships that build up rather than tear down. Let's become farmers of peace wherever we find ourselves.

Salaam/Shalom!
Cliff Kindy