This update on the Iraq Peace Team (IPT) in Baghdad comes from Voices in the Wilderness in Chicago.

April 9, 2003

Friends-
Our team in Baghdad just called. It is difficult for us to convey the obvious relief that we experienced upon hearing from them. The phone disconnected three times giving us less than 10 minutes to communicate with them. They told us U.S. soldiers and tanks are on streets and street corners, they seem to be everywhere. Further, they expressed with great emphasis that an excessive amount of bombs have rained down on Baghdad for the last week.

Today as we watch on television the countless hours of reporting on the tangible and symbolic destruction of a Saddam Hussein statue, the number of injured civilians, families losing loved ones, lootings, fires, and fighting increases. Meanwhile our team in Amman attended a press briefing where they heard statements from United Nations humanitarian coordinators. These statements have gone unmentioned in the mainstream media. Carel de Rooy director of UNICEF in Iraq stated, "Before this conflict took place UNICEF had networks and systems in Iraq that helped achieve our life-saving vaccination campaigns, nutrition campaigns, and work in education. What is horribly worrying about the looting, chaos, and break down of order, is that those systems we counted on may completely collapse," he added that at the beginning of this week, the UNICEF Iraq appeal has received just 1/5th of its funding. "This is obviously and simply not enough. We have an emergency on our hands. Our actions in the next few weeks will determine the physical and mental well-being of a generation of Iraqi children." A representative from the World Health Organization, speaking to the increasing humanitarian crisis added, "Reports from Baghdad tell of serious civilian casualties and growing pressure on hospitals and health workers. Electricity supplies are erratic, the standby generators are being overworked to the point of collapse; many hospitals are running short of clean, safe water, staff are working extremely long hours in unimaginable circumstances and some vital surgical and medical supplies are running short...in a hospital with a basic infrastructure not functioning, and where doctors and nurses have to perform difficult emergency surgical operations and provide intensive care without access to some of the most basic services and supplies." Months prior to the "shock and awe" onslaught, UN officials, as well as delegates with the Iraq Peace Team, had warned and protested against the use of such violence due to the realities Iraqis are faced with today, the realities as outlined in the statements above. Adding greater concern to an already desperate situation, UNHCI commented on the inability for UN agencies to enter Iraq at the current time, because of the lack of safety on the roads and access to warehouses and offices. As our team in Baghdad continues to bear witness, we ask all of you to continue to do the work that has just begun. The urgency for water and relief that is felt by many civilians throughout Iraq is one that must be heard and echoed throughout the world until their needs are met. In the most recent diary from our team in Iraq, Cynthia Banas wrote, "Death, destruction, maiming, and lifetime trauma are the consequences of war. We have witnessed children frightened beyond their years, and have seen their mangled bodies in the hospital. War for them will never end." Thank you for your work. Thank you for caring. Bitta Mostofi, for Voices in the Wilderness

Claire Evans
Personnel and Delegation Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams
PO Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680
Tel: 773-277-0253; Fax: 773-277-0291

Bombs have been falling for the past hour according to Lisa Martens and Stewart Vriesinga who are at the Al Daar Hotel. In Baghdad the bombing is more intense tonight than it was the previous night. Shrapnel can be heard rattling in the area. Inside the Hotel severe pressure can be felt when bombs explode. Hotel telephone continues to work. Bombing at Tent site, Al Wathba Water Treatment Plant , and Al Monsur Paediatric Hospital is somewhat less intense. Telephone connection between the "tenters" and the Hotel a distance of four miles continues to work although connections to other parts of the city are breaking down.

At 4:00 AM this morning (8:00 pm EST), as the deadline given by U.S. President George Bush for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expired, the Christian Peacemaker Team in Baghdad celebrated communion and prayed for the security of all people.

About 5:30 am, those team members who did not sleep through it heard an aircraft. Then everyone heard the sirens.

CPTer Lisa Martens writes, "Shortly after, there was an hour plus of sporadic explosions, some 'BOOM' and some 'rat tat tat.' They were not very close to us. One rattled the windows slightly. A couple of us stood outside in the hotel entrance for a few minutes. Scott Kerr reported seeing some anti-aircraft fire in the distance.

"The Iraqi staff at the small hotel here are very helpful and comforting. Ammar, one of the staff went home last night to stay with his wife who will have a baby any day now. He called this morning to tell us not to worry.

"Now its 9:45 am and its been quiet for a while. Our Iraqi friends here say things are 'normal.' A small delegation headed out to check on the orphanage near by where Peggy Gish, Betty Scholten and an Iraq Peace Team member Charlie Litchey (a Vietnam Vet who returned his Congressional medal of Honour to Reagan) are regular visitors / helpers. The orphanage is run by Sisters of Charity and is for disabled children. Gish just called to say that a they walked to the orphanage, they saw kids playing soccer, and men out on the street visiting, although there is 95% less activity on the streets and sidewalks than three days ago. The men thanked the CPTers for being in Iraq with the usual graciousness. Gish reported that some of the kids at the orphanage had cried because of the bombing, but that they were all right." Cliff Kindy, Betty Scholten and Gish, along with other Iraq Peace Team members will be setting up a tent at the Al Wathba Water Treatment Centre which provides water to one sixth of the city as well as to the near-by Al Monsour Hospital. Also nearby is an electrical plant which provides electricity for the neighborhood and the water plant.

The team chose to have a presence in this location because of the relationships they have built in the area and because water-borne diseases caused by the destruction of water and electrical plants have killed thousands of Iraqis over the last decade.

For tonight, Kerr, Martens, Stuart Vriesinga and Father Jerry Zawada of the Iraq Peace Team will stay at the Al Daar Hotel along with the staff here. As of yet, the team reports that phones, water and electricity are working.

Martens concluded her e-mail with,

"Be outraged

Make Peace"

CPTers working with the Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad are : Lisa Martens (Manitoba) Cliff Kindy (Indiana), Scott Kerr (Illinois), Peggy Gish (Ohio), Betty Scholten (Maryland), Shane Claiborne (Pennsylvania), Martin Edwards (California), Charlie Litke (California)

Scott Kerr phoned at 11 am EST (7 pm their time) to say that the subgroup of Cliff Kindy, Peggy Gish and Betty Scholten along with four Iraq Peace Team members has established itself on the grounds of the water treatment plant. They have had a meeting with the Director of the adjacent Paediatric Hospital who was very glad for their presence. They have also met with workers at the water plant and their families, several of whom live in housing on the site. The group has also done a first prayerful walk around the perimeter of the facility. They have set up a watch schedule to have two people on duty every three hours around the clock, awake and walking around the neighbourhood.

The (approximate) location of these facilities is on the CPT website at http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/iraqteampositions.php

Earlier the team had been asking people to erect tents and banners at similar facilities in their own communities--hospitals, water treatment plants, power plants, sewage treatment plants, bridges etc. That seems even more timely now.

CPTnet
March 20, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: Midnight/4 pm (EST)

by Doug Pritchard Lisa Martens reports that the latest attack was really scary, a lot closer, and they felt the building rattling. It went on for 30-40 minutes. They took "shelter" in the ground floor of the Al-Dar which has the windows boarded over and stocks of food / water. They are OK and doing all right. No word from the other team in the tent at the Al Wathba Water Treatment Plant.

She said that the Iraqi people are amazing, strong. They are calm and collected and encouraging each other and our team. A 15 year old boy said to her today, "I want you to go home. I'm used to this but you are not."

The team is encouraged by all the anti-war actions around the world. They say to tell EVERYONE you meet at these vigils and demonstrations, "IRAQIS THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOMS OF THEIR HEARTS."

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