[Seattle-editorial] peace worker update from amman jordan

[Brandon Faloona]

a preliminary press release from wade, and his op-ed piece, "Reflections
on the Battle of Baghdad".

brandon
-----------

++++++++

(preliminary) press release:

SUBJECT: Iraq Peace Team Members Arrive in Amman on Way Home

Three members of the Iraq Peace Team (IPT) arrived in Amman, Jordan late
Sunday night, April 13, from Baghdad, where they lived alongside the Iraqi
people, opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and witnessed the horrific
consequences of the war.

Dr. April Hurley (Santa Rosa, CA), Wade Hudson (San Francisco Bay Area),
and Robert Turcotte (Montreal, Quebec) are staying at the Al-Monzer Hotel
and are available for interviews Tuesday, April 15, and Wednesday, April
16, from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, EST

The phone number at the Al-Monzer is 009626-4639469.

Always a strong critic of the brutal Saddam dictatorship, IPT shares the
sense of relief felt by most Iraqis with the collapse of his regime. " But
it didn't have to happen this way," commented IPT founder, Kathy Kelly.

As the costs of the war continue to mount, Hurley, Hudson, and Turcotte
absorb their experience with the terror, death, and suffering that has
been imposed on the Iraqi people by the U.S.-British military. In
addition, they are troubled by the damage to the psyches of the extremely
young men who have been led into killing, maiming, and wounding innocent
Iraqi civilians by the chicken hawks of the Bush Administration.

Hurley, Hudson, and Turcotte are on their way back home, where they will
continue to promote peace and justice.



++++++++++++

Reflections on the Battle of Baghdad

by Wade Hudson


Lying safely on my bed in Jordan fifteen hours after arriving from
Baghdad, I reflect on last night's bad dream, a war scene rooted in what I
had witnessed from my balcony in Baghdad, and I cry convulsively for
several minutes. After a nap, I wake and start weeping again. I decide to
write in order to stop crying.

My thirty-one days in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team (IPT) were both
horrific and wonderful. I arrived less than seven days before the bombing
began and left the day after BBC TV reported, "Scenes of medics guarding
their hospitals with guns may be more etched in memory than scenes of
statutes toppling."

The hospitality of the Iraqi people was overwhelming. Even when people
learned that we were from the United States, they treated us with immense
affection. When Iraqis learned that we opposed the war, spontaneous
expressions of appreciation were common. If the chicken hawks had been
right about an overwhelming Iraqi desire to be liberated forcibly by
America, most of the Iraqis whom we met would have simply kept quiet.

Iraqis were happy when the Saddam regime collapsed. The fear and anger
toward Saddam was palpable. Even those with mixed emotions must have felt
some satisfaction.

One should not overestimate the joy, however. BBC reported thousands in
the streets celebrating, not tens of thousands. And the military brought
in a crowd of Shiites, who are vehemently anti-Saddam, to cheer the
televised toppling of the statute in front of the media center at the
Palestine Hotel. Earlier that day, the Iraqi families in the lobby of our
hotel laughed when they watched TV and saw Iraqis stomping on posters of
Saddam. But they responded with silence at the climax of that well-crafted
media event across the street.

A large portion of the positive response to the arrival of American troops
was relief that the bombing was over. For three weeks, bombs and missiles
that shake the ground for miles around fell on Baghdad relentlessly. It
was like living through 20 or 30 San Francisco earthquakes day after day.

As IPT documented in our report, "Civilian Casualties and Infrastructure
Damage in the 2003 U.S.-led Attack on Baghdad – March 20-April 1, 2003,"
the cost was terrible. When American troops entered Baghdad, the human
toll increased. Body parts being blown away by machine-gun fire. Charred
bodies lying by the roadside. Tanks trying to kill snipers a mile away,
not knowing whom they would hit. Soldiers deciding not to shoot out the
tires of approaching cars but killing the occupants inside instead.

Then, as expected, post-invasion, anarchy ensued, adding to the death
toll. Not only did the U.S. not bring in a police force to keep order. Not
only did the U.S. give the looters a green light by being passive. They
actually encouraged the mayhem. On the ground, they blew open banks and
buildings and invited in the looters. And at headquarters, they tried to
legitimize the banditry by saying that the victims were people who had
benefited from the old regime.

No one will ever know how many Iraqis die in this escapade, because the
U.S. allowed the burning of key government records, including vital
statistics.

One soldier told me that he lost sleep many nights because he knew that he
had killed innocent civilians when he made the wrong split-second
decision. Another said that he never fired his gun and told others that
his gun jammed when asked about it. The damage done to the souls of these
kids may persist for the rest of their lives.

The invasion honeymoon was over quickly. Other feelings soon surfaced. One
Iraqi, for example, said, "I'm glad that Saddam is gone, but I wish that
it had been Iraqis who got rid of him." Another commented, "I think the
U.S. will secure Iraqi resources and leave some other crazy guy in
charge."

As we left Baghdad yesterday, April 13, all the way to the edge of town we
saw burned out cars, looted stores, garbage and debris, abandoned tanks,
and devastated buildings. Many times, our driver was forced to change his
route because the road was blocked by wreckage of one sort or another.

While stuck at the Jordanian border, an AP reporter who left about two
hours after we did told us that he was robbed at gunpoint just outside of
Baghdad. Once again, I felt lucky. The Iraqi people have not been so
fortunate.

++++

Wade Hudson has been a community organizer, activist, and writer in the
San Francisco Bay Area since 1962. His Baghdad Journal is at:
http://inlet.org/wade/.
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