[Baghdad Journal] Day Six (March 20)

[Wade Hudson]

Day Six (March 20)

by Wade Hudson

Though the phone in our apartment rings several times with calls from the
media while I’m asleep (I’m told afterwards), the calls wake me only once,
and even then I go right back to sleep. After almost eight hours of sleep,
I’m awakened by a call from the San Jose Mercury News. The journalist
tells me that she’s doing a profile of some of the Bay Area people in
Baghdad. She says that she interviewed my sister, Mary, and tells me that
Mary seemed to be doing fine, which is reassuring. The reporter also says
that the anti-war movement in the Bay Area is going strong, with many
plans for action if and when the war starts.

The first main item for today.s general meeting is consideration of a
possible peace encampment at the Al Monsour hospital and water treatment
complex. The team working on that project reports that another request for
approval has been submitted.

The second item consists of a possible action later in the day. After
some discussion, it is decided to establish a presence at the flying
carpet statute in front of the Palestine Hotel with banners that read
"Never again sanctions" and "Never again war" At 3:00 PM, more than
twenty of us walk down the main drag and form a line in front of the
statute with our banners and large photographs of Iraqi civilians. A
TV camera and maybe one or two photojournalists greet us, but
otherwise press coverage is sparse. Some of us hand magic sheets to
motorists who pass by.

In the early evening, a dozen or so of our members, not yet having
received official permission, prepare to set up camp at the hospital and
water treatment complex regardless. Once they get there, they’re met by
Wadaa and his assistant, who tell them that bombing isn’t likely tonight,
with the heavy cloud cover, and that tomorrow they will expedite official
approval for the camp, including access to the hospital, which is
essential to those who want to camp there. One reason for wanting
to establish a camp is to be able to make a visual statement to the media
and to the U.S. troops with banners as they pass by. So the campers pack
up and head back to their respective hotels.

Martin helps me figure out how to remove the battery from my laptop, which
may help protect it from the e-bomb. I go to the Internet Center to send
and receive email, only to find that it is now closing at 7 PM. I walk
down the street and around the corner looking for the alternate center,
but I see soldiers stationed every 100 yards or so. Being concerned that
they may not be familiar with the Iraq Peace Team, I head back to the
Andalus.

Shortly thereafter, Steven Shults, my central contact in the States, calls
to tell me that he has not received any email from me recently, and
suggests that I try to fax my journal entries. I try to tell him that it
may be due to the Internet Center closing early, but our connection is so
bad, it’s hard to communicate.

At the moment, the Iraq Peace Team consists of the following twenty-five
members:

Cynthia Banas, 72, from Vernon, N.Y.  Graduate of SUNY Cortland; Syracuse
University MS in Library Science.  Long-time UNICEF volunteer.  Former
director of UNICEF sales of the Upper Mohawk Valley Chapter of the U.N.
Association of the U.S.  She believes war is no longer a viable method of
settling disputes among nations.  Banas has done peace accompaniment work
in Haiti and Guatemala.

Michael Birmingham, 30, from Dublin, Ireland. Co-coordinates an
anti-sanctions campaign in Ireland, Birmingham has worked closely with the
Iraq Peace Team. A human rights advocate, he has helped coordinate housing
for the homeless in Dublin.

Cathy Breen,  54, from New York City.  Lives and works in a Catholic
Worker House of Hospitality.  Has lived in Germany and more recently
Bolivia where her work focused largely on documenting and publicizing the
negative effects of the U.S. “War on Drugs.”  Studied Geriatric nursing in
Germany and later got her RN in the U.S.

Shane Allen Claiborne, 27, a community organizer and educator from
Philadelphia, serves on the Board of Directors of the Christian Community
Development Association, an organization of grassroots activists committed
to justice and reconciliation.

Martin Edwards, 59, a peace and environmental activist, grandfather,
active in the Santa Rosa, CA Quaker community, and working to promote the
Global Non-violent Peace Force (www.NonViolentPeaceForce.org).

Peggy Gish, 60 from Athens, Ohio.  Organic farmer, community mediator and
peacemaker, she has worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West
Bank and in Nicaragua with Witness for Peace.  Former social worker, she
is also a trainer for conflict resolution in schools.  Mother of 3 and
grandmother of 3, she is a member of New Covenant Fellowship Christian
community.

Sang Jin Han, 38, Seoul, South Korea. Coordinates the Asia Peace Alliance
and efforts to ban landmines in South Korea.

Zehira Houfani, 50, an Algerian writer and peace activist from Montreal,
Canada, recently published her fourth book, Letter from a Muslim Woman to
the Women of North America. She is a wife, mother of three, and
grandmother of three.

Wade Hudson, 58, comes with a long experience of working as a mental health
counsellor, community organizer, anti-poverty worker and peace activist.
He is currently writing a book, while working as a part-time cab driver in
San Francisco.

April Marie Hurley, MD, 47, a family physician from Santa Rosa, California,
specializes in urgent medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and has
experience in rural emergency work, women’s prisons, and migrant farm
worker clinics.

Douglas Johnson, 43 from Louisville, Kentucky.  Has worked with anti-war
efforts in Louisville, Kentucky.  A U.S. Postal Service worker for 13
years, Johnson is active with the Louisville Committee to Stop the War
Against Iraq.

Scott Kerr, 27 from Downers Grove, Illinois.  For the past three years he
has served full-time with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Chiapas, Mexico
and in Columbia.

Kathleen Kelly, 50 from Chicago, Illinois.  Co-founder of Voices in the
Wilderness in 1996, she has visited Iraq many times beginning in 1990 with
the gulf Peace Camp.

Edward Fuller Kinane, 58 from Syracuse, N.Y.  A former high school teacher
in Kenya and college anthropology teacher in the U.S., Kinane is an editor
and long-time human rights activist.  He has worked with Peace Brigades
International in Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador and Sri Lanka and is a
persistent critic of the U.S, Army’s School of the Americas.

Cliff Kindy, 53 from North Manchester, Indiana. An organic market gardener
who works full-time with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  As part of CPT he
has worked in the Palestinian occupied territories, Mexico, Columbia,
Vieques and in projects with First Nation groups in Canada and the U.S.

Ramzi Kysia, Washington, DC. Arab-American activist and writer. Has spent
six months in Iraq with VITW over the past two years.

Charlie Liteky, 72 from San Francisco, California.  Served as a Chaplain
in the U.S. military in Vietnam, receiving the Congressional Medal of
Honor.  He returned his medal after a public fast at the White House in
protest of U.S. military policies. A longtime member of Veterans for
Peace, Liteky is now involved in organizing against U.S. policy in the
Middle East.  He has been active in the movement to close the U.S. Army’s
School of the Americas (now called WHISC-Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation.)

Lisa Martens, 25 from Winnipeg, Canada.  She has worked on issues of water
and justice in Canada and has served with CPT in Chiapas, Mexico, Columbia
and in First Nation communities in the U.S. and Canada.

Lisa Ndejuru, 32 from Montreal, Canada.  Born in Butare, Rwanda, her
parents were able to leave the country when she was an infant.  Ndejuru
grew up in Cologne, Germany.  In 1982 she and her family immigrated to
Quebec, Canada..  Lisa has traveled to her country of origin twice, once
before and once after the war and genocide that was perpetrated there in
1994. Today she is preparing for a master’s degree in religious studies at
Universite de Quebec a Montreal.  She is an active member of the Quebec
section of Voices for Women for Peace and a member of the steering
committee for the Quebec section of the Canadian Peace Alliance.

Bettejo Marie Passalaqua, 42 Omak, Washington.  She has worked for peace
and justice for the past eight years.  Passalaqua has been working with
Native Americans since 1997.  For the last six years she has been mentor
to Jesuit Volunteers who work for peace and justice with the local Native
American community.

Betty Scholten, 69 from Mt. Rainer, Maryland.  Has traveled to El Salvador
and Chiapas, Mexico and has participated in CPT’s November 2002 delegation
to the Middle East.  She has engaged in nonviolent actions at the School
of the Americas and in Washington, DC.  During the past year she
volunteered through the Church of the Savior discipleship program, working
at a hospice for homeless men in Washington, DC.  She is currently
training as a CPT reservist.

Robert Turcotte, 53, trained in non-violence and peacekeeping, comes with
twenty-five years’ experience of peace activism, including accompanying
Guatemalan refugees upon their return in 1993. He returned to Guatemala
for the exhumation of mass graves and for two separate war crimes trials.

Stewart R. Vriesinga, 46 from from Ontario, Canada.  A full-time
peacemaker, he has traveled in Latin America and Europe living among the
First Nations People in Canada.  Vriesinga served in El Salvador as part
of Peace Brigades International and has been involved with One World
Global Education.

Neville Watson, 73 from Australia.  An ordained Methodist minister,
barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.  He
traveled to Iraq with Kathy Kelly in October of 2002 and then returned to
Australia in December to engage in further outreach and education before
rejoining the Iraq Peace Team.  Neville is an extremely respected advocate
for peace whose presence in Iraq will be extremely valuable for outreach,
education and guidance.

Jerome Zawada, 65 from Cedar Lake, Indiana.  A Franciscan and priest who
has worked closely with Kathy Kelly and others in Chicago since 1983,
Zawada has helped to offer hospitality for homeless people and to meet
concerns of new Central American refugees.  He has also worked to resist
non-violently US weapon development and develop outreach and education
regarding economic sanctions and US warfare against Iraq.