News
On this page you can find news reports about the work of MPT, our members and our allies. On occasion, we will also post other informative reports about Iraq.
Iraq: Eyewitness to Occupation (June 2006)
published in Fight Back! in June 2006 [img_assist|nid=7|title=Sami Rasouli in Minneapolis, Minnesota|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=64]For 20 years, Iraqi American Sami Rasouli lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a peace activist and restaurant owner. He visited Iraq in 2004, and decided to move home and help rebuild his country. He sold his restaurant and returned to Najaf, where he founded the Muslim Peacemakers Team. Fight Back! interviewed him during his three-month U.S. speaking tour about the reality of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Fight Back!: What conditions are Iraqi people living under? How have things changed under occupation? Sami Rasouli: In Iraq, there is none of the progress that the U.S. administration and mainstream media propagate. After three years of promises, Iraqis haven’t seen it. Life under Saddam Hussein was not perfect. But life now is unbearable. It’s more difficult and the situation is getting worse. The Iraqis want progress in three fields. First, security. 40 to 60 Iraqis get killed every day. The U.S. fails according to international law to provide security for the land of Iraq, and for Iraqis’ lives. The U.S. trained almost 3000 Iraqi security police and military personnel, besides the U.S. troops estimated at 130,000. But still we see death squads roaming the streets. There is no security. The foreign countries donated $18 billion to reconstruct Iraq. Two-thirds of this money went to security, but the country is still lawless; the country is still broken; the country is no country anymore. The second field of ‘progress’ is the economy. The economy in Iraq today is completely destroyed. Before 1991, an Iraqi dinar was worth $3. Now, one U.S. dollar is equivalent to 1500 dinars. This is a 4500% inflation rate. There are no production facilities in Iraq. There is no Iraqi national investing in Iraq. We see foreign investors who backed the war and supported the occupation. The occupation has mobilized a fever to privatize the country, its wealth to be sold out to foreigners. It’s destroying the Iraqi economy. The most devastating economic reality is the unemployment rate of 60 to 70%. The third field of progress is infrastructure, which was completely destroyed by the first Gulf War in 1991. The previous regime restored 65% of the public services, but failed to complete the job due to thirteen years of harsh economic sanctions before the aggression in 2003. Iraqis in Baghdad were getting 16 hours per day of electricity while Saddam was in power, before the war. Today they get 3.7 hours of intermittent electric power. The previous regime provided clean drinking water, by 70% restored capacity service of the water treatment plant. Now in Sadr City, which is a part of Baghdad populated by close to 3 million, people are infected by hepatitis A, hepatitis B or typhus from polluted drinking water. Main transportation routes that connect cities in Iraq are mainly controlled by U.S. military patrols and checkpoints, with many of them sealed off altogether. For an average Iraqi traveler, highways are a killing field, so they avoid them. Inner city routes are also blocked by hundreds of checkpoints, peppered by U.S. and Iraqi newly formed forces. To sum it up, Iraq today is a mess. It’s a big mess. Fight Back!: U.S. officials and media say that sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites justifies the continued occupation. What do you think? Sami Rasouli: This is a big lie. The administration well knows that their occupation in Iraq divided the people of Iraq - pro and against the occupation. The people who support the occupation are the profiteers and the ex-patriots that accompanied the U.S. invasion. It looks like they struck a deal - we occupy your country and allow you to rule the country. And you ask for our presence, so we stay and protect you and protect our interests. Upon assuming his post, the previous U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, announced de-Ba’athification and the disbanding of the army. These led to infighting, which is backed by some current Iraqi government officials. For 35 years, under the previous regime, 95% of Iraqis became Ba’athists, whether willingly or by force. To call for de-Ba’athification was an open invitation to all Iraqi factions to fight each other. Those who backed the call for de-Ba’athification took the side of the U.S. occupation, while the majority of Iraqis opposed the occupation. Some chose to be violent in their opposition, so they formed the Iraqi national resistance. Others oppose the occupation peacefully, but support the underground resistance army. There is no sectarian war. Iraqis have lived together for centuries. The U.S. administration, by its occupation forces, tries to apply the old rotten British colonial concept of divide and conquer. It hasn’t worked for the last three years, and will not work. This strategy is failing and will never succeed in Iraq. Bush and his failing military operation in Iraq will not last. Fight Back!: After speaking at more than 100 meetings and protests, you are heading back to Iraq. What have you accomplished in the U.S.? How will your work continue in Iraq? Sami Rasouli: It was very important to share reports from Iraq with average American people, hungry for information from an unembedded source. People are tired of hearing the administration say it is accomplishing progress, which is not there in Iraq. President Bush promises to improve the situation in Iraq by forming a new permanent Iraqi government, but still he fails to address the security question in Iraq and he fails to talk about reducing U.S. forces in Iraq. In my view, the U.S. must pull out all troops immediately, to secure the land of Iraq and the lives of millions of Iraqis. The U.S. occupation in Iraq is a form of war and this war should be ended. No matter how many elections take place, how many constitutions are written, how many governments are formed, as long as occupation continues, there is a resistance to counter the occupation. There will be no stability, no peace, no progress. Because the government that just formed is part of the occupation, it’s a puppet government, not a free government. The Iraqi people reject this collaboration between the government and the occupation. In Iraq, I will maintain the bridge that I helped create by founding the Muslim Peacemaker Teams that work with the Christian Peacemaker Teams and other vital organizations of the anti-war movement in the U.S. and Iraq. I will carry messages of support from U.S. people who oppose the war. When I get to Iraq, I will be the U.S. population’s ears and eyes. I’ll be reporting from there, and sharing the stories that I witness. These activities will support the international goal of peace.From Minnesota to Iraq and Back: Sami Rasouli Speaks (June 2005)
http://www.stjoan.com/er5/iraq/iraq.htm
As violence and killing continues to escalate in Iraq, peacemaker Sami Rasouli, who is both a U.S. and Iraqi citizen, came to St. Joan of Arc to tell the stories of the people of Iraq who have been alienated by war. He also came to raise money for families left destitute by bombs, senseless killing, and corruption.
Last fall, Rasouli, a former Twin Cities restaurant owner and opponent of the war in Iraq, left Minneapolis to return to his homeland. He wanted to form a Muslim Peacemaker Team (MPT) which could begin the job of cleaning up war-torn Iraqi cities. He knew this job would be massive, but in just six months he has managed to overcome a number of impossible situations and has made a small but positive start in rebuilding of one of the oldest civilizations on earth.
Sami Rasouli Speaking at St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis, MN (June 2005)Rasouli first had to gain the trust of old friends in his hometown of Najef and then convince them that his peacekeeping efforts were possible. Eventually, fifteen Shii Muslims became the peacemaker team and agreed that along with helping to rebuild Iraq, their mission over the next five years would be to promote unity among various factions in the country.
They wanted to start with a modest peacemaking gesture. Members asked for help from the Iraqi National Guard, from a Christian peacemaker team and from Iraqi citizens to rebuild a house or mosque in the Sunni city of Fallujah. "It would be a symbolic cleanup to demonstrate unity," Rasouli said.
But the task was much harder than expected. The team first met resistance from a Sheikh in Fallujah who mistrusted any effort involving Christians. "We have been destroyed twice by the U.S. Christian army," Rasouli reported his saying. The opposition of the Sheikh along with the fears of the Allied Central Command and mistrust of Iraqi citizens was tough to overcome. All groups feared the others were their enemies. However, after much negotiating, the peacemaking coalition finally was able to start, and the work of rebuilding a house in Fallujah began on May 6.
The physical and psychological destruction of Fallujah is massive, Rasouli says. There is a lack of electricity, a lack of security, a lack of sanitation. There is little employment, and disease is spreading in the hot months of summer. He says many families have no man to bring food to the table and women have turned to prostitution. A majority of teenagers are without education or jobs so they have become violent. Thousands of displaced citizens of Fallujah must produce passport-like badges every time they wish to enter their own city. "Why did 300,000 people have to leave their homes? Why were 30,000 houses destroyed?" Rasouli asks. In 1920, he points out, "the police were chasing Al Capone, but they didn't destroy Chicago to do it."
Iraqi Art for Sale in the USThe immense costs of rebuilding are what brought Sami Rasouli back to Minneapolis. He will be here for several weeks raising money for his efforts. St. Joan of Arc, along with Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq sponsored his presentation on Tuesday, June 21, which was attended by over 300 people. Rasouli also brought over 50 pieces of art by Iraqi artists which were sold through a silent auction that evening. Contributions will go to the families of the artists and to the rebuilding efforts of MPT. Parishioners can send donations to the Muslim Peacemaker Team in care of Joan of Arc.
Audience members asked Rasouli if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Is there an exit strategy for the U.S. and its occupation of Iraq? Rasouli believes that insurgents will cease their activities only if a political strategy is adopted as the initial step. "Violence diminishes democracy. Solve the political problem first," he says. "There must be a Palestinian state that all the world will recognize. [When that happens] everything will fall into place and the United States can withdraw gloriously."
In Iraq, these peacemakers shun guns
Activists' main security measures are a low profile, local clothing and trust
By Judy Augsburger, Producer, NBC News, Nov. 15, 2005 | view online
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Before she embarked on a recent bus trip across Iraq's dangerous Sunni triangle, Sheila Provencher meditated.
After a while she arrived at the calm of believing her life was worth giving to her cause.
"We have to be as willing to risk our lives for peace as soldiers are to risk their lives in war," she said of her decision to accompany 19 Palestinians on the long drive through the desert from Baghdad to the Syrian border. The Palestinian community in Baghdad has come under increasing harassment from Iraqi police and the group hoped to receive asylum in Syria.
"Our job as internationals was to help them get through the checkpoints. We talked to the soldiers," Provencher explained over tea in Baghdad last week.
Although the stretch of road through Fallujah and Ramadi is one of Iraq's most treacherous, Provencher was more worried about what lay beyond.
"After Ramadi, we were out in that open desert where we could be attacked by bandits. The [Palestinians] said to us, 'You get us through Ramadi and after Ramadi if anything bad happens we'll protect you, we'll use our bodies like human shields.' It was the most collaborative experience." she said.
Main protection – an abaya and trust
Provencher, a 33-year-old from Massachusetts, is a member of a small group of Americans and Canadians who have volunteered to live side by side with Iraqis and work to promote peaceful solutions to the daily deadly conflict here.
In contrast to nearly all Westerners in Iraq — who live in fortified compounds or the U.S.-patrolled Green Zone — the group rents a modest apartment on a relatively quiet Baghdad street.
They often share dinner, family celebrations and tragedies with their Sunni and Shiite neighbors. They try to keep a low profile, traveling with local drivers and without the contingent of armed security guards common to other Westerners.
Provencher's main protections are her scarf and abaya, the flowing dress of Iraqi women she wears to blend in with the crowd, and her relationships with local contacts.
"People ask us often, how can you travel without guns, where's your security, and I say very honestly our security is in our relationships, in our friendships,” explained Provencher. “Our neighbors look out for us in our neighborhood here in Baghdad, and have really risked themselves for us more than once."
A steady presence in Iraq
Provencher and her friends are part of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a U.S.-Canadian organization that places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers.
CPT has maintained a steady presence in Iraq since October 2002, choosing to remain in Baghdad during the U.S. “shock and awe” military strikes in 2003 in order, they say, to support their Iraqi colleagues.
Now, more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion and amid a still-dangerous insurgency, volunteers pound the pavement every day, braving explosions, gunfights, and the threat of kidnapping to help families locate missing loved ones, document abuses in the U.S. and Iraqi prison systems, and to work to build bridges between the increasingly antagonistic factions of Iraqi society.
Bringing different groups of people together to forge understanding has been the most rewarding part of the work for Greg Rollins, a 32-year-old from Vancouver, Canada, who has been working in Iraq since April 2004.
“Seeing people's eyes opened here, and at home, has been the most meaningful for me," Rollins said. "Seeing friends or drivers not want to go to a neighborhood because they have preconceived notions, but then getting there and seeing that these are real people, not fanatics or militants or monsters."
Increased sectarian violence has made his work more difficult, however. "It's been harder to bring two sides together. They usually do come together in the end, but they've been a little more resistant and a little more hesitant," Rollins said. "We're on the doorstep of civil war."
Transcending religious differences
It's a seemingly hopeless task, but small victories make the volunteers believe they can have an impact.
Last year, for instance, a group of Shiites from the holy city of Karbala approached CPT for help in starting a partner organization called Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT).
In one of their first joint projects, the two groups traveled to Fallujah, the Sunni-dominated city that was the site of a major U.S. Marine assault in November 2004 aimed at clearing out an insurgent stronghold. More than 70 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed, and little has been rebuilt.
Fifteen Shiites from MPT and three CPT volunteers spent the day cleaning up rubble and garbage from bombed homes and mosques on the main downtown streets.
"We were out there in our abayas sweeping," said Provencher, who took part in the project. "We symbolically cleaned up an area to show that we wanted to help the city rebuild."
"People in Fallujah were surprised," said Sami Rasouli, the founder of MPT and an Iraqi-American who returned to his native country after the war to help rebuild it.
"We told them, ‘We are your brothers and sisters from Karbala and Najav, Canada, and the U.S., and we've come to express our solidarity with you and tell you that you are not alone.’ And we came to express our belief in Iraqi unity," Rasouli said in a phone interview from Karbala.
The Shiite visitors and Sunni hosts later worshipped together at the local Sunni mosque, an almost unheard-of occurrence.
"We agreed not to be dragged into a side fight and to focus on educating our people about the forces that try to divide us. We promised to work to avoid any civil, sectarian war," Rasouli said.
CPT and MPT visit Fallujah regularly to maintain friendships and work to help the city recover.
Anita David, a CPT volunteer who visited Fallujah with Rasouli just last week explained how people in the town are still suffering.
"There is a lot of anger there, they are still angry, because there is so much left to be done," said David.
Only a small number of homes have been restored and the town is further hurt economically by the isolation that its strict security cordon necessitates.
Anti-torture campaign
Much of CPT's work over the past two years has involved helping Iraqi citizens knock on bureaucratic doors and visit prisons to locate family members detained by U.S. troops.
With the handover of political authority to a new Iraqi government last year, the process for locating detainees has become even more complicated, according to David. CPT says it is also receiving reports of abuse and torture by the newly formed Iraqi security forces.
"Usually by the time the name gets to us, the family members have been to the morgue, they've been to hospitals, to their local police stations and to their local military base," David explained. "But now you have any numbers of prisons ... we don't know about, Iraqi bases where people disappear into."
"Usually by the time the name gets to us, the family members have been to the morgue, they've been to hospitals, to their local police stations and to their local military base," David explained. "But now you have any numbers of prisons ... we don't know about, Iraqi bases where people disappear into."
In Iraq, these peacemakers shun guns','A small group of American and Canadian peace activists have shunned the high security used by most Westerners in Iraq in favor of living side by side with local residents.