published in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2006

“Salaam is not just a greeting. It is the goal,” Sami A. Rasouli, director of the Muslim Peacemaker Team in Najaf, Iraq, told Louisianans at the Loyola University School of Law on the night of Cinco de Mayo, May 5. Rasouli, an Iraqi American who spent six months working in Iraq, gave a first-hand account of his experiences under war and occupation. He described the plight of Iraqis, his work with the Christian Peacemakers Team and the Karbala Human Rights Organization, and discussed the “insurgency,” secret prisons, torture and elections, as well as Iraq’s future and America’s ongoing public debate on the war.

published in Fight Back! in June 2006

Sami Rasouli in Minneapolis, MinnesotaFor 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.

by Michele Naar and Peggy Gish

On Wednesday, Jan 25, 06, Peggy Gish and Michele Naar left with Sami Rasouli for Najaf. Our vehicle got stuck in a ditch full of mud after pulling over to let a US military convoy go by. Many Iraqi’s stopped to help and we were pulled out of the ditch when one of them tied a rope to their truck. This was faster than AAA and was also done without charge. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived in the city around noon.

Our first visit was to the Sadr hospital. This is a regional hospital serving a number of cities and villages in the mid-Euphrates area. The hospital consists of 7 floors and serves about 1500 outpatients per day with 87 beds for inpatients. Patients pay an initial 400 ID, equivalent to about 30 cents, for complete treatment. If they can’t afford to pay, medical care is provided for free.

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.

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.