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Departments War in Iraq Waiting is the hardest part by Greg Rollins, CPT December 20, 2005 As this kidnapping draws out I am reminded of the Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers song that says "the waiting is the hardest part." We fill our days with work - important work - but work that helps us avoid the waiting. If we stop and wait we grow restless, even edgy. What we are currently experiencing here in Iraq is nothing new. Iraqis civilians are kidnapped often. Almost every Iraqi knows someone who has been kidnapped. The day before the abduction of our colleagues, Jim, Harmeet, Norman and I visited a Chaldean church where we met a 17 year old who was kidnapped a year ago. His kidnappers held him for several weeks. They didn't know him; they only wanted money from his family. He told us they treated him well. Recently, I was in a police station. While I sat there, a man walked in and asked how many kidnappings the police were familiar with in 2005. "I couldn't tell you the real number," the police officer said. "There are too many. It is too high." After some questions and guess work the officer behind the desk concluded he was familiar with around three hundred cases. And these are just the ones that people reported to the police in his designated area of Baghdad. Many families do not say anything when one of their kin is abducted. They choose to deal with it as quickly and quietly as they can. How often do those of us outside of Iraq hear about kidnapped Iraqis? Very rarely. In the news we hear about the bombs and ambushes. We hear about the assassinations of political and religious leaders and the fighting in Anbar province, but we rarely hear anything about the many Iraqis held hostage. And what about the innocent Iraqis arrested in sweeps by Multinational Forces or Iraqi Security Forces? If they are innocent yet still have to sit in jail, isn't that similar to a kidnapping? Just because governments do it with a "legal" force while others do it as criminals, doesn't change the circumstance for the people that are taken. We have witnesses that prisoners in the custody of the Multinational Forces and Iraqi security forces can be tortured and killed. How is that different than what criminal kidnappers are capable of doing? In the past few weeks we have taken a lot of cues from our Iraqi friends. They are more experienced, and we are in Iraq. Our Iraqi friends have told us how to word letters or statements, how to talk to the local press and how to find the ear of people of influence. If we in CPT have received a lot of press over our kidnapped colleagues, it is only because we are foreigners. It is disturbing that CPT's personal tragedy outshines the more frequent abductions of Iraqi civilians but in the end, it doesn't matter if you are Iraqi or a foreigner, the waiting is still the hardest part. -- Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present in Iraq since October, 2002. To learn more about CPT, please visit http://www.cpt.org. Photos of our projects may be viewed at http://www.cpt.org/gallery Donate to CPT Iraq and our other CPT projects on-line with your credit card! Go to http://cpt.org/donate.php and click the DONATE button to make a contribution through Network for Good, a secure way to help support CPT. Email this article to a friend |
Don't forget to check out articles from 2007 and 2008
"White phosphorous: the U.S. used it; the U.S. says it's illegal"
December 28, 2005
David Swanson
"Behind the steel curtain: the real face of the occupation"
December 20, 2005
Sabah Ali
"Waiting is the hardest part"
December 20, 2005
Greg Rollins, CPT
"Scotland: stop the war!"
December 10, 2005
David Swanson
"Not even to save our lives"
December 9, 2005
Mike Ferner
"Inconvenient journalists"
December 1, 2005
Robert C. Koehler, Tribune Media Services
"How pre-war Iraq intel was cooked"
November 24, 2005
Jason Leopold
"Chalabi pushes Iran card in last ditch self-promotion offensive"
November 16, 2005
The Insitute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution
"Staying a wrong course"
October 17, 2005
Stephen Crockett
"US war photos"
October 16, 2005
Richard S. Ehrlich
"Banging at the gates of empire -- Washington, DC; September 24-26"
October 6, 2005
Peter Chabarek
"What Else Shall We Do?"
October 2, 2005
Mike Ferner
"Will we use the power we have on September 24?"
September 21, 2005
Mike Ferner
"The war in Iraq is increasingly unpopular and must end -- An interview with Dennis Kucinich"
September 8, 2005
Kevin Zeese, DemocracyRising.US
"What eating Cindy Sheehan?"
September 8, 2005
Jason Leopold
"Waiting for the outside world"
September 4, 2005
Mike Ferner
"Families ask that fallen soldiers be honored Sunday by a tolling of bells"
August 27, 2005
Faithful America, National Council of Churches
"Making the Iraq War and Occupation Personal"
August 25, 2005
Ralph Nader
"President Bush Knows the True Reasons He Started A War in Iraq, But He's Not Going to Tell"
August 25, 2005
Jason Leopold
"Armstrong bikes with president over Sheehan grave"
August 25, 2005
Greg Palast
"Sheehan breakthroughs, unbridgeable divides, and taboos unbroken"
August 22, 2005
David Swanson
"The people must demand peace: An interview with Tom Hayden"
August 22, 2005
Kevin Zeese
"Will celebrity-addicted America miss the point? "
August 18, 2005
Mike Ferner
"Jefferson would have stood with Cindy Sheehan "
August 16, 2005
Thom Hartmann
"Why is violence escalating in Iraq?"
August 1, 2005
Eric Straatsma, Peace Think Tank
"How the United States Marked the 3rd Anniversary of the Downing Street Memo"
July 23, 2005
David Swanson, www.afterdowningstreet.org
"Someone Tell Bush That Iraq Wasn’t Responsible for 9/11 Before another War Breaks Out"
June 21, 2005
Jason Leopold
"More damning than Downing Street"
June 21, 2005
Paul Rogat Loeb
"Messengers of Truth: Untangling a Knot of Lies"
June 18, 2005
Kevin Zeese
"How Much Proof Needed Before the Truth Comes Out? "
June 17, 2005
Kevin Zeese
"Silent Death in Iraq "
June 13, 2005
Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar
"Media Black Out Downing Street Minutes"
June 8, 2005
David Swanson, www.afterdowningstreet.org
"Getting Out of Iraq Will Be Tougher than Getting Out of Vietnam"
May 3, 2005
Kevin Zeese and Linda Schade
"No Troops, No Wars"
March 24, 2005
Yoshie Furuhashi
"Iraq’s Election Will Not Guarantee Democracy"
February 5, 2005
Gene C. Gerard
"The U.S. Supreme Court is AWOL on Iraq"
January 29, 2005
Gene C. Gerard
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