2010/03/05: WNPJ member from Duluth travels with CPT to Iraq

 Michele Naar-Obed, of  member group Loaves and Fishes, of Duluth,  has returned to Suleimaniya, Iraq this winter. WNPJ will post her reports on our website. Michele can be reached at obedsinduluth@yahoo.com. Michele writes: March 5, 2010 - Dear friends, It's been a long and tiring month and a lot has happened here in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Our long awaited human rights report is now public. "Where there is a promise, there is a tragedy": Cross-border bombings and shellings of the northern village peoples of the Kurdish region of Iraq by the nations of Turkey and Iran

This is a 57 page report which documents the impact of an intermittent war waged on an isolated civilian population, the historical context in which the current warfare is occurring, and the international legal implications of decisions taken by various militaries engaged in acts of violence against a vulnerable civilian population in an already-vulnerable and -war-torn country.

These are the links for the report in both English and Kurdish. I'll also post the links on my  website; www.duluthcpt.net.  And if you haven't already checked out the videos, take a look at "hospitality Zharawa IDP camp style". Their stories are included in the report.

Peace,

Michele

January message: Dear friends, Amazingly, both me and my luggage arrived safe and sound in Suleimaniya in the early morning hours of January 1. Every connecting flight landed and left on schedule. This is a rare event in my many travels back and forth. I just wanted to send a few brief updates on what I've seen and learned so far. I visited the IDP tent camp in Zharawa. 6 families have decided to stay at the camp indefinitly. They are too afraid to return to their villages and they have nowhere to go in town.

I don't know how many people are in each family but I saw children and elderly at the camp. They have a generator but no money for benzene to run it. The US military dug a well in July but they are still waiting for a pump. They think it will be finished in 2 weeks. Meanwhile, as of December 31, 2009, the UNHCR has stopped bringing in tanks of water. They have not had water brought in for the past 4 days. They are still in tents and not looking forward to snow and ice.

Many families are living in the town of Zharawa either crowding into relatives houses or in very cheap, small rental houses. Don't have those numbers yet.
Some families have returned to their villages and will stay there as long as they are safe. Don't know those numbers yet either. There has been some shelling but that has been limited to the outskirts of the villages. The last time there was extensive shelling inside the villages was August. Schools have reopened in the villages.
We had a long meeting with Kaka Haji. He is hoping to get a meeting with the new Prime Minister, Mr. Barham Salih. He believes Mr. Salih will hear and heed his plea for the needs of the villagers. However, after long discussions, he came to the conclusion that his government really doesn't care about the little people on the bottom. I assured him that this is not a phenomenon unique to the Kurdish government. Kaka Haji recognized the need for the little people to organize in order to make them just a wee bit bigger. CPT is considering offering them trainings in organizing and nonviolence. In the meantime, we are in the end stages of preparing a report  for the international community and human rights organizations on the condition of the IDPs.
I had a chance to see Khaled Qader and the folks at the Rania Youth Center. Khaled has been busy preparing the Rania delegation for their trip to Duluth this spring. Still no affirmation from the Kurdistan government regarding their travel funds but they are living in hope which is amazing considering what they have been through.
I have a lot more catching up to do. I'm still taking a lot in and will have more to say as time goes on. That's it for now.
Peace, Michele

 Michele's report form 2009 follow:

 The people of the Zharawa Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) tent camp fear for their lives as temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The camp has no shade trees or structures and no electricity for refrigeration of food. 137 families share 45 tents. Many of the people are elderly and children who are most susceptible to disease. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) share the fate of the IDP’s by moving into the tent camp. With the members of the camp, they will join voices to ask the local, national and international community to help relocate them to a more liveable and humane environment. Remember the expression, “It takes a village to raise a child?” CPT and the Zharawa IDP’s say, “It takes a world to raise a village." Learn more form this video:
"Mothers for Peace" video, available for viewing on: www.duluthcpt.net. And find out what action you can take...

 Background:

 The people of the villages along the northern Iraqi Kurdistan border have been subjected to repeated military attacks from their neighbouring countries Turkey and Iran, for over 2 decades as they claim to battle the Turkish ‘Kurdistan Worker’s Party’ (PKK) and the Iranian ‘Party for Free Life in Kurdistan’ (PJAK). Both groups are in armed conflict with their respective governments in response to repression of their Kurdish populations and are on the US and EU terrorist lists. Since 2007, when the United States began sharing military intelligence with Turkey, the attacks have become more aggressive resulting in death, injury and extensive property damage of civilians and their homes. These attacks clearly violate their human rights under the Geneva Convention. The civilian villagers of the Pshdar district, estimated in the thousands, have not been able to return to their villages. The IDP’s in the district’s town of Zharawa are 137 families from 11 villages numbering more than 600 people.

In 2008, UNHCR and a private company Qandil, were contracted to build the IDP camp in Zharawa. The conditions at the camp are terrible. There is no shade. Summer temperatures can reach 118’ F. “We spend most our day looking for shade for our children,” says one parent. There is no electricity to refrigerate food. Latrines are dangerously close to tents. The people anticipate rampant illness. They worry about how the elderly will survive. There is no employment and whatever resources people had are dwindling away. “Some families cannot buy one kilo of fruit,” says one man. This situation is temporary at best and there is no sign people will be able to return to their homes any time soon.  Another immediate solution is clearly needed before someone gets ill or dies. 

See pictures of the camp: http://cpt.org/gallery/album287?page=1) 

What you can do:

1. Alert all your international media contacts. (BBC, CNN, AP. Television is best) The aim is to A.) Expose the terrible conditions of the camp to inspire governments and the international community to provide an adequate solution for the people. B.) Put a human face on the cost of an international conflict and call for peace.
2. Share your media contacts with the team

Team contact info:

Craig Kite

cptiraq@cpt.org

0770 762 0642

3. Call your state representatives. Tell them the US should protect citizens of a country it has occupied instead of sharing intelligence with foreign militaries that are bombing civilian’s homes.

-Tell them that displaced people are now in a terrible situation and need adequate care and compensation for their losses.

-Ask that the US support a peace process between Turkey and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in light of PKK unilateral ceasefire and calls for dialogue.* There is now a great opportunity for peace. The PKK offers to lay down its arms in exchange for amnesty. Peace would allow thousands of villagers to return home to their traditional way of life and culture.   

www.house.gov

www.senate.gov

Two toll free Congressional numbers are 1-800-828-0498 and 1-866-340-9281 – ask for the House of Representatives or the Senate and give the name of your Representative or Senator.

*http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/113802-pkk-expresses-hope-for-peace

  http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=176997

  ...........................More background:

Dear friends,

Last week, a delegation from Duluth arrived in Rania, a small city of 80-90,000 Kurds in the Kurdish north of Iraq. They came to explore the possibility of establishing a Duluth-Rania Sister City. All in all, it went pretty well.The delegation was eagerly and graciously received. There were awkward moments at the beginning. Communication was hard, culture differences were obvious but within a short time, barriers were toppling and bonds of friendship were forming. Tom Morgan, one of the Duluth delegates, did an excellent job of sending in daily reports to our Duluth News Tribune so I won’t go into all the details of their trip.

I mention this because I’ve been living and working in the Kurdish north of Iraq for close to 5 months this year and I was here to be part of the receiving crew when the Duluth delegation arrived. I also found myself in the position of helping to bridge the 2 groups and I found it really difficult to figure out in my own mind which group I was with.

One of the many places that the Duluth delegation visited was the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp of Zharawa just outside of Rania. This tent camp was established under UNHCR in April 2009 and is home for over 130 families representing 9 different villages that have been run out of their homes by ongoing shelling and bombing from Iran and Turkey. The US has often provided military intelligence and protection to the Turkish military for their role in these attacks.

The tent camp is in desperate shape. There is not a shade tree to be found. The temperature has already exceeded 100 F and will only get worse as summer fast approaches. There is no electricity so food cannot be refrigerated. Water is tanked in by UNHCR for now and food comes via ICRC and Iraqi government food ration distribution. They cannot grow food or raise farm animals. They battle scorpions daily and they are certain that disease will soon wipe out the camp.

The people of these villages were once prosperous farmers and shepherds. They not only took care of their own needs, but they provided much of the agricultural products for a good portion of the country of Iraq. They describe their villages as paradise. They were happy, grateful and wanted for nothing.

Now, caught inside a horrifically tangled political and military web, the people of the Zharawa IDP camp are desperately poor. Their livelihoods are gone, their life savings have been depleted, and their lifeline to their homelands has been severed, at least for the time being. If this mess is resolved, they will return home to their villages and rebuild again.

I’ve been working with the Zharawa camp over these past months with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Our role is to document the human rights violations that the IDP’s experienced as a result of the military attacks and the violations they continue to endure as a result of being displaced. We share these documents with other government and human rights organizations that can advocate for political change and military cessation in order to ensure a safe return home to their villages.

I’ve come to know some of the people there pretty well. Not too many foreigners have come to hear their stories or work on their behalf. It doesn’t take long to break down barriers with the people there. They are pretty vulnerable. Personally, I find the biggest barriers to be within myself but then I’m not desperate or hungry, at least not in body.

I drove into the camp with my hometown Duluth delegation. Introductions began and I was introduced with the other Duluthians. As the IPD’s were introduced, I was again introduced as a “member of the tribe”. Now I was really confused about where I belonged. Within moments I found myself serving water to the Duluth guests and helping to clarify the plight of the IDP’s with the camp spokesperson.

It was my idea to include the IDP camp as one of the many places that the Duluth crew would visit. It was my hope that they would meet them and be willing to shoulder some of the burdens that the villagers bear. I wanted to lessen the villagers’ load and I wanted my Duluth family to take some of the burden from me. Maybe that was selfish on my part.

What do you do when people who are just about broken look you in the eye and claim you as family? What do say when someone earnestly introduces you as a member of the tribe? What do you do when you know that at the end of the day, you get to go home to a place where there is electricity for at least 12 hours each day? What do you do when you know that in a few weeks time you get to go home to a place where virtually every physical, emotional and spiritual need will be met with ease?

For me, I feel I have to carry as much of their burden as I possibly can. I plan to continue    to work on their behalf from my “other” home in Duluth and God-willing, I’ll come back to my new home amongst the people of the Zharawa camp again.  I want to introduce my IDP family to you too. I want to invite you to help carry their burden.

What benefit will you get out this you might be asking yourselves?  Well, for one, it’s something that God calls on each of us to do; love each other. If that’s not a good enough reason, the IDP’s want to love you. And if that still isn’t enough, when the IDP’s are able to get out from under the yoke of oppression and fulfill their full human potential, they will contribute a unique source of wealth and beauty into this tattered world that will be beyond definition. This I know they yearn to share with their human family.

I return home to Duluth in mid June. I will be more than happy to speak with you as individuals or with your groups upon request. I don’t ask for a fee but if I travel beyond Duluth, I would ask for travel expenses to be covered.

When I return to Duluth, I'll be posting 2 short videos on my website. They will be available for viewing after June 20 on: www.duluthcpt.net.

Alive and well in the Kurdish north of Iraq,

Michele Naar-Obed

************************************

Previous message from Michele:

It is with great joy that I tell you that the CPT steering committee has decided to reverse its decision to suspend the Iraq team. Your support has played a key role in their decision. The team will now continue its work through the end of December 2009, We don't know what next year will bring. The team is committed to working thoroughly and devoutly on behalf of the internally displaced Kurdish villagers as our time will allow. We will get as much documentation and supply reports to key people with the hope of making their villages safe for their return.
So on behalf of the CPT Iraq team and all the people with whom we work, thank you for your pledges, your prayers and your support.
Please  make a check out to "CPT" and mail it to CPT, PO Box 6508, Chicago IL 60680, and designate on the cheque, "pledge for the Iraq team". You can also donate online by going to http://www.cpt.org/participate/donate Peace, Michele Naar-Obed 4/27/09

And more on the story of CTP in Iraq:
Prior to the 2003 invasion, many United Nation organizations emphasized that another round of war in Iraq would result in an humanitarian crisis of unconscionable proportions. After decades of war and economic sanctions, there was simply no buffer left to absorb the devastation of more war. Six years later, the magnitude of the resultant humanitarian crisis is still hard to absorb.

CPT stood by the people of Iraq during the 2003 "shock and awe" bombing campaign. In 2004, CPT compiled testimony from detainees who were abused and tortured in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. In January 2005, the document was released to world media and members of US Congress. The BBC ran the story as top headline news for 3 days but hardly a whisper was heard in the US. In May 2005, US soldiers released the now infamous pictures of Iraqis being tortured. The rest of the story is history. If forgotten, we may be condemned to repeat it.

In early 2005, CPT saw the razing of Fallujah and the world later learned that the chemical "white phosphorous" had been used indiscriminately as a weapon.

By late 2005, CPT saw at the grassroots level what failed US-counterinsurgency policies looked like. Identified as the Salvadoran Option, certain factions of the Iraq population were trained, armed and pitted against other factions. The same military advisors that once ran the failed counterinsurgency wars in El Salvador and Colombia were in the halls of Iraq's Ministry of Interior in Baghdad. Mass executions, disappearance, torture, and dismembered bodies found along the roadside were daily occurrences. Fear, confusion and scapegoating led to near total collapse of Iraq's civil society. With the explosion of the Al-Askariya Shrine, Iraq was teetering on the edge of civil war. It's infrastructure was destroyed and its societal net had just about unraveled.

In 2007, a reverse counterinsurgency plan was instituted and the faction previously labeled as terrorists were now being trained and armed. The "surge" arrived in the summer of 2007 and Baghdad neighborhoods were ethnically cleansed. People who once lived together as neighbors now remain divided by concrete walls. Each group lives in its own little neighborhood prison. Nobody knows what will happen when those walls come down since there has been little in the way of political or personal reconciliation.

Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, the Iraqi Kurds have their own story to tell. Brutalized beyond imagination under Saddam, the Kurds were elated when his government fell. These were the people that greeted the coalition troops with flowers, flew American flags, and named their children after George Bush and Tony Blair. When Turkey denied the coalition forces permission to launch their invasion into Baghdad from the north, the Kurdish Peshmerga cleared the way and marched alongside them into Baghdad. They are proud to say that not one coalition soldier was killed while under the Peshmerga's accompaniment.

Even though the governments of the West remained virtually silent during Saddam's genocidal Anfal campaign and the gassing of the Kurdish village Halubja, and that the US had turned a blind eye to the Kurdish uprising against Saddam in 1991, the Kurds believed that the US might become an ally in their struggle for political autonomy. So far, this has not been the case.

Where the Kurdish villages were once decimated under Saddam and rebuilt after the uprising and the institution of the northern "no-fly zone", they are currently being decimated by Turkey and Iran. The US provides military intelligence and opens the Iraqi air space to Turkish surveillance and bomber planes. Millions of Kurdish civilians have been displaced, some killed, and property damage and human rights violations are ongoing. Turkey's justification for these attacks is to eradicate the armed Kurdish liberation group, PKK which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union. Evidence of their military strategy proves otherwise. Turkey is accused of mounting an intimidation campaign against Iraqi Kurdish autonomy and trying to get control of the oil rich city of Kirkuk

The recent provincial elections were filled with fraud and large numbers of Kurds were excluded from voting costing them important seats in certain provinces that have cities with high Kurdish populations. The people of Kirkuk were not allowed to vote at all.

With Nouri Al-Maliki's government in power and the US finalizing plans for troop withdrawal, the Kurds have been threatened by their Arab countrymen and threats of civil war between the north and the south are growing louder. Recently, the US turned over 140 Abrams Battle Tanks to the Iraqi Army and the Kurds fear that those tanks will be used against them as they have been branded as traitors to Iraq during the US-led occupation and invasion.

The UN, located in the Kurdish city of Erbil, severely restricts its staff from leaving its base for security reasons. Unless briefed by their local staff or teams such as CPT, they are largely unaware of human rights violations and volatile tensions.

It is estimated that the healing process for the people of Iraq will take decades. Those at the governmental levels, both foreign and domestic, appear far too removed from the people's reality. A massive campaign of healing and reconciliation at the grassroots level is seriously needed. Whoever helps in this healing process however, should best consider doing so for the good of humanity and not for the good of national interest.
Michele Naar-Obed lives at the Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker in Duluth MN. She has spent over one year in Iraq. She can be reached at obedsinduluth@yahoo.com