CPTnet
28 May 2005
IRAQ UPDATE: 17-21 May 2005
Tuesday 17 May Joe Carr and Greg Rollins went to Scania Military Base (aka
FOB Falcon) south of Baghdad to enquire about detainees held at the base.
They talked with the US soldier who was the manager of the waiting room. The
manager could only answer a few questions. He referred the CPTers to a
higher-ranking soldier but that soldier apologized and said that the Army
could not comment because the CPTers are not journalists.
On the way out, Rollins, Carr, and their translator talked to two Iraqi men.
One said he'd been detained for five days and released four days ago, and
had come to Scania to get compensation for property taken by American
soldiers in the house raid. The soldiers at Scania told the Iraqi he would
not be able to recover any of it unless he knew which soldiers took it or he
got a lawyer.
He said the conditions at Scania were bad, guards only gave them biscuits
and water, took them to the bathroom four times a day, and only allowed a
two minute shower every two days. The cells are about 6 x 8 meters and hold
fourteen to fifteen detainees.
He said the American soldiers had not beaten him, but Iraqi soldiers had.
He saw other Iraqis with injuries sustained in beatings by Iraqi soldiers.
He said he saw U.S. soldiers take copies of the Koran off his refrigerator
and step on them and saw an American soldier kick a ten-year-old boy who was
frightened.
The team's landlord told the team to ration water because the building was
running low and the neighborhood had not received any from the city in
several days.
Wednesday 18 May
Tom Fox and one of the team's translators went into the western part of the
city to deliver the team's quarterly report to the Iraqi Ministry of Civil
Society in order to retain their status as an officially recognized
Nongovernmental Organization (NGO. ) The ministry that had been handling
NGO certification no longer does so. When Fox and the translator arrived at
the Ministry for Civil Society they met with someone who took the report
but said that CPT needed to talk to the director about changes in the NGO
process. The director was in Jordan and would not return for five days. Fox
got his name and phone number as well as the name and phone number of the
representative they talked to.
Rollins and a translator went to the Ministry of Residence to obtain
permission for Rollins to stay in the country for three months. In order to
receive permission, Rollins and the translator visited
several different offices within the building to gather several different
forms and several signatures. The process took roughly two hours.
Thursday 19 May
The team's meeting with an Iraqi detainee NGO was canceled. The director of
the organization needed to attend the funeral of a recently assassinated
Sunni cleric. One of CPTers' translators told the team that as many as
fourteen Sunni clerics had been assassinated in the last week throughout the
country.
Friday, 20 May
The team was surprised that they received eight hours of electricity in one
spell. CPT's landlord said the workers at the electrical plant probably
forgot to switch the power over to other neighborhoods.
Saturday, 21 May
In the morning, CPT's landlord brought in a 10,000- gallon water truck to
refill the water tanks on the building CPT lives in and a house next door.
The landlord said the problem with the water was
that people did not do their jobs at the water plants and the equipment was
falling apart, thus creating problems purifying and pumping the water from
the Tigris River.
At 11:30 p.m., heavy gunfire came from the guards at the building around the
corner. A moment later a car pulled around the corner and stopped in front
of the CPT apartment. The guards from the building
around the corner searched the car thoroughly and questioned the driver for
about twenty minutes. After looking at his ID they apologized to the driver
and let him go.
_______________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, send a message with
only the word, "suspend," in the body to server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches
(Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and
membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
Contact CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680; Telephone: 773-277-0253 Fax:
773-277-0291; e-mail: peacemakers@cpt.org.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
Donate to CPT 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.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jun 01 2005 - 09:07:51 EDT