CPTnet
March 23, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: 2:30 am March 23/ 6:30 pm EST March 22

as reported to Gene Stoltzfus

The team continues to be safe and is energetically pursuing its mission of
providing friendship to the Iraqi people and witnessing against the use
military force to achieve change. Tonight four CPTers are in the Tent at
the Al Wathab Water Treatment Plant , and Al Monsur Paediatric Hospital and
two remain at the Al Daar Hotel. Iraq Peace Team workers are also at the
tent. There was intermittent bombing in Baghdad throughout the day but it
was quiet from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Electrical power remained available at
both sites. A series of bombs dropped as the telephone conversation
developed.

The streets of Baghdad were quiet although a few shops were open. The team
visited a family where typical warm hospitality was expressed. In one area
near the hospital the team saw a group of approximately seventy-five
children playing
soccer. The team observed this while doing an extended walk in the
neighborhood of the hospital.

Team meetings with the Iraq Peace Team were conducted during the day and
CPTers had a brief prayer service at 10:00 pm Baghdad time and were joined
in that event by CPTers in other locations of the Middle East including a
delegation stalled in Amman that set out for Baghdad from North America and
Europe just prior to the outbreak of the war. The team remains calm and
strong in their convictions.