CPTnet
August 21, 2003
IRAQ: Letter from Gene Stoltzfus

Hello Everyone:

Peggy [Gish] and I know that many of you must be concerned about us in light
of the bombing at the UN headquarters . . . on Tuesday. Early that morning
we had departed for Karbala and Najef, both key Shiite cities two hours or
more to the South. . . . Both cities are centered around major Shiite
shrines that under normal times attract pilgrims from all over the world.

We visited Human Rights centers in both of the cities where we met tiny
staffs who are deluged with requests for help to receive compensation for
relatives who were killed in wars with Iran and the US or by thugs. Others
are trying to locate relatives who may have disappeared during the recent
occupation. . . . In both sites work has begun on tracing the sites where
mass graves dating from 1991 exist. In a country where active private
organizations did not exist during the period of Baathist socialism it is
impressive to see the creation of so many new groups.

Both centers raised concerns over making contact with coalition forces over
disappeared persons or other matters of basic survival. These centers also
raised questions of the dangers of cluster bombs used by occupying forces. .
. .

The hotels and tiny street vendors are overcome with new business from
pilgrims, particularly from Iran and Afghanistan on their way to Shiite Holy
sites. Our contacts expressed ambivalence about this new flow of pilgrims
made possible by [a] completely open border set in place after the
occupation. There are unhealed wounds from the Iran-Iraq war of the the
late 1980s. On the streets we were often greeted by these pilgrims.

Our discussions with religious leadership were sometimes warm and sometimes
icy. There exists a wide consensus, true or untrue, that Saddam was put in
power and sustained by the US and that Saddam no longer served US interests
and therefore we now have an occupation. The sooner the coalition departs
the better, was the conclusion of this analysis. We have heard some formula
like that often enough to know that it is widely held at least among some of
the Shiite religious tendencies. . . . We were treated cordially by Muslim
leadership and invited back. . . .

We will be sorting through the implications of what we learned for several
days. Coordinated massive military attacks from resistance forces over the
recent weeks will clearly influence events here in the months ahead. I
don't think that the world is confident that the coalition has the
competence to create security. The curious contradiction here is that
during Saddam's rule events such as this simply
did not occur, nor did looting.

All the best from Baghdad... Gene