CPTnet
December 6, 2003
IRAQ: Thanksgiving in Baghdad

by Charlie Jackson

[Note: Jackson was a participant in the most recent CPT delegation to Iraq.]

Two groups of Americans celebrated Thanksgiving in Baghdad. Soldiers of the
U.S. military and their civilian contractors, ate turkey and dressing flown
in from the states. The second group, members of our Christian Peacemaker
Teams (CPT) delegation ate as guests in the home of Safa and Amal Alwan.
Our crew included a retired Stanford professor of Literature, a union
contract negotiator, a filmmaker, a retired teacher from Canada, an
ex-Vietnam vet, and myself, a technology entrepreneur from Texas.

I met Safa and Amal, and their three children, on my visit to Iraq in
January, just prior to the invasion.
Safa served during the Iran-Iran war, as did most men in Iraq and was
scarred by the conflict. Now he teaches a few classes at a nearby mosque.
Amal, who taught school before the salaries were reduced, has just opened up
an Internet caf