CPTnet

March 6, 2004

IRAQ: Dangers and angels in the crowd

by Peggy Gish

Crowds gathered tightly around our group of six CPTers as we stood in front
of our tent in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad. This was the third day of
the Lenten Fast Vigil, and we estimated that about 2,000-6,000 people had
come through that square each day. Faces full of curiosity and suspicion
stared at us as people reached for our flyers.

"Those men are terrorists!" one man told us, pointing to the poster size
pictures of detainees we held. "They deserve to be executed!" Another man
asked, "Where were you when Saddam was putting the Iraqi people in prison
and torturing them?" "Why do you have pictures of mostly Sunni men and not
Shia?" Others gave thumbs up or thanked us for our witness. Occasionally one
would start telling about a friend of theirs or someone in their family who
was also detained or hurt by U.S. forces.

Two journalists stopping by for interviews warned us not to continue to come
back to this site to protest. "This is a dangerous part of the city, and
there are many gangs and thieves around here. The people around here are
uneducated. They know when you plan to come back."

Since our regular translators weren't there this day, various men came by
and began interpreting conversations between team members and people in the
crowd. One of these men was Ahmed Hassin, a member of the Organization for
Human Rights, one of the Iraqi organizations with whom we have been working
since last August. He confronted and sent away men who were harassing CPT
women, and defended our positions to some of the critics.

"Some of these men are accusing you of being supporters of Saddam Hussein,
or of being paid by the CIA or US military to do this," he said.

 These accusations sounded ridiculous, but we took seriously the potential
threat embedded in these statements. Later, we evaluated the last three days
of vigils. We had planned to vigil in the same place for four days out of
each of the next few weeks. Would it be wise to move to another location,
or are the warnings coming from the prejudices and fears of a few? Should we
not bring the signs until we can get more made of Shia men on our list?
Would it be possible to do some of the street theater we had envisioned?
Will we be able to keep up the strength to be there for two hours a day for
four days a week, and at other locations the other three?

But we affirmed that the vigils had attracted the attention of and opened a
dialogue with thousands of people passing by, and many media personnel. It
was also evident that in the midst of the various dangers and unknowns were
various "guardian angels," people who unexpectedly appeared and who watched
over and assisted us.