CPTnet
March 30, 2004

IRAQ UPDATE: March 16-19, 2004

Tuesday, March 16
The team traveled to Kerbala to join members of the Iraq Human Rights Watch
organization for a Lent vigil in the plaza between the two shrines for the
Shi'a martyrs Hussein and Abbas. The organization invited CPT to return for
another vigil in April.

Matt Chandler and Le Anne Clausen went to the opening event of the "Days of
Solidarity with Iraqi People Suffering Under Occupation," a joint effort of
several Iraqi and international human rights organizations in Baghdad.
Clausen gave a speech on the role and responsibilities of non-governmental
organizations in occupied Iraq, which was taped and aired later by Al
Arabiyah television.

At the event team members met a twelve-year-old boy who was injured in June
after the war. His father testified that U.S. soldiers packed old munitions
into a house near his home, and then blew up the house. The boy, playing
nearby, was severely burned across his face and blinded. He can no longer
attend school. The family has been to the Coalition Provisional Authority
(CPA), the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and private
doctors in Iraq looking for assistance. Doctors have told the family that
the boy needs to be taken out of the country for a double cornea transplant
and reconstructive surgery, because no such facilities exist in Iraq. U.S.
officials have refused to compensate or otherwise assist the boy with his
medical needs.

 A CBS reporter later interviewed the team members, asking about detainee
human rights issues and their response to the killings of three Baptist
missionaries the night before near Mosul.

Wednesday, March 17
Chandler and Jane MacKay Wright traveled to Ramadi with a translator to
observe the weekly compensation claims court staffed by Col. James Stamper,
a Judge Advocate. Stamper told team members that the U.S. military sees no
legal obligation to pay compensation for civilian injuries, deaths, or
property damage caused by U.S. Forces, but does sometimes disburse funds out
of goodwill and has two funding sources to draw from for this purpose. A
list of 1400 compensation claims was on one wall of the room, with most of
the cases listed as `denied.' [See forthcoming release, "Ramadi Justice."]

Cliff Kindy and Stewart Vriesinga attended the Solidarity Days event, which
focused that day on compensation claims. Individuals and families came with
their claims and were interviewed by a number of media agencies. Iraqi
human rights workers also documented the claims.

Shortly after 4:00 p.m., an explosion occurred on Abu Nawwas St. in the
neighborhood of the team;s apartment. Kindy and Sheila Provencher went to
the site and learned that a remote detonated bomb went off at a place where
U.S. soldiers regularly meet with community members. An Iraqi boy was
injured in the blast and taken to the hospital by his family. The tire and
window of a Humvee were also damaged, and shrapnel damaged a van and
shattered several windows in an apartment building nearby.

At 8:15 p.m., a large explosion shook the team apartment. The source was a
car bomb at the Mount Lebanon hotel, nearly a kilometer away. Black smoke
poured into the night sky for at least an hour after the bombing. The team
later learned that the bomb destroyed most of the block around the hotel,
and shattered windows in hotels several blocks from the site.

Thursday, March 18
The housekeeper for the apartment building in which the team lives told
Clausen what she witnessed of the hotel bombing last night, which was near
her home. Visibly upset, the housekeeper described people jumping from the
burning buildings and babies crying because of the explosion.

Clausen and Vriesinga attended the Solidarity Days event, which was
focusing that day on detainee human rights. Representatives of each
organization led a discussion on detainee rights abuses by Coalition
forces, and several relatives of detainees stood and gave their testimonies.
The Iraqi Minister of Human Rights attended the event and expressed hope
that a new office they opened at Abu Ghraib prison camp would be able to
address some of the problems. The Iraqi event organizers emphasized the
need to work together in order to influence real changes.

 The event moved to Tahrir Square at noon, where the rest of the team was
beginning the Lenten vigil. The vigil was well attended by media and the
Iraqi public and human rights activists from as far away as Fallujah and
Kerbala. After an hour, the group marched across the Jumhuriya Bridge to
the park in front of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) headquarters.
Iraqi organizers led several chants in Arabic promoting human rights and
peace and calling for an end to the occupation. A patrol of U.S. soldiers
came over to the group and took a Swedish journalist's camera, concerned
that she had filmed the entry to the base. Iraqi human rights workers tried
to calm the soldiers, who later returned to the base.

At the end of the vigil, a group of BBC journalists showed up and were
disappointed they had missed the march. At their request, the group re
gathered and marched around the block while the journalists filmed. The
journalists then interviewed several of the participants.

As participants prepared to leave, several Iraqis expressed their hope that
the marches to the CPA would continue each Thursday, and that if they did,
people would bring friends from out of town for the events.

Friday, March 19
When Clausen and Vriesinga arrived for the final event of the Solidarity
Days activities, Iraqi human rights workers told them that at 8:00 p.m. the
night before, U.S. soldiers had entered the property and questioned several
people present. The soldiers then tore down several of the posters
describing the event. At a press conference shortly afterwards, Vriesinga
gave a speech encouraging the people to work together to address the human
rights abuses. Later, at a celebratory lunch, Iraqi organizers expressed
their hope that the cooperation among the different organizations would
continue.

Clausen, Provencher, and Wright shortened their vigil at Tahrir Square, due
to a brewing dust storm and consequent poor turnout of passersby.

Gish spent the morning at Holy Family Chaldean Church, where she was
invited to speak with church school classes for teenagers and young
adults. Some of the students suggested that U.S. and Iraqi youth join
toget