CPTnet
April 2, 2004

IRAQ REFLECTION: A Culture of Violence

by Peggy Gish

Women in Iraq remind us that the security of any society can be judged by
how safe the women feel. Before the 2003 war, abductions of women on the
streets of Baghdad were basically nonexistent. Women talked about feeling
safe walking on the streets even at 2:00 in the morning. I returned this
winter to find that security for women had improved little since the summer.
There are fewer abductions, but women still hide in their home rather than
venturing out to work, school or to play an active role in rebuilding Iraq.

 Security is the first request Iraqis mention when asked what changes they
want to see. Yet security is more than feeling safe on the street. Security
also means being able to feed one's family, have clean water, adequate
shelter, and health care. In Iraq we see a cycle of violence spawned by the
devastation of a war that knocked out all Iraqi civil structures, as well as
communication, health and sanitation systems. It is partly the result of
years of war and oppression under the former regime. And it is partly the
result of oppression under the current regime, provoking revenge and a
desire to throw off the oppressors.

At one of our Lenten vigils a man said to me without much emotion, "Your
cause is a heavenly one, but this is not the reality we live in. The first
time I saw a dead body, I was so upset I couldn't sleep all night. Now it
seems like normal to us. Recently I helped carry away ten dead bodies and a
bucket of body parts, and it did not bother me. It is now normal life for
us. We smile and go on with life. We have to. But, thank you for what you
are doing."

 What could I say, but "This should not be normal! There must be something
better for Iraq."

We are seeing a culture of violence emerge here. People accept seeing
automatic weapons and handguns being held by guards in front of businesses,
apartment buildings and banks. Men carry guns openly on the street, inside
shops and offices, and US soldiers in convoys aim their guns at passersby.
I, too, have become used to them and to the frequent sound of shooting and
explosions.

  Before we conclude that the Iraqi, Arab people, or Muslim people are more
violent, let us remember the significant role that the US played in
supporting the former regime in its violence, in the breakdown of economic
and health care systems in Iraq during the years of sanctions, and now in
the war of 2003. Let us remember, too, which country in the world has put
the most energy into wars over the last decades, into military preparedness,
stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and selling weapons. I want to say,
not only to Iraqis, but also to my own country, "This should not be normal!
There must be something better for the United States and Iraq."