CPTnet
April 16, 2004

AMMAN: Letter from Greg Rollins to his supporters about evacuating from
Baghdad

When I was a child, I remember watching the news and seeing expatriates in
various hot spots, desperately being evacuated from the danger that had
culminated wherever they were. I recall trying to figure out how those
people could have allowed themselves to remain those situations until it was
so late. They could have left ages ago. Shouldn't people take better care of
themselves?

     Jump forward twenty years. "Oh, this is how people find themselves in
situations like this," I said to myself when I was in Baghdad. I wouldn't
have called myself desperate, but the situation was. At the Royal Jordanian
airline office, people lined up out the door in order to get out of Iraq as
soon as they could. Companies and human rights groups were and still are
evacuating as fast as they can. The roads in and out of Baghdad are too
dangerous for foreigners to travel on, and the idea of staying in Baghdad
and waiting out the tension is not a real option. Not when you can be
kidnapped from your own home like the Ukrainian and Russian workers were.

     These were some of the more pressing things we were aware of when I was
on the CPT delegation to Iraq the past couple weeks. We tried not to let
them bother us and continued to follow our delegation agenda as close as
possible. We spoke to many Iraqi Sheikhs, Imams, priests, doctors, human
rights workers, survivors of the Saddam regime and US soldiers. All of them
were equally aware of the building tension, yet none of them able to leave
like we did.

     I have to admit that despite all the tension and fear that was in Iraq,
it was hard to become too nervous. That's because I was in good hands. The
CPT team there was as solid as any I have seen. They may have been stressed
but they did not lose focus. They listened to their friends, prayed, weighed
the tension on the street and in the news, and most importantly, none of
them wanted to be a "hero." The delegation was also solid. They did not
panic and trusted the team. With people like this around me, how could I not
be in good hands?

     I am in Jordan now. My delegation is over. The Iraq team is in Jordan
too. They did not want to leave but they assessed the situation and did what
they believed was the wisest thing. Here in Jordan I keep thinking about the
news clips I saw on TV as a child. I would love to travel back twenty years
and tell myself that one day I too would find myself in a place people are
trying to leave. I don't know if I would have believed myself, but I would
have told myself not to worry, I would be in good hands.

Stay Safe,

Greg