CPTnet
June 30, 2004

IRAQ UPDATE: June 17-20, 2004

Thursday, June 17, 2004
At 5:30 am, four explosions woke several members of the team.

At 9:40 am, Anne Montgomery heard another explosion. She later learned
militants had detonated a car bomb at the Iraqi CDC recruitment center.

Sheila Provencher, Maxine Nash and Greg Rollins traveled to the town of
Balad, two hours north of Baghdad. The team wanted to re-establish
relations with lawyers in the town, as well as visit two outlying towns: Abu
Sifa, where on December 16, 2003, coalition forces detained eighty-three
men, taking all the men in the village but two, and Abu Hishma, where on
November 17, 2003, coalition soldiers surrounded the entire village with
razor wire and imposed restrictions on movement in and out of the village.

The lawyers at Balad said it was too dangerous for foreigners to travel to
the two villages, but they did update CPT on the condition of the villages.
Coalition forces have released about eighty percent of the men from Abu
Sifa. Razor wire still surrounds Abu Hishma.

Friday, June 18, 2994
At 6:15 am, several mortars exploded.

Saturday, June 19, 2004
Montgomery and Provencher escorted an Iraqi woman and her 10-year-old son to
the Iraqi Assistance Center (IAC.) The son, shot in crossfire more than a
year ago, still needs several operations. While the CPTers and the Iraqi
woman waited in line at the checkpoint that enters the Green Zone, the area
used as headquarters by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), gunfire
broke out some 500 yards away. It continued intermittently for the next ten
minutes.

Inside the IAC office, the woman who took compensation cases said she was
overwhelmed with work and was asking for a male assistant because
Iraqi men refuse to take her seriously. She also mentioned she has been
threatened by Iraqi men three times.

Later in the day, Provencher mentioned to a doctor that she had read a
United Nations article staying that in the last two weeks, militants have
kidnapped over 100 doctors in Iraq. The article suggested the militants want
to cripple the Iraqi healthcare system and have demanded that the doctors
leave Iraq. The doctor confirmed that what Provencher had read was true

Anita David and Nash visited the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq.
The organization provides housing and protection for homeless women who are
in danger of becoming victims of honor killings. The Organization also
successfully prevented the law that allows family honor killings from
becoming part of the new Iraqi constitution.

Sunday, June 20, 2004
At 7:30 am, the team heard a single explosion.

At 7:10 pm, three loud explosions shook the windows of the CPT apartment.

Monday, June 21, 2004
Provencher, Nash and Rollins met with an imam from a local mosque. The imam
said CPT was welcome and that he prayed for the safety of CPT. He said that
respect for others is one of God's first commands. The imam expressed his
distress with the terrorist actions by those claiming to be Muslim.