CPTnet
December 23, 2004

IRAQ INVITATION TO PRAYER AND FASTING: Tuesday December 28, 2004
"And those who make you tremble wake up"

 CPT in Iraq invites you to join with us every Tuesday for a day of prayer
and fasting that will continue until Easter week. At 9am Eastern Standard
Time (1400GMT) on Tuesdays the team will gather for an hour of focused
prayer. You are invited to participate as you are led either by joining us
in fasting (the team will do a bread and water fast) and/or participating
with us a time of joint prayer -- Additionally we will provide an action
step(s) connected with the sacred passage that will be the focus for our
time of prayer together. If you are so led, the CPT Iraq team asks that you
participate in the suggested action between Tuesday and Thursday so we can
be working together. We created a web page where people can post
reflections that occur during their time of prayer. You will find a link to
the website at the end of the release.

Tuesday December 28, 2004
"And those who make you tremble wake up"

"Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!"
How long will you load yourselves with goods taken in pledge?
Will not your own creditors suddenly rise up?
And those who make you tremble wake up?
Then you will be booty for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
all that survive of the people shall plunder you;
because of the human bloodshed and violence to the earth.

"Alas for you who get evil gain for your houses,
Setting your nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm!"
You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many people.
You have forfeited your life.
The very stones will cry out from the wall, and the beams will respond from
the woodwork.

"Alas for you who built a town by bloodshed, and founded a city on
iniquity!" It is not for the Lord of hosts that people labor to feed the
flames, and nations weary themselves for nothing. But the earth will be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the
seas.

"Alas for you who make your neighbors drink, pouring out your wrath
until they are drunk,
in order to gaze on their nakedness!"
You will be sated with contempt instead of glory,
Drink, you yourself, and stagger!
The cup of the Lord's right hand
will come round to you,
and shame will come to your glory!
 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
The destruction of the animals will terrify you-
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth.

Habakkuk 2: 6-18 NRSV

Suggested Action: This passage speaks to several of the important concerns
regarding Iraq. Please email, call or write your Congressional
Representative about one of the concerns that are described below. If you
don't have contact information please go to www.house.gov. For those
readers who are not U.S. citizens consider writing or emailing your
ambassador to the United States requesting that they speak out regarding
these issues.

"Heap up what is not your own" (Verses 6-8) Consider writing about the
reality that only twenty-six cents of every dollar allocated for Iraq
reconstruction is actually flowing into the Iraqi economy (Iraq Ministry of
Planning figures.) Many U.S. corporations are reaping the gains of the
post-invasion "reconstruction". See this article for information about the
Halliburton Corp: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7091742

 "Safe from the reach of harm" (vs. 9 11) Much of the current
administration's justification for the incursion into Iraq is to keep harm
from coming to the homeland. This discounts the harm that is taking place
in the Iraqi homeland and just as importantly the large number of American
men and women who have been killed or seriously injured. Consider writing
about the hidden impact of the over 15,000 U.S. non combat casualties
suffered so far: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112304W.shtml

"Built a town by bloodshed" (vs. 12 14) An American general referred
to the assault on the town of Fallujah as an action that "broke the back of
the insurgency". However the weeks following the action have seen a marked
increase in death and destruction at the hands of these same insurgents.
Consider writing about the tremendous cost, in human terms, such a brutal
house-to-house urban battle creates.
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_news/000145.php

"In order to gaze on their nakedness" (vs. 15-18) Illegal and immoral
actions are still being carried out by U.S. military intelligence and the
CIA. While the Supreme Court has moved to bring the detainees in Cuba
within the guidelines of the U.S. Constitution no such action is available
for detainees in Iraq. Consider writing to demand that America adheres to
to the United Nations Minimum Standards of Treatment for Prisoners.
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17216&c=206

You may also find out more about the detainee situation by visiting the CPT
website at: http://cpt.org/campaigns/adopt/adopt_a_detainee.php

Website for posting now available: CPT in Iraq has begun a web log
found at http://prayerandactionforiraq.blogspot.com. We encourage
you to post any insights that may have come to your during your time
of prayer. We also encourage you to post any heartening or
disheartening aspects of our actions so that we may encourage each
other's spiritual growth.

To post a comment on our web log, follow these steps:
1) Scroll down to the bottom of the posting you wish to comment on. 2) Click
on the place that shows the number of comments made on the posting. 3)
Scroll to the bottom of that page and click where is says, "Post a comment."