CPTnet
10 January 2006

AMMAN LETTER: "Promise me you will tell."

by Beth Pyles

[Note: Beth Pyles sent the following letter to supporters on 8 January 2006.
She has been doing media work in Amman on behalf of the four CPTers missing
in Iraq and is preparing to join CPT's Iraq team. The letter has been
edited for length.]

As I read the New Testament, if I envy Paul anything, it's the way he opens
a letter. I wish it were not so awkward to greet you -- by telling you all
how beloved and special you are to me--

--My newest Iraqi friends are a father and his six year-old son. I
teasingly call him Abdul-Fred, remembering my own children when they were
small and the many pet names we had for them. Abdul Fred laughs when he
sees me and my heart overflows. We spent an afternoon in the hotel lobby
making paper airplanes, origami creatures and drawing pictures. The men who
stay here, all from the Middle East, joined in.

One of the men, from Syria, told me the story of Abdul-Fred and his family.
Father and son are hoping to travel to the United States, where a charitable
group has arranged for Abdul-Fred to have reconstructive facial surgery.
They are from Fallujah and their home was bombed by our military during the
fighting there last year. Abdul-Fred's mother was eight months pregnant and
something from the shelling struck her, literally ripping the baby from her
flesh. He did not survive. She had massive injuries, yet the military
would not take her to the hospital; only Abdul-Fred was taken.

--If you see [Abdul Fred] in profile, you see an unmarked face, but when he
turns, the other half of his face shows the scars. One eye is blind and
milky white, and the entire half of his face is scarred from the burns.
Half of his mouth will not close, so when he eats rice, his father gently
pushes the grains that slip out back into his mouth. --They are gentle and
quiet, the pair of them, with ready smiles, even for strangers.

But as my Syrian friend told me what had happened to them, he almost cried
-- and he struggled to say to me, "You must tell them! You must tell the
people of the United States about this! You must! Promise me you will
tell." So tonight I not only share my reflection with you; I fulfill a
promise to a friend. Because, you see, my Syrian friend believes that if
only you knew what was happening, the United States would stop the war in
Iraq. He believes that we do not know, because if we did, we would not
allow it--

Tomorrow is the beginning of second Eid-- a Muslim time of worship and
celebration, fasting and prayer. Michele and I plan to join our friends in
fasting for the day, as is the custom. We will spend our time in fasting
and prayer for Tom, Jim, Norman and Harmeet, as well as for their captors.
Please join with us.

God's peace to you all,

Beth