CPTnet
January 6, 2004

IRAQ INVITATION TO PRAYER AND FASTING: January 11, 2005, "Liberty to
captives"

[Note: This release did not post last Thursday due to technical
difficulties. Prayers are still welcome, however.]

An Invitation to Prayer
 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 also 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, January 11, 2004
"Liberty to Captives"

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has chosen me to bring good
news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and to proclaim a
year acceptable to the Lord." (Luke 4:18, from Isaiah 61:1)

"When you have laid [your enemies] low, bind your captives firmly. Then
grant them their freedom or take a ransom from them, until War shall lay
down her burdens."
(Qur'an 47:3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

While these texts ask us to treat captives with mercy and justice, the
reality of prisoner abuse extends far back into human history. Biblical
stories include numerous accounts of mistreatment: Samson, during the
period of his imprisonment was compelled to do hard and humiliating labor
(Judges 16:21.) The authorities often marked dangerous persons with various
kinds of physical mutilation: Samson's captors gouged out his eyes. King
Nebuchadnezzar did the same to Zedekiah (2 Kings 22:27.) Adoni-bezek's
torturers cut off his thumbs and great toes to render him incapable of
further resistance (Judges 1:6.) Prisoners suffered from an inadequate diet
(1 Kings 22:27) and were required to wear special prison garb (2 Kings
25:29.)

Post-invasion Iraq is no different. We have all read stories of Iraqi men
and women who have been tortured by U.S. soldiers while in detention. People
have suffered electrocution, sexual abuse, physical mutilation, and
psychological threats. Ongoing investigations reveal that this mistreatment
extends far beyond the actions of "a few bad apples," and is endemic within
the prisons and detention centers in Iraq.

The detention system in Iraq is presently overwhelmed by more than 10,000
detainees. Many are housed in temporary prisons at military bases, because
the two main prisons of Abu Ghraib and Bucca cannot contain them all. Their
incarceration in military bases, among soldiers untrained in proper
treatment of prisoners, increases the likelihood of further abuse.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ACTION:

1. Visit CPT Iraq's Adopt-a-Detainee Campaign website
(http://www.cpt.org/campaigns/adopt/adopt_a_detainee.php)

2. Choose a detainee whose story compels you, and write a letter on his
behalf (the website lists contact information for various authorities to
whom you can send letters.)

3. Send a copy of the letter to your congressperson and senators
(www.house.gov and www.senate.gov for their email and snail-mail addresses.)

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 times of prayer and action,
so that we may encourage each other's spiritual growth.

To post a comment on our web log, follow these steps:

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."

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