U.S. Civilians Confront U.S. Military in Najaf, Iraq
NAJAF, IRAQ - April 23 - As numerous people from nonprofit
organizations working in Iraq evacuated the country during the past
week, an independent emergency delegation of U.S. civilians was
preparing to enter the conflict-torn nation,traveling to the tense
stand-off around Najaf, where the U.S. military recently deployed
almost 3,000 troops for a looming assault to crush Shiite rebels
there.
The Najaf Emergency Peace Team, "Peace Between Peoples", a handful of
determined volunteers from several well-established peace/global
justice/human rights and religious organizations, has now arrived in
the area, to place themselves "nonviolently, symbolically and
physically" between the U.S. armed forces massed nearby and the
civilian population of the ancient holy city - in the way of any
American military assault.
The delegation has received messages of encouragement from religious
and community leaders in south-central Iraq, including an advisor to
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. "We understand the dangers of our journey,
but we are determined to try and contribute in our own small way to
peace and justice for the people of Najaf and Iraq. Only when
peacemakers are willing to shoulder some of the same risks that
soldiers take in war, can we begin to move away from the cycle of
violence that grips human society at the dawn of the 21st century,"
says the group's statement.
Meg Lumsdaine, Peter Lumsdaine, Mario Galvan, Trish Schuh, and Brian
Buckley - of California, New York and Virginia, respectively - are now
in south-central Iraq to carry out their peace mission.
Rev. Meg Lumsdaine is an ordained Lutheran pastor who has previously
been involved in human rights delegations to Latin America and Iraq.
Peter Lumsdaine is coordinator of the Military Globalization Analysis
Project and organizer of the Najaf delegation. Mario Galvan, a high
school teacher, is a national board member of Peace Action, with
100,000 members throughout the U.S., and a founding member of the
Zapatista Solidarity Coalition. Trish Schuh co-founded the Military
Families Support Network in 1990 and was involved in Military Families
Speak Out. Brian Buckley is a carpenter and member of the Little
Flower Catholic Worker community.
The Najaf emergency delegation can be contacted for interviews and
more information by e-mail (mariogalvan44@hotmail.com), as their peace
witness and nonviolent challenge to the U.S. military assault plan
unfolds in the days ahead.
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