The Peacemaker: An American Woman's Journey With the Iraqi People

Readers:

This week marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. War in Iraq. A half-decade after the commencement of a military operation that was supposed to be wrapped up in weeks, the U.S. and Iraqi dead, along with the billions of US dollars spent each week, continue to pile up. Under current policy there is no end is in sight for either.

Regardless of whether you are an opponent of the War or a supporter of it – there is no question about the toll that the War has taken on the Iraqi people, and in particular the 2 million Iraqi’s who have fled their country and now live as refugees spread across the Middle East. We rarely, if ever, hear their plight mentioned by U.S. policy makers, and especially by boosters of the War.

To mark that anniversary and to shed light on the lives of those millions of Iraqi refugees, I am posting an interview that we published in the current issue of The Democracy Center’s magazine, Jallalla. We bring you the words and observations of a brave woman from the U.S., Cathy Breen, one of the most genuine peacemakers that I have ever known.

Jim Shultz


The Peacemaker: An American Woman's Journey With the Iraqi People

I first met Cathy Breen in 1991, in Bolivia, where she was a lay missionary with the Maryknoll order of the Catholic Church. She lived here humbly in a small adobe house. A nurse by training, Cathy mostly dedicated herself to helping her neighbors with their immediate needs.

Years later, in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cathy traveled to Baghdad to bear witness and report what she saw back home. She was on the ground and under the bombs during "Shock and Awe". She was also there for the toppling of Saddam and the chaos and violence that followed. She now works with the huge community of more than 700,000 Iraqi refugees.

These are her words from an interview in November 2007 from Amman, Jordan.

Q: How did you end up working in Jordan and why have you stayed?

"We used to pass through Jordan on our way into Iraq. But then, in early 2004, it became too dangerous to go back, not for us so much as for the Iraqis who were associated with us. Because of that and because people were already fleeing to Jordan, that seemed to be a calling where we could offer peace. I am here in the Middle East as a peacemaker.

More and more I have the conviction that we need to be witnessing what's happening here. I was here when Lebanon was being bombed. We just don't have the same sense of proximity in the U.S. We also need to show another face of our country [the U.S.] to the Middle East. I never miss an opportunity to tell people here that while I am just one person, I represent hundreds of thousands of others back at home [who feel the same way]."

Q: What is life like for the more than 700,000 Iraqi refuges in Jordan?

"Jordan has the highest per capita refugee population in the world. Every sixth person on the street is Iraqi. The resentment is growing. The deprivation of the Iraqis is growing. They are running out of money. The vast majority is here illegally. They aren't allowed to work. Most of their children aren't in school.

When I stepped off the plane here last September I began hearing stories of people, of families here, being interviewed by U.S. Homeland Security as part of seeking entry into the U.S. Here's the story of one family I know.

The father was kidnapped in Iraq, tortured in unspeakable ways, and held for ransom. His family paid $10,000 to have him released. The kidnappers would have killed him. The U.S. interviewer asked the wife, "Why did you pay the ransom? Why did you support terrorism?"

The U.S. says its target is 12,000 this year [out of a total of more than 2 million refugees in the region]. Why can't we have a special five-year visa? We've made refugees of these people. I think that other countries, like Bolivia, need to take in Iraqi refugees to bring shame on the U.S. in they eye of the world. What do I do here? I help people fill out forms that will get denied."

Q: What message do you most want to communicate to the U.S.?

"Our [U.S.] interference has caused great problems for the Middle East. We have our tentacles everywhere and we are charging ahead. We always know what's best. It's so glaringly arrogant. I hope we [who are working here in Jordan] have a far-reaching effect, to get people to understand that we are one family, that what happens to other people's children happens to our children.

I used to say that the dead in Iraq had just become numbers. Now they aren't even numbers. We just read U.S. troop death tolls now.

I do draw hope from Iraqis, and strength. I have more rage and rancor than they do, they who have suffered so much. I do see miracles, a husband and a wife left today to go to reunite with family in Detroit. Everyone was so excited. But people here don't see an end to our war. One newspaper here just wrote, "more innocent victims [are] falling every day." If we're not deeply disturbed then there is something wrong."

Cathy Breen's personal reports from Jordan can be found at Voices for Creative Nonviolence To offer direct support to Iraqi refugees, she recommends two groups: The Iraqi Student Project and Electronic Iraq.