The 20th Anniversary of the Abu Ghraib Scandal

 The 20th anniversary of the Abu Ghraib scandal passed rather quietly in recent weeks, most likely due to the world's focus on Gaza, and all the campus protests in the United States and around the world.

Twenty years ago, I had been living in Baghdad, along with the rest of our Christian Peacemaker Team, and we had spent the year carefully documenting dozens of testimonies from the survivors of U.S. human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere throughout the country.

We prepared a report with our data showing the patterns of misconduct, and sent it to every member of Congress, every U.S. and international news outlet, and of course, the White House and military officials.

The response was...underwhelming, at least at first. Rep. Dennis Kucinich responded, and I think we heard a bit of interest from the CBC, BBC, and maybe NPR. For the most part, though, we were pretty sure our report had gone directly into most folks' wastebaskets.

And then a soldier leaked the photos, and the phones began ringing nonstop. Apparently, our report hadn't been thrown out; it was just shelved until something came along to make people take notice.

We were all giving nonstop interviews for a week--some of mine were with CNN, BBC, and ABC, but the rest are now a blur.

And then, because of the enormous anger of the people at everything that had been done to them, at how horribly and humiliatingly abused the prisoners had been at the hands of the U.S. troops-- it was time to evacuate.

I thought I might get to go back in a few weeks once things settled down, but for me, that was the last I ever saw of Baghdad, and all of my friends that I'd made there.

Over the years, of course, with the rise of social media, I've been fortunate to hear from a handful of Iraqi friends who have survived, or who have even gotten out and moved elsewhere.

Barely a day goes by that I do not think of Baghdad; just like barely a day goes by when I do not think of Israel and Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, Iran and Afghanistan, and all the dear people I have known in each place as well.

A Perfect (Interfaith) Day in Iowa...

What a lovely day!

We started out for the Hindu Cultural Center in Madrid for Holi. Prior to seeing the event invitation online, I didn't even know we had a Hindu Cultural Center in Iowa. However, it is a beautiful place, and everyone was so gracious and welcoming. Every parking spot was completely filled out at their countryside home. The front plaza was filled with hundreds of members of the Holi community and many friends and visitors. As soon as my kids and I arrived, other kids surrounded them and helped them to join the fun of covering each other in the brightly-colored powder, and showing them how to cup it in their hands and then apply it to each other's faces and heads. Then there was an amazing lunch... and a delightfully long lunch line, which also allowed me to look inside the temple as I waited. The kids enjoyed the curries and rice as well as the Indian sweets!

Next, we headed to First Unitarian in Des Moines for the Central Iowa Transgender Festival, in which we also experienced wonderful hospitality and friendship from so many people, and got to meet so many artisans as well as advocacy organizations.

After this, realizing we wouldn't be back up to Mason City in time for me to make something for our potluck, we made a quick trip to Namaste grocery store for Ramadan iftar desserts, which was recommended to us from our new friends at the Hindu temple. We must go back again when we have more time, because we could have spent hours looking at all the amazing things they have!

Then we were on the way home again to Mason City, arriving just in time to change out of our Holi powder-covered clothes and into fresh clothing for iftar with our Muslim friends at our local mosque. I hadn't looked in the mirror, though, and our friends had a good laugh at the bright orange on my cheek.

Finally, droopy and with delightfully full tummies, we headed home to bed. After all, we have to be up early tomorrow for Easter!

Unholy War in a Land We Call 'Holy'

Perhaps, like myself, you are following the news from the land we call 'Holy,' with a mixture of grief, horror, and dread.

So many dead, in just a few brief days.

Even though twenty years have now passed since the years I lived there (2000-2003), I still think of my friends--both Palestinian and Israeli--every time I hear the news, which is nearly every day.

I am ever more firmly rooted in my belief that there is no military solution to this crisis. Every death, every killing, merely prolongs the conflict.

Killing civilians is wrong.

Targeting civilians is wrong.

'Civilians' is not a religion, a nationality, nor an ethnic group; but rather the people who choose not to be armed combatants-- they are children, mothers, the elderly, and people with disabilities. And yet so often, they pay the heaviest price in times of armed conflict.

There is no human life that is more valuable or precious than any other human being's life on this planet, regardless of religion, race, age, disability or ability, language, nationality, ethnicity, wealth or poverty, or any other human factor.

And even the mothers and families of armed combatants--whether those in an officially recognized military, or an unofficially-recognized 'militant group'--mourn their dead.

And so often the ones who are sent to fight are not the ones who made the decisions to go to war.

The only path forward is one that recognizes the full humanity of each human person; full human and civil rights; a path that provides for each human being's need for food, shelter, water, clean air, an education and vocation; and the ability to live next to each other as neighbors in a civil society.

I believe such a path is possible, and I lament that so much time has been wasted pursuing so many other dead ends.