Bound
for Iraq with a seven-person peace delegation, 21-year-old Khury
Petersen-Smith was waiting for a connector flight in Amsterdam. He spied a
half dozen Americans in the airport, all headed for Iraq, and all wearing the
“KBR” logo.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย He knew that stands for Halliburton
subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, a friend of people in high places.
“I got a sense of what the US invasion of Iraq is looking like,” says
the RIT multidisciplinary studies major. “It’s so much bigger than I
thought.”
Once on Iraqi
soil,
Petersen-Smith asked ordinary Iraqis about their lives. He recalls talking to a
man named Tareq. “He was hopeful about the invasion. He said they were
really tired [of the old regime]. Instead, it’s been very frustrating. He lost
a brother in the invasion.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Petersen-Smith marveled at the long
gas lines. “This is a place where they’re sitting on so much oil.” He
saw deeper ironies: “We passed Abu Greib prison. It was notorious under
Saddam. Now it’s the main US prison.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “I was blown away by the level
of destruction. Most of it is the damage from the sanctions. Things are falling
apart. There’s sewage in the streets… Wherever I went, I saw no reconstruction,
nothing.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย He met a Baghdad family whose home
was raided by US soldiers. The soldiers, he says, reportedly shot and wounded
Ahmed Kalif Salman, a 46-year-old with five children who was suspected of
belonging to the resistance.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “They kicked down the door and
shot him in the chest immediately,” says Petersen-Smith, quoting the
family. “They went through the house, they stole money and jewelry,
destroyed furniture.” The family searched through various detention centers
for Salman, to no avail. His body turned up later at a hospital, family members
said.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “We hooked up with one doctor
at the Khadamiya Hospital,” says Petersen-Smith. “He said they went
to the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority], but nothing was done.” How
does the Iraqi public view the CPA? “The sense is, they’re useless,
they’re a joke.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “I spoke to a group of MPs
[military police] at a US military base. They were from a Missouri National
Guard unit. The sense was that they’re just really tired and ready to go home,
counting the days.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย He tells of another American
peacemaker on the trip, a veteran named Stan Goff, who challenged some American
soldiers with a flyer that advised, “Hold Onto Your Humanity.” Goff
was himself challenged — by a commissioned officer. The officer corralled the
peacemakers behind a shed, says Petersen-Smith. “It was a little scary, as
you can imagine.”
“‘The
occupation will end but the troops will stay,’ that’s the kind of doublespeak
that tells how it is,” says Petersen-Smith.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “What really matters is what
happens on the ground in Iraq. Some Iraqis give the US the benefit of the
doubt… But the occupation is being carried out with such contempt. Our driver
said, ‘Give it another four or five months and it will explode’… Bush may have
plans for the election, but the best-laid plans can unravel.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย For
local information and links, visit www.ritantiwar.org. And check out
www.occupationwatch.org for international background and delegation links.
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2004.
