Seeking the Human Face of the Iraqi People

By COLLEEN KELLY

On Jan. 5, I left Kennedy Airport headed for Baghdad, Iraq. I was part of a nine-person delegation that included four members of the organization September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Our goal was quite simple - to help put a human face on the suffering of the Iraqi people. We in no way went to support the government of Iraq or the leaders of that brutal regime. Our purpose was to meet folks like you and me, real people with children, homes, and dreams for a future. We went to express our hope that there would be no war, that somehow the world could muster enough thoughtfulness and imagination to think of new ways to resolve a very serious conflict, ways in which ordinary civilians didn't get hurt. 

In the past century, it has been civilians who have borne the brunt of the world's armed conflicts. Civilian deaths now far outweigh those of men and women in uniform. No longer is there a clear delineation between enemy combatant and the guy or gal next door. Even the smartest of bombs can't figure that out. This point has become deeply important to me. My brother went to a conference at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, as a businessman. He never returned - a casualty in this latest war.

All too often, the only Iraqi person we hear about is Saddam Hussein. Our trip sought to change that. The delegation visited schools, hospitals, mosques, water treatment plants, churches, and most poignantly, the homes of families who had been harmed these past 20 years by war and sanctions. What struck me throughout our visit was the universality of humanity - the way babies smile back when smiled at or the way 5-year-old boys fidget in a church anywhere. Or how young adolescents can be goofy and self-conscious, or the sorrow in a mother's eyes who has lost her child. So often, we are much more alike than we are different. Although our group was constantly escorted by a "government minder," there was a clear sense of national pride that was not staged. Iraqis are proud of their 6,000-year history. Their ancestors gave us Hammurabi's Code, ancient writing and the flourishing civilizations of the fertile crescent. Prior to 1990, Iraq had the highest number of PhD's per capita of any nation. They are a people that intensely value education. 

Whether or not we go to war is anyone's guess. My concern is that it's the people who don't make the decision to make the sacrifice. I'm worried that U. S. servicemen and women will be killed, that Iraqi women and children will be caught up in the battle.

People have become quite ingenious at killing one another. Let's use equally great imagination and ingenuity to think of ways to solve conflict without the enormous threat to human life posed now. We owe it to ourselves, our children and our world. 

Colleen Kelly, a Bedford Park resident, is a nurse practitioner and a member of 
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: (www.peacefultomorrows.org).

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