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Edited on Wed Jan-18-06 05:36 PM by undeterred
This is a letter from someone on the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq regarding the loss of one man's life. (There were 4 CPT members taken hostage in Iraq November 26- no news on them.)
January 18, 2006
IRAQ: Not a statistic, not a totem
Yesterday was a very bad day. In a war zone horrible things occur with unrelenting regularity. By the mid-week there was a sense of exhaustion as the numbers of lives lost grew due to suicide bombings, air strikes, renewed fighting in Fallujah. Gunfire can be heard on some nights somewhere in our neighborhood and we have not received word on the condition of our four kidnapped friends.
Yesterday, I learned about the loss of just one life, another death you will not read about anywhere. I met this man two months ago. He was of medium height, slim and elegant in his dress and the way in which he moved. His hair was neatly parted. He had a small mustache. He spoke clearly, without emotion of horrifying events. One day, while he was at work, he was arrested in a sweep by one of the many brigades. He said over 450 men were picked up in the sweep.
Dispassionately he described his categories of 1."simple torture," insults,slapping, punching, kicking and 2."intense torture," beating with plastic pipe, electrical cords, electric shock. He then assigned the numbers to drawings of the human body, mapping the location and intensity of the torture inflicted on his body to the corresponding part of the drawings.
When he asked what he had done, after his release, he received no answer. He could only secretly visit his wife and family because his presence at his home could result in their deaths. He said he expected to be killed. During our conversation he took his handwritten testimony about his torture and the murder of his brother out of his brief case. Attached to the testimony were photographs of his brother's body showing the effects of what it had endured.
His brother's murder seemed of more consequence than his own experiences. Only once, when speaking of his brother, did his voice show any urgency or emotion. He was preparing to make a public statement about these events. He said he would not be going home again. I asked if we could talk again; he said it would be difficult.
And then yesterday, I received a phone call from a mutual friend. First he talked about someone else we both know. Then he asked me if I remembered this man and his brother. "He's dead. He was killed." He repeated the question, "Do you remember him?" I do. I will. I will remember because his death and my life are tied to this disfigured place. He is not an abstraction, a statistic, headline or the face of Iraq. He is tucked under my skin; his history has become a part of mine.
In a recent New York Times article by John F. Burns of photographer, Adam Nadel's images of the ravages inflicted on Iraqis by this war, Mr. Burns writes: "In his or her own way, each of these survivors is a totem for all, *"
No. They're not.
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