The extraordinary Iraq experiences of James Loney

February 9

At about 9 p.m., two men came to our apartment for what appeared at first to be a friendly visit. Stewart Vriesinga had met them earlier in the afternoon on the street. They seemed to know about CPT and expressed interest in our work with detainee issues.

One of the men shared that in late April of 2003 he came home from work and found that all of his family had been killed by a U.S. military action. He said that life no longer had any purpose for him. Filled with anger and hate, he joined the resistance to the U.S. occupation. Both men said repeatedly, "We have killed and bombed many people."

We expressed concern about how their actions might be affecting their their souls. One said, "I know that I'm going to hell but I don't care." Stewart told him, "You have a purpose to die for, but I hope you can someday find a purpose to live for."

One of the men opened the curtain to check the street outside and the other looked nervously at his watch. "We have something very important to tell you," they told us, "but first you must put down your tea cups."

We did as they asked.

"We are here on a mission. My friend has a bomb strapped to his body. Would you like to see it?" The one with the bomb lifted his sweater to offer a brief glimpse of a small, rectangular, black box at his waist with a cable running up to his shoulder. "The bomb is set to go off in 15 minutes, but we really don't want to hurt you people. You will get out of this if you cooperate. I looked at the clock. It was 10:35 p.m. He pulled out a gun and the bomber pulled out a knife. When I asked what cooperating meant, he answered, "That's all right. Youll find out soon."

They tied Jim Loney's, Cliff's and Stewarts' hands behind their backs with computer mouse cables and sat each of them on a chair against a wall.

They warned us that our lives would be in danger if we screamed, shouted or left the apartment. The man with the gun said, "I don't want to kill you. Jesus loves you people." Cliff said, "Jesus loves you too."

They charged out of our apartment at 11:10 p.m. with two computers, two digital cameras and about $800 in U.S. dollars and Iraqi dinars. Two men who guard our building chased the robbers down the street.

Vriesinga commented afterwards, "As long as they didn't steal our trust in the Iraqi people, then we haven't lost too much."

We feel that we experienced in a small way the vulnerability and lack of security the Iraqi people endure everyday in their occupied society. While we hope this experience will make us wiser, we do not intend to substantially change how we operate here in Baghdad.

February 10

Loney went to a meeting of Iraqi and international human rights organizations planning a `Human Rights Solidarity Week' in mid-March.

February 13 Gish and Loney went with Occupation Watch to the Al Dhoura neighborhood of Baghdad to record testimonies from Iraqis who had been incarcerated and released by U.S. forces. They met a father and son who described the process which U.S. soldiers used to interrogate them, including acts of torture.

February 14 Electricity from the municipal grid seemed to be increasing over the past few days. In recent months, city power was only available for 6-8 hours per day, compared to 22 hours per day before the war.

February 15 Loney visited a professor at Baghdad University who said that a group on campus will be organizing a demonstration to protest the disappearance of the science professor. The professor also shared that many professors on campus are afraid they may also be arrested soon.

Loney met with Iraqi human rights workers from Chaldea who invited the team to visit and investigate increased detentions by U.S. forces in their area, as well as killings and house demolitions.

Two relatives of detainees visited the apartment seeking help and information. One man wanted help in trying to visit his son at Abu Ghraib prison camp. The team agreed to accompany him.

February 16 Art Gish and Cliff Kindy went to Abu Ghraib prison to accompany a family that had been unable to arrange a visit. Unfortunately, their presence did not help in obtaining the visit. They had a moving discussion with a U.S. soldier who works at the base, as well as an Iraqi man who is very helpful to the families who are trying to visit relatives.

Jim Loney and Stewart Vreisinga met with a man from Abu Ghraib village (near the prison and military base,) The visitor was interested in working with CPT on the detainee issue and invited the team to Abu Ghraib to meet with several detainee families, including families of women detainees.

February 17 The team traveled to Balad province to meet with a group of Iraqi lawyers and U.S. Army Col. Nathan Sassaman. The lawyers expressed frustration at the lack of results from a previous meeting with military officers and fear that they may be detained for having raised human rights concerns.

Vreisinga and Loney and a translator made a side trip to Abu Sifa to meet with families who had relatives detained in a series of house raids during which homes were destroyed. The families described being able to visit their detained relatives in Abu Ghraib prison only after paying a bribe of 150,000 Iraqi Dinar (100 U.S. dollars) to the guards.

February 21 Friends of the team from Fallujah came to the apartment to say they felt it would be too dangerous for CPT to hold a vigil there. They were concerned that too many people were too angered by the actions of U.S. forces in the area and might seek revenge against the group. However, they were still willing to bring families from Fallujah to join the team's vigil in Baghdad throughout Lent.

The delegation, Loney, Bob Holmes, and Le Anne Clausen traveled to Abu Sifa to meet with several families. Their hosts asked, "Why do Coalition soldiers keep showing up during the nights after you visit us? Why do they keep asking us, 'Why are you meeting with CPT?'"

The villagers then showed the group to a house which U.S. forces torched several days after detaining its owner. Sixteen people, including children and an infant, lived in the house. A brother of the man detained said that the detainee had had a stroke in U.S. custody after being stripped naked and having cold water thrown on him. U.S. forces detained eighty men - nearly the entire male population of the village - in mid-December.

March 6

At the vigil, a 15-year-old boy who had earlier attended the vigil and told Jim Loney about the detention of his father came to say that his father had been released. AP reporters also came to cover the vigil.

While returning from a meeting after the vigil, Loney was caught inside the Palestine Hotel compound walls for two hours due to a bomb threat outside.

March 8

In Baghdad, a rocket from an unknown source landed in the garden of a house three doors away from a friend of the team's. Loney went to the site of the explosion to see how they were. No one was hurt, but the house and garden sustained heavy damage. Some witnesses claimed that the rocket had been U.S. made, while others suggested it might have been intended for a nearby police station.

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