U.S. Civilians Confront U.S. Military in Najaf, Iraq

As numerous people from
nonprofit organizations working in Iraq evacuated the
country during the past week, an independent emergency
delegation of U.S. civilians was preparing to enter the
conflict-torn nation, traveling to the tense stand-off
around Najaf, where the U.S. military recently deployed
almost 3,000 troops for a looming assault to crush
Shiite rebels there.

The Najaf Emergency Peace Team, "Peace Between
Peoples", a handful of determined volunteers from
several well-established peace/global justice/human
rights and religious organizations, has now arrived in
the area, to place themselves "nonviolently,
symbolically and physically" between the U.S. armed
forces massed nearby and the civilian population of the
ancient holy city - in the way of any American military
assault.

The delegation has received messages of encouragement
from religious and community leaders in south-central
Iraq, including an advisor to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"We understand the dangers of our journey, but we are
determined to try and contribute in our own small way
to peace and justice for the people of Najaf and Iraq.
Only when peacemakers are willing to shoulder some of
the same risks that soldiers take in war, can we begin
to move away from the cycle of violence that grips
human society at the dawn of the 21st century," says
the group’s statement.

Meg Lumsdaine, Peter Lumsdaine, Mario Galvan, Trish
Schuh, and Brian Buckley - of California, New York and
Virginia, respectively - are now in south-central Iraq
to carry out their peace mission.

Rev. Meg Lumsdaine is an ordained Lutheran pastor who
has previously been involved in human rights
delegations to Latin America and Iraq. Peter Lumsdaine
is coordinator of the Military Globalization Analysis
Project and organizer of the Najaf delegation. Mario
Galvan, a high school teacher, is a national board
member of Peace Action, with 100,000 members throughout
the U.S., and a founding member of the Zapatista
Solidarity Coalition. Trish Schuh co-founded the
Military Families Support Network in 1990 and was
involved in Military Families Speak Out. Brian Buckley
is a carpenter and member of the Little Flower Catholic
Worker community.

The Najaf emergency delegation can be contacted for
interviews and more information by e-mail
(mariogalvan44 (at) hotmail.com), as their peace
witness and nonviolent challenge to the U.S. military
assault plan unfolds in the days ahead.

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