Cockburn joins Bishop Gumbleton in Iraq

Catholic New Times, Feb 8, 2004

According to fellow Canadian Neil Young, he's the "most stirring folk rocker in the planet."

Bruce Cockburn has embarked on a trip to war-torn Iraq with a U.S.-based humanitarian group which includes well-known Catholic activist, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, Michigan.

The Ottawa-born singer departed on January 12 as part of a four-person delegation visiting hospitals, schools, orphanages and encampments for those displaced by the fighting. His role will be strictly that of observer rather than performer, although he will be bringing his guitar. The delegation also includes Philadelphia-based photojournalist Linda Panetta and physician's assistant Johanna Berrigan.

The two-week trip was organized by the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group based in Philadelphia.

With the exception of Cockburn, the group visited Iraq just before war broke out last March. They intend to revisit many of the same areas, speaking with religious leaders and community groups to see how the fighting has affected citizens.

Cockburn, 58, has long championed social causes, having taken trips to Cambodia, Mozambique and other war-torn countries. His lyrics often are peppered with contemporary references to world events. In his last album, the singer ridiculed, the trickle down theory of economics ("bank vault utopia padded for the few, and it's tumours for the masses.") as well as George Bush Jr as the "the village idiot who takes the throne."

"The calamitous situation faced by Iraqis is a human event that needs to be understood by all of us," Cockburn, who currently lives in Montreal, said in a statement.