Be the healers

Lutheran, The, Jul 2004 by Clausen, Le Anne, Walker, Gloria

Perspective

Christians must lead in reconciliation efforts

As I return to the United States from my time as a human-rights worker in Iraq, I've been forewarned that I'm entering a country that has lost its innocence. The photos of torture that took place in our military-run prison camps made the realities of our military occupation impossible to ignore.

Many soldiers and members of our administration-both people in low and high positions-knew of, encouraged and participated in the abuse of Iraqis' basic human rights. We replaced oppression with oppression. We wonder how we got where we are.

What do Christians do now? In this crisis, how can we fulfill God's call for us to be peacemakers?

We need to be the healers.

Christians must take the lead in reconciliation efforts, which include immediate and continuing tasks.

Those who've been tortured need our help to recover. Monetary compensation isn't enough. Torture survivors need physical and psychological rehabilitation to restore healthy lives and families. Let us provide skilled practitioners and training in these countries to meet this need.

We must now also support Iraqi human-rights organizations in their quest to participate in the investigation and reparation process. Trained human-rights workers need access and review of prison conditions as long as we are involved in detaining Iraqi people. This gesture will go far to rebuild broken trust and accountability.

But there are other difficult truths we haven't yet acknowledged.

The U.S. military conducts raids on homes in the middle of the night. Soldiers have told our team they have orders to shoot anything that moves. In interviewing families, we learned that women and children are frequently injured and killed, homes destroyed, and money and jewelry stolen.

Thousands of Iraqi families still look for loved ones who were last seen when U.S. forces took them away. For more than a year, families whom we accompanied through the military's detainee information system have been sent in circles. Numerous mothers I interviewed cried, "I just want to know whether he is dead or alive."

'Arrested by mistake'

A Red Cross report states that some military intelligence officers estimated that 70 percent to 90 percent of "the people deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake."

These detainees wait long months for their cases to be reviewed before being released without charges. This includes many who were abused during interrogation. Meanwhile, families go hungry and live in fear without male relatives who earn a living and protect their homes.

We've failed to recognize the impact of human rights abuses on increasing enmity and terrorism against us. We've failed to acknowledge the high numbers of civilians killed in our military operations, particularly in Fallujah, Karbala and Najaf. People who have had everything else taken from them by our military now take up weapons against our soldiers.

As Christians, let us walk in the light. Let us be open to hearing those whom we have hurt and work for lasting changes, rather than hiding from them or silencing them because they are too difficult or embarrassing.

Returning soldiers, too, need our love and support. Many of them have experienced traumatic events in Iraq. Many hoped to bring peace and tried to treat the Iraqis as equals. They are now disillusioned and questioning. Violence harms everyone-soldier and civilian. The ripples of violence spread wide, affecting families, colleagues and communities.

Our congregations need to open their hearts to returning soldiers and their families for spiritual support and counseling. We can welcome our returning soldiers in love-encouraging wholeness, transformation and healing.

As congregations and communities, we can gather to express our sorrow and repentance.

Many times in the past year, Iraqi Muslims and Christians told our team they don't understand how our Christian president and Christian soldiers could commit human-rights abuses and oppression. Middle Eastern Muslims and Christians need to know that there are U.S. Christians who don't support these actions.

We need to understand more about Islam. We can travel to these countries and work for reconciliation, and then share in our communities what we learn. We also can host delegations from Iraq-Muslim clerics, humanrights workers and Christians. We can dialogue with our Muslim neighbors. We need to hear these voices firsthand.

We can take our faith seriously into our citizenship duties to ensure our country doesn't repeat this crisis. Our country has been using and teaching torture for decades in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Torture has no place in our governmerit's policies or practice-at any time, against any others.

As Christians, we can communicate to our leaders an unswerving commitment to human rights. We need to hold our leaders accountable when they vote for policies that exploit the powerless and put profit ahead of human dignity.

Active peacemaking is seeking to understand and cooperate. This is difficult and painful work. The enormity of this situation overwhelms us, yet we can't turn away.