Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace Reviewed by Michael Gillespie PEGGY FAW Gish takes peacemaking seriously. While the vast majority of American Christians lead comfortable lives at a safe remove from the activities of their government’s military forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere across the Middle East, Gish’s work as a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams sends her daily into the chaos, warfare and destruction that is occupied Iraq.
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Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace Review |
She was there in March 2003 as well, and has since returned several times as a leader or core member of four- to eight-person Christian Peacemaker Teams. Gish first led a Christian Peacemaker Team to Iraq in October 2002, five months prior to the U.S. invasion. Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace is her thoughtful and sensitively rendered chronicle of her experience.
Explaining her philosophy of peacemaking to an audience during a winter 2004-2005 speaking tour of the U.S., Gish said, “We get in the way of injustice when we see it. Gish and her colleagues practice “getting in the way.” We have the grandmother effect. There are things you wouldn’t do if your grandmother were watching, and there are things soldiers won’t do if other people are watching.”
And opening and helping to maintain lines of communication between U.S. forces and Iraqi community leaders, Gish and her colleagues also advocate on behalf of the victims of injustice at the hands of U.S. forces.In addition to literally placing themselves between U.S. military forces and civilians who are at risk of attack, investigating reports of systemic injustice and abuse visited upon Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces,
“Being North Americans in Iraq carries a lot of privilege,” Gish writes. “On the street, our lighter skin, our hair, and our clothing made us stand out in any crowd. We had access to information and resources from back home that helped us rise above some of the limitations and chaos of post-invasion Iraq. We wanted to use this privilege, not only to help Iraqis speak out or to help them access what little help was available, but also to speak directly on their behalf to those in power.”We were able to get into CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] or U.S. military offices and talk to personnel whom Iraqis didn’t have access to, because of our passports, English language, and some knowledge of how these systems operated. We also had some power as voters back home.
But she says she finds it more difficult to convey the truth about U.S. actions in Iraq to an American public that does not want to know.Gish, who has seen far more death and destruction in Iraq during the past three years than most Americans witness in a lifetime, admits that her volunteer work in Iraq is difficult at times. Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace Reviewed
They fear...any criticism of U.S. policy in Iraq....They are accustomed to accepting what the government says, that violence and war are the only ways to deal with evil, even though this is a contradiction of the gospel message. I pray that somehow God will use what I say to open their hearts and minds.” “Probably the hardest work I do is to speak to the people in the U.S. who don’t want to hear anything different from what the mainline media is reporting or anything critical of our government,” writes Gish. “It is especially hard to speak to Christian people who don’t want to try to view the war or occupation in light of the way of Jesus, the way of nonviolent, suffering love.
Although it may be difficult to imagine how anyone could write a book dealing so directly with the horrors of the war on and occupation of Iraq and title it Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace, Peggy Faw Gish’s account of her living Christian faith at work in the midst of almost unimaginable danger and difficulty is a labor of love that may well open hearts and minds here at home.
