NEWS FEATURE: Quakers Find Devastation, Hospitality in Iraq

c. 2003 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ While visiting Iraq for 10 days in June on a fact-finding mission, Debra Johnson feared for her life. It wasn’t the Iraqis she was concerned about _ it was the U.S. Air Force. Johnson, a Quaker from Memphis, Tenn., was flying on Iraqi Air from Baghdad to […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ While visiting Iraq for 10 days in June on a fact-finding mission, Debra Johnson feared for her life.

It wasn’t the Iraqis she was concerned about _ it was the U.S. Air Force.


Johnson, a Quaker from Memphis, Tenn., was flying on Iraqi Air from Baghdad to Basra for about an hour through a United Nations-sanctioned “no-fly” zone, previously set by the United States and Great Britain. Iraqi Air, a commercial airline, re-established flights earlier this year between Baghdad and Basra in spite of the restricted zone.

“I was white-knuckled,” said Johnson, 37. “I was afraid we would be shot down by U.S. planes. Wouldn’t that have been ironic?”

Johnson was in Iraq with six other Americans to observe the conditions in Iraq since sanctions were imposed against the country following the 1991 Gulf War. The group consisted of two members of the Quaker-related American Friends Service Committee, four Quakers from various parts of the United States, and the group’s guide, Rick McDowell, who is with the Voices in the Wilderness, a Chicago-based group that opposes sanctions against Iraq.

They met with Iraqi citizens, professionals, United Nations officials, members of nongovernmental organizations and with Iraqi government officials.

Johnson’s trip was sponsored by the Society of Friends’ Southern Appalachia annual meeting and several local Quaker groups.

“The people were quite hospitable and warm,” said Johnson in a telephone interview. “They were surprised to learn we were Americans. They said, `We love you, but hate your government.”’

Johnson, now on the executive committee of the AFSC, said the 12 years of economic sanctions against Iraq “have completely devastated the economy. There are no basic services and the water is very contaminated. There is no sewage treatment and children often play barefoot in the sewage on the streets. The electric grid is incredibly damaged and not repaired due to the sanctions. Electricity is very iffy depending on what part of the country you are in.”


Johnson said Iraq is in “a horrible health and ecological crisis,” with millions of tons of sewage flowing into the country’s fresh water supplies.

She said 5,000 children under the age of 5 die each month in Iraq because of poor sanitation.

Since returning to the United States, Johnson has spent much of her time talking to groups who sponsored her trip. She has also met with government representatives, urging them to avoid war with Iraq to prevent further devastation.

“A fear I have is of these incredibly hospitable folks being burned off the face of the earth if we have war with them,” she said. “It is totally immoral.”

Johnson, the Friends’ southeast representative for eight states, wears a badge, “War is not the answer,” wherever she goes. It is attached to her backpack, and often draws her into conversations with strangers.

“Everywhere I go, people say they are opposed to war,” she said. “I think there is a much larger percentage of Americans who oppose war, but they need to give voice to their opposition _ call, write or fax their representatives, write letters to the editor. Once it (war) starts, it will be too late.”


She also said the Iraqi government depends on its army to distribute food to the masses, and if the soldiers are fighting, no one will be left to hand out food.

Johnson, a human resource trainer with the division of Children and Family Services in Arkansas, called the trip “a life-changing experience.

“Everything I do now, I think about the Iraqi people. I went to a movie the Saturday after I got back and spent $3.50 on a soda. I then realized that’s what a teacher in Iraq makes a month. The currency there is virtually worthless and people are working two to three jobs just to make ends meet.”

While she is glad she took the trip, she has no desire to go again.

“I don’t want to see any more of the devastation,” she said. “After I returned, I felt a tremendous responsibility to talk to people about Iraq. The people are proud and deserve so much more respect than they get from the world community.”

DEA END BETOWT

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!