By Susan Moore, Paths to Peace

Sami Rasouli presents a strong message about the importance of ecumenical efforts for peace and the need to be honest about how much effort our nation puts into promoting a culture of war. On the evening of April 26, Macalester Plymouth United Church (MPUC) hosted Rasouli as he talked about life in Iraq. His presentation included slides and a display of children&8217;s art, posters and letters of peace. It was a moving conversation, with information not typically seen in the mainstream media.

Rasouli was born in Iraq and lived for several years in Minneapolis where he was owner and manager of Sinbad&8217;s Restaurant. After the invasion in 2003, he sold the restaurant and returned to Iraq. He became familiar with Christian Peacemaker Teams and impressed with their nonpolitical approach to peace making and caring for people. He noted how dangerous the activity was for westerners, and the risks they took.

He then founded the Muslim Peacemaker Team to unite Iraqis in rebuilding their country. The mission &8212; &8220;to bring all Iraqis together in peace to work for the good of the country&8221; &8212; is promoted through training about nonviolence in Islamic teaching; exchanges among mosques, synagogues and churches; cultural exchange between Iraqis and Americans; emergency response with food, medicine, shelter and clothing; escorting endangered people; and educating about the role of women in rebuilding a peaceful Iraqi society.

Rasouli shared some of the terrible impact of a military invasion on his former country, such as death squads, kidnappings, and the agony of seeing a civilian body lie in the marketplace for hours with no response from officials. He talked about the second largest oil reserve in the world, of which Iraq (the previous owner) now gets 12.5 percent and oil companies get 87.5 percent. In spite of that economic loss, he has a tendency to say &8212; please just go and leave us alone. &8220;We survived for 12 years eating dates.&8221; He told us the Iraqi people need their land and their country back. Iraq&8217;s history has been destroyed, artifacts looted and government buildings burned. &8220;You would lose your mind if you stayed for one or two days in Iraq,&8221; said Rasouli. Before the invasion, there were 15 hours of electricity per day. Now there may be two hours per day. The high prevalence of cataracts, HIV, hepatitis and cancer with no medical facilities or personnel will be a problem for years. This does not feel to him like liberation or democracy. He estimates that five percent of the population has decided to use force in response and they are backed by another 85 percent. Many Iraqis believe this is a Christian/Jewish war against Muslims. There has been systematic destruction and the country has been artificially divided.

Rasouli told us about an opportunity for young people to write simple, friendly letters to children and youth in Iraq, expressing wishes for &8220;a peaceful world, a world without war.&8221; After May 20, letters were translated into Arabic and delivered to Iraqi students. He brought small original paintings, posters and cards from Iraq. The paintings showed Iraqis waiting in line to fill gasoline containers from a tanker, military tanks on the streets where children play, and scenes of devastation as well as scenes showing the beauty of the land. Proceeds from the sale of these items support Muslim Peacemaker Team activities.

Rasouli also described being in the airport, a U.S. citizen, enduring the tension of the announcement every 10 minutes to guard your baggage, knowing he looked Arabic and feeling self-conscious about using his telephone. He is torn in this tragic war as an Iraqi-American, but survives through this work to further the abandonment of the culture of war &8212; &8220;the greatest tragedy of mankind.&8221; He said that as Americans, &8220;we need to grow up&8221; and restore our credibility, so the rest of the world will respect us once again. And we must gain proper perspective since we are not the center of the universe and cannot survive if we do not honor others in the world.

MPUC PeaceMakers, the Minnesota Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Peace and Justice Task Force of the Twin Cities Presbytery cosponsored Rasouli&8217;s appearance. He will be returning to Iraq soon to continue his work and shared with us that he has a loving family there made up of both Sunni and Shi&8217;a. He left us with the common message of the Bible, the Koran and the Talmud &8212; human evolution. &8220;We are here to evolve, to be good to ourselves and to others, and to do no harm.&8221; To learn more about Peacemaker Teams, you can visit www.cpt.org, where the question is asked, &8220;What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?&8221; Locally, I particularly value efforts of Paths to Peace in Freeborn County to sponsor training in creating a culture of peace and to provide education and resources about peacemakers all over the world.

Susan Moore is a member of Paths to Peace in Freeborn County and a resident of Albert Lea. She works as a grant writer for the Minnesota Department of Corrections. An original version of this article was published in the North Country Peace Builder of the Minnesota Fellowship of Reconciliation.