Dear friends,

Last year, I sent out a request for financial pledges for the Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq. So many of you came through and pulled our team out of its state of suspension due to lack of funds. Over this past year, I've tried to keep you all updated on the work of the CPT Iraq team and what we have been able to do thanks to your generosity. I'll put it out there right at the beginning; this letter is an appeal for your financial contribution this year.

As many of you know, during this past year the CPT Iraq team completed a 56 page report about the human rights violations and the destruction of the Iraqi Kurdish villages along the northern border due to cross border attacks by Turkey and Iran with military aid from the U.S.

The CPT Iraq team distributed the report to the United Nations, international NGOs, and foreign and domestic political and governmental leaders. Without a doubt, the report established the fact that civilians and civilian infrastructure have been targeted and destroyed and that over one million people have been displaced due to a protracted bloody conflict between armed Kurdish liberation groups in Iran and Turkey, and the Turkish and Iranian governments with U.S. support for its NATO ally, Turkey.

The CPT Iraq team has been working closely with the people from 9 villages in the Suleimaniya Governorate. These people have been permanently displaced since 2007 moving between tent camps and relatives houses in town. When there is a lull in the attacks, some of the men go back to their villages to check on their houses, livestock and farm land. They have had to replant, restock and rebuild many times. Many of them have lost all their savings and have given up. Families have been separated and the stress on the children is often unbearable.

In February 2010, the CPT Iraq team along with the 1000 villagers from the 9 villages, a handful of international NGOs, and a few Kurdish government officials began to explore the possibility of building a new village in a safer location. We quickly learned that if it takes a village to raise a child, it will take a world to build a village. With baby-step progress, we have been making steps towards making this possibility a reality.

In April, another bloody and destructive round of attacks by Iran and Turkey restarted and has continued to the present. This has put the villagers back in panic and survival mode but they are a tenacious bunch and still trying to move forward with long range plans for a safer living situation.

The CPT Iraq team is committed to walking with them, providing a shoulder to lean on when they get weary, helping to connect them to the international NGOs that have been for the most part, inaccessible to them, and helping to raise their voices and soften the hearts of political leaders who have closed their eyes to the struggle of their people.

I'm including the link to a few videos the CPT Iraq team produced and put on YouTube as a way of introducing you to them. These are some of the people who are so grateful for the contributions you have sent that has enabled the CPT team and the villagers to continue this work. I'm also including the link to the human rights report we wrote. You can find links to all our videos, releases and reflections at www.cpt.org, click on “our work” and scroll down to “Iraq”.

The CPT Iraq team and the villagers can't do this work without your ongoing support. Please consider sending a monetary donation again this year to:

Christian Peacemaker Teams

PO Box 6508

Chicago IL 60680

Your check can be made out to “Christian Peacemaker Teams” and please put my name on the “for” line of the check. It will help the CPT office identify that the donation is for a CPT Iraq team member. And keep those prayers and good thoughts coming.

Thank you from all of us,

Michele Naar-Obed, the CPT Iraq team and the villagers