Today we present the final installment in our series of perpectives from people who have spent significant time in Iraq.
The debate among politicians is whether the US is enflaming or calming the almost daily violence in that country.
Today, we hear from Cliff Kindy, a member of several Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Kindy has spent five months every year of the last three years in Iraq.
NHPR's Dan Gorenstein produced this report.
In one of his visits to Iraq, peace activist Cliff Kindy says he was struck by the destruction left behind after a Coalition Forces invasion of Fallujah.
14:04 we visited the city of F. later then. there was a tent settlement, seven tents on a little hillside. And they said, when we left F. there were no resistance fighters in our area...when we come back, every home, just about every house was damaged so badly, you couldn't rebuild it. and people said, why did this happen? Why did this have to go on?
15:!8 when that happens people say ok, who is responsible? Who is responsible? What can we do? Well it was the US that shot the weapons or called in the air fighters, and so it's the US that becomes the target of that. And now the images out about Abu Grahib, white phoserus. Iraqis are getting more and more upset.
12:28...the invasion, the assault on Faluja that was happening as I was coming into Iraq last November was called by Iraqis the best recruiting tool the resistance could have ever had.
After touring the country for parts of the three past years, Kindy has spent considerable time in Iraqi urban areas.
He talked about growing frustration among many everyday citizens over the challenges of every day life.
1:53 if I compare security, electiricty, water or jobs, unfortunately as I look at it, things are getting worse. Every time I go back things are getting worse. Last winter, in B. a city of 5 million people, bigger than metropolitan Chicago, was without any public water for ten days. That's insane.
6:32 in the streets of B. just b/c it's turned into an occupied city and the presence of US troops, many of the streets are closed or frequently there are house raids, or checkpoints, or families disappear, or picked up by US and now groups like the Wolf Brigade and disappear into the Ministry of the Interior.
30:29 I think we have ot listen to what Iraqis have to say. I think it doesn't matter, in the final say if the US public thinks we should stay or come. Whether the Pentagon thinks we should stay or come. Whether the administration dsays we should stay or come. It matters what Iraqis say. So I think that's where we have to go get our answers.
