Thursday, April 20, 2006

[21.58 GMT] In harm’s way: Christian Peacemaker Teams (Bethel College Collegian, Kansas, USA) By Heidi Holliday -- Amid the swirling controversies since their release has been the accusation that Christian Peacemaker Teams has no right, no purpose in Iraq. As one of the few remaining international groups in Iraq that operate without guns or bodyguards, CPT has consistently been able to report on situations otherwise ignored by the international community. Perhaps the most famous example is the Abu Ghraib torture scandal that erupted in April 2004. CPT, along with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, had reported incidences of torture and humiliation tactics used at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere since November 2003, issuing their own report to [US] Congress in January 2004. They were ignored by most of the world press until the now famous photographs surfaced several months later. CPT in Iraq has also been a consistent voice for Iraqis detained indefinitely by coalition forces, and it is that work that the four kidnapped CPTers were pursuing when they were taken.

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