Peace Action Letters

I have been handed a wonderful opportunity to participate in a project of corresponding with an Iraqi, and facilitating a similar correspondence between and American and an Iraqi for any American who wants to do so, bypassing the mass media, the government, the official channels, and just reaching out, one human being to another, to the people we attacked.

Sarah A.K. Ahmed is collecting letters of

reconciliation to bring some love and peace from Americans like you and me to her country, Iraq. Have you had enough of war? Go to:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Because-I-Love-Peace

Share your sentiments of friendship, good will, and solidarity with the Iraqi people!

Just write what you feel toward their suffering.  Dr Ahmed will be collecting the letters in August to bring with her when she returns to Iraq to attempt to resume her dentistry practice.  In 2011 she had to abandon her work and flee to refuge in Jordan, due to the violence and civil dysfunction in Iraq.

By 2012, the Iraqi people continued to struggle to rebuild a ruined infrastructure, lacking in potable water, electricity, transportation, housing, medicine and education.

In June of 2013, the Secretary General of the U.N. issued a statement expressing concern over “the unfolding political and security situation in Iraq, including the escalating political tensions and the appalling upsurge of violence that has killed a high number of civilians over the last two months.”  Will you send a message of peace and friendship to the people of Iraq?  Encourage them.  They continue to struggle with the devastation and upheaval caused by our armed forces.
Letters can be mailed to:  Peace Action Manhattan, P.O. Box 10, Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10025.  Or, I will collect them if you notify me. --Florindo Troncelliti

Sample Letter

Dear People of Iraq,

We’re sorry for the destruction of your country caused by our invasion and the consequent civil war. We tried to stop it. When our government and commercial mass media were stirring up the U.S. public for war, we saw through their lies. We begged, pleaded, protested, marched, wrote letters, made phone calls and organized to prevent the a war. But the war came anyway.

It was premeditated: a war of aggression. I remember watching the first night of dropping the bombs on Baghdad, the horror of an ancient city, defenseless, and the civilians completely vulnerable to our excessive, bloodthirsty use of force. We hoped they would catch or kill the dictator, Hussein, and then the war would be over.

But none of us understood the full darkness and malevolence of our military and government officials. None of us dreamed that our real intention was to destroy your country completely. Our intention was to wreck your infrastructure: roads, airports, bridges, water and electrical systems, schools, hospitals, farms, etc… Our goal was to completely lay Iraq to waste and disempower its people. We didn’t know that. We trusted our leaders. We thought they were after Saddam, your leaders, many were hanged, and the weapons.

Now we know they were after oil, military bases, and the protection of Israel. We also know these had nothing to do with you, the Iraqi people. You became collateral damage, 650,000 to 1,000,000 of you, or more. The 3--5 million refugees in Iraq could not have anticipated the thoroughly vicious and lethal force of the American assault on you and your country. Our leaders and our military betrayed us, too. They didn’t go to liberate the Iraqi people, but to destroy them. For this we are ashamed and whole-heartedly sorry.

We want you to know that we wish you well, that it was never our intention to harm any of you. It was our government that did this against our will and protestation. We write to ask your forgiveness. We did not have to share in your suffering, but please let us share in your renewal.

Sincerely,

Letters can be mailed to: Peace Action Manhattan, P.O. Box 10, Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10025. Or, I will collect them if you notify me. --Florindo Troncelliti