BRUDERHOFERS GO TO IRAQ
A ten-member delegation from the Bruderhof, a Christian pacifist group,
plan to depart for Baghdad, Iraq. They travel to stand in solidarity with
the innocent civilians of Iraq and to make a statement to the U.S. government.
They go knowing they may never return. If they return, they will suffer
from exposure to the environment in Iraq contaminated by our Armed Forces
during the Gulf War.
Leading the delegation will be seventy-four-year-old Carroll King, a WWII
veteran and former Minnesota legislator who, as a bomber and navigator in
1944 and 1945, flew bombing raids over German cities. His wife Doris will
accompany him, as will Franzhard and Veronica Arnold, both in their fifties,
and Brian Dunn, twenty-three years old. They will be joined en route to
Baghdad by David and Fiona Hibbs, Jerry and Patricia Shirky, and Bastel
Huessey of the Bruderhof in England. Hibbs served in the British army for
ten years and worked in arms sales during the Iraq-Iran war before joining
the Bruderhof.
From his WWII days, Carroll King knows firsthand the devastation and suffering
brought about by bombs. His desire to stand with the Iraqi people stems
from his experiences of "the other end of the bombs." He and his
wife leave behind their 11 children and 53 grandchildren.
David Hibbs is painfully aware of the suffering endured by the people of
Iraq and Iran as a result of the armaments sold by his former British employers.
Like Carroll, he travels to Iraq to stand beside the Iraqi people and, in
the event of a U.S. attack, to suffer with them. Veronica Arnold and Fiona
Hibbs are nurses and hope to provide medical aid wherever they are able
to.
This journey represents the second time members from the Bruderhof communities
will travel to Iraq. Debra Swinger toured Iraq in 1995 and saw firsthand
the plight of a population crippled by U.S. bombs and economic sanctions.
Debra reports: "I saw children dying. Their mothers pleaded that I
not forget them. 'Ask your government to lift the embargo. It is unbearable.'"
The delegation will take pictures and letters to the children of Iraq from
children in the Bruderhof, including Carroll and Doris's grandchildren.
Other children from across the United States are invited to send pictures
to the delegation, who will place them in the hands of Iraqi children.
--Iraq Delegation, New Meadow Run Bruderhof, Box 240, Farmington, PA 15437.
For further information call Mark Clement at ( 724) 329-8573
Spring 1998-- N.C.Xpress
-- Archives -- Electrons
to the Editor
