Eyewitness View of Iraq

I was approached a couple of months ago about organizing a presentation by a Utah citizen who was part of the Christian Peacemakers Team in Iraq, Will Vanwagenen.  will spent time in Iraq since 2005 documenting various things there.  Will was kidnapped for 9 days a few months ago in Iraq, an event on which he chooses not to elaborate.

Yesterday Will gave his presentation to a room of folks at the Salt Lake City Downtown Library.  He gave a brief history of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and then shared his personal experiences on what he witnessed there.  The bottom line is that most Iraqis want the U.S. out of Iraq and don’t want to be occupied.  The one thing that Will brought out was that the U.S. continually reiterates that it has to wipe out the terrorists by invading and occupying countries where they are.  Yet the U.S. is engaging in the same terrorist acts for which it seeks out other terrorists.  A double standard.

A Deseret News reporter was at the presentation yesterday and Will was contacted also by KCPW, but I cannot find any reference to news items.  Here are a couple of photos.