Walking Through Fire

Through Iraqis' eyes--through their stories--this book ""tells the truth"" about what war and the U.S. government's antiterrorism policies have really meant for them. Iraqis recount the abuses they experienced in the U.S. and new Iraqi detention systems, the excessive violence, and collective punishment of the U.S.-led occupying forces, as well as tensions between Kurds and Arab Iraqis--tensions rooted in Saddam Hussein's genocide against the Kurds. Stories coming out of Iraq between 2004 and 2011 also describe the efforts of courageous and creative Iraqis speaking out against injustices and building movements of nonviolence and reconciliation. We also get a glimpse of how the author, a peace-worker, immersed in the violence and chaos of war, dealt with the pain and suffering of those around her, as well as her own personal losses and kidnapping ordeal. Her experiences strengthen her belief that the power of nonviolent suffering love (the way of Jesus) is stronger than the power of violence and force, and can break down barriers and be transformative in threatening situations. She counters the myths of the superiority of violent force to root out evil in places such as Iraq and challenges us to do all we can to prevent the tragedy of any future war.

""Peggy Faw Gish steadfastly refused to let war sever the bonds of friendship that had grown between her and numerous Iraqi friends. She witnessed the ongoing U.S. torment of Iraqis. By remaining with people afflicted by economic and military warfare, listening carefully and honestly chronicling what she saw and heard, she has created a compelling description of life in a country devastated by invasions, dictatorship, sanctions, and war.""
--Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

""By living in Iraq under U.S. bombs and occupation, Peggy Faw Gish has learned to see with Iraqi eyes. By reading her inspiring story of suffering love, we, too, can learn to see--and be transformed.""
--Jim Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable

""This account of civilian peacemaking in the Iraqi war zone by a seasoned human rights worker combines poignant personal reflection and hard-nosed analysis. Gish's moving stories of Iraqi and Kurd endurance, hospitality, and dignity amidst the most violent years of U.S. occupation challenge us to refuse to forget this war.""
--Tim Nafziger, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and Ched Myers, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

""This long-overdue book is the fruit of many years of bold adventures for peace. It reads like a journal, but a thrilling journal filled with horror and hope, written from the trenches of one of the most troubled war zones in the world. Peggy has seen things that did not make the news--some of them are more terrible than we can ever imagine, and some of them are more beautiful than we could ever dream. Her life and words are a daring call for us to get in the way of violence.""
--Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution


Peggy Faw Gish has been working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams since October 2002. Her first book, Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace (2004), covers the first year and a half of the Iraq War. She has been active in peace and justice work for the past forty-five years. Peggy is a mother, grandmother, community mediator, and member of the Church of the Brethren. She lives on a farm near Athens, Ohio.