Articles by: Cathy Breen

Adra and her 5-year-old son Atarid in hospital. Atarid suffered from cancer. He died on the 3rd day of the United States Shock and Awe bombing. Photo credit: Cathy Breen  March, 2003

And We Allow This Madness To Continue

   Cathy Breen, an eyewitness to sanctions and war in Iraq, struggles to imagine crueler punishment afflicting Iraqi children. Try as I did, I found it impossible to send New Year’s greetings to friends in Iraq given the unthinkable and shameless actions of Trump and his regime in the last weeks. His decision to assassinate Iranian Major General Qasim Soleimani[Read More…]

by 10/01/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Who Calls Anyone Civilized?

Who Calls Anyone Civilized?

  Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet and professor of Creative Writing at Texas State.  Her father was Palestinian and a refugee journalist. In one of her poems after 9/11, entitled “Blood,” she writes: I call my father, we talk around the news. It is too much for him, neither of his two languages can reach it. I drive into[Read More…]

by 31/03/2018 2 comments World
Cathy Breen with close friends in Baghdad

What Will Baghdad Face In 2017?

January 2, 2017: Being stuck in traffic is daily fare in Baghdad. While checkpoints have been dramatically reduced in recent times, and the number of concrete walls appear markedly decreased, traffic jams still defy description. It doesn’t help in the least that everyone is leaning on their horns. A half-a-million taxis roam around Baghdad spewing pollution as they look for[Read More…]

by 04/01/2017 1 comment World
families that fled Mosel, living near Najaf

Iraq: Signs Of Hope In Desperate Times

  Najaf, Iraq–A week has passed since my arrival in Iraq.  Once again we come desiring to strengthen the bonds of human friendship, bonds which threaten to break as the opportunities to visit each other become less and less possible. A few days prior to my departure, I attended a Veterans for Peace holiday party in New York City where[Read More…]

by 23/12/2016 1 comment World
“Today Is One Of The Heaviest Days Of My Life”

“Today Is One Of The Heaviest Days Of My Life”

I’ve written often about our Iraqi refugee friend and his oldest son from Baghdad. I will call them Mohammed and Ahmed. They made the torturous flight last year from Baghdad to Kurdistan and then across Turkey. They were on three Greek islands before permission was granted them to continue their trip. They passed through several countries at the time the[Read More…]

by 21/10/2016 1 comment Human Rights
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