David traveled to Iraq with a peace delegation organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in October 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait but before the U.S. invaded Iraq. The Shaheed Martyr’s Monument in Baghdad was dedicated to the Iraqi soldiers who died in the Iran–Iraq War (1980-1988).
Iraqi veterans of the Iran-Iraq war with U.S. Vietnam veterans who were part of the peace delegation. October 1990
The Babylon Lion, October 1990.
City Walls, Babylon. October 1990.
The delegation also spent a week in Jordan, where they visited the Prince Hassan Refugee Camp and delivered water and medicines and other humanitarian supplies.
Date harvest in the countryside.
“When I think of the time in Baghdad…I think of the children. It is said pacifists are sentimental. Someone must be. I know the realists end by killing people.” —David McReynolds trip report, Nonviolent Activist, Jan/Feb 1991.
“…the children fathers held up to the windows of our bus at a little village where we had stopped to watch dates harvested.” — David McReynolds trip report
…the youths standing in the rice field watching our curious group.”
…the mother standing in the hospital doorway holding her child.”
“What did I learn in Baghdad, that ancient city now so modern with traffic jams? …I learned that the children in the streets are so much like our own.” — David McReynolds’ trip report
Iraq, October 1990.
Last day in Iraq at the airport. October 1990.
“I want a new policy, a new President, a new nation…which will put children at the center of its foreign policy. That’s what I learned in Baghdad.” —David McReynolds’ trip report, Nonviolent Activist, Jan./Feb. 1991.