Friends under threat of bombs

Whoops - this post is from 14th November, but I just noticed I'd posted it on Jubilee Iraq news by mistake (as I use Blogger to write that as well).

I just got an email from my friends at Christian Peacemaker Teams (i recommend subscribing to their list):

"Yesterday we visited the sheikh at his mosque in Adumiyah district. He reported that a day earlier the Coalition military patrols had rolled through the streets and announced, "This is the last warning for inhabitants of this area. We will use the tanks to bomb Adumiyah." There is a US military base directly across the river in one of Hussein's old palaces and there have been times when the base shoots randomly across the river into the central civilian area of the district. Many of the main buildings have received damage, including a minaret of the mosque."

The cleric mentioned here is Sheikh Mauyad of the Abu Hanifa mosque, a lovely man who so humble you wouldn't realise he's probably the most senior Sunni religious leader in the country. I interviewed him about debt and then we chatted for a long time about Islam. I feel sick at the thought of my friends in Adumiyah being bombed yet again.