AFSC is organizing a speaking tour with Raed Jarrar and Noah Merrill, who
describe conditions under which Iraqis live today, including Iraqi
refugees in the region.

The Public event will be:

Sept. 25, 2007 at 7pm
University Temple United Methodist Church,
1415 NE 43rd Street
University District, Seattle.

About the speakers:

Noah Baker Merrill has spent four of the last seven months living and
working among Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria - conducting in-depth
interviews, working to secure release for detainees, advocating for
improvements of aid to Iraqi families, and consulting with Iraqi and
other governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the
UNHCR missions in Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. He now coordinates the Direct
Aid Initiative (DAI), a project of the Electronic Iraq news and analysis
website providing crucial medical care to displaced Iraqis in the Middle
East. He is a regular contributor to the Electronic Iraq website at
www.electroniciraq.net. Noah is a former member of AFSC's Middle East
Task Force, and holds degrees in Anthropology and Cross-Cultural
Conflict Transformation. He has worked, studied, and reported on
conflicts and peacebuilding efforts in Africa, Europe, Latin America,
and the Middle East. Noah is a lifelong member of the Religious Society
of Friends (Quakers). For more information about the Direct Aid
Initiative, visit:
http://www.electroniciraq.net/news/abouttheproject/Direct_Aid_Initiative
.shtml
<http://www.electroniciraq.net/news/abouttheproject/Direct_Aid_Initiativ
e.shtml>

Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi political analyst and consultant to AFSC's Iraq
Program currently based in Washington, D.C. After the U.S.-led
invasion, Jarrar returned home to become country director for CIVIC
Worldwide, the only door-to-door casualty survey group in post-war Iraq.
He then established Emaar, (meaning "reconstruction" in Arabic), a
grassroots organization that provided humanitarian and political aid to
Iraqi internally displaced persons (IDPs). Emaar delivered medicine and
food as well as helped initiate micro-enterprise projects for IDPs, with
specific concern directed towards women and children. Additionally,
Emaar engaged in political advocacy on behalf of populations displaced
due to ethnic discrimination.


We will have printed copies of the following resources available at the
event of the 25th.

Living the Nightmare (Noah Merrill)
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/documents/living-the-nightmare.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions: Iraq and the Iraq War (Raed Jarrar)
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/documents/IraqFAQ.pdf