During the Iraqi women's tour in the US, there were several questions that American citizens asked without fail. They are well-meaning questions, honestly reflective of the news we read every day to keep ourselves informed, though some questions seem very obvious to Iraqis living under the occupation. Here are the most frequently asked questions and the women's answers:
	If the U.S. troops leave, won't there be civil war?
	As Eman points out, to say U.S. troops leaving will cause civil war assumes that the U.S. troops are currently preventing violence. Unanimously, the delegation asserted that this is far from true. Instead, because troops are encouraged to shoot first, and ask questions later, and because they are undertrained, uninformed and afraid, the army is not effectively protecting Iraqis or quelling sectarian animosity. U.S. troops are actually exacerbating sectarian violence, and giving fundamentalist groups a golden target. As military veteran Eli Painted Crow says, they can't protect Iraqis, because they are barely able to protect themselves. Furthermore, U.S.-led policies are dividing Iraq against itself, not contributing to a national government. The Shi'a and Sunni people had lived together for thousands of years before the U.S. came in and exacerbated sectarian tensions, dividing the country into triangles and pitting members of the government against each other. Where the U.S. once was the model for democracy, prosperity, and good life, now Iraqis feel great hatred for the country because of the indiscriminate actions of the troops on the streets and what Iraqis feel is a campaign to control their resources. Iraqis want to be able to reconstruct their own country, without U.S. troops stirring up trouble and attracting street violence.
	Was life better before the US invasion under the Saddam regime?
	Faiza answers succinctly: "You present this as a choice between occupation and dictatorship," she says. "That is wrong. Things are not this simple. The alternative to Saddam Hussein was not necessarily U.S. war, control of our oil by foreign powers, and permanent bases. Of course things were bad under Saddam, but they are not any better now, and in fact there is less security and our future looks bleaker But it's not a matter of looking back. It's a matter of looking forward. This policy is not working. You must stop, and we must find a better way." Entisar adds that democracy doesn't come on a platter or at gunpoint; it comes from education and from people wanting it for their own society. It cannot be forced upon a culture by a foreign occupier that continually inflicts violence on the populace.
	Is there anything positive that the troops are doing in Iraq today?
	Entisar answers this question frankly: "I remember one day in the hospital we started talking about the Americans and asking if they had brought us anything good. No, we said, with all their wealth and knowledge, they haven't shared their great technology, they haven't given us new equipment, they haven't even given us basic medicines. 'Yes, they have given us something,' said one doctor. 'They brought us cold storage for the corpses.'"
	Those of us who don't support the war want to apologize for what our country is doing to Iraq. How can we help?
	Please use your voice to demand an end to the occupation. Call your elected officials and tell them about what you have heard from us. Help by spreading our stories and working to end the occupation of Iraq! To make a donation to CODEPINK's Iraqi Women's Fund, please click here. To find out what medicines and medical equiptment is needed in Iraq, click here. To get involved with your local CODEPINK group, click here. CODEPINK will continue to find meaningful and tangible ways to assist our sisters in Iraq in their work and to bring our troops home, putting an end to the illegal occupation of Iraq.
	What is the condition of the healthcare system in Iraq today?
	To read about the current condition of the healthcare system in Iraq, including the bombing of hospitals and ambulances, the killing of specialist doctors, the impact of curfew, and the lack of medicines and sterile operating rooms, please read Dr. Entisar Ariabi's statement here.
	What is your hope? What do you want to see happen?
	Our hope is for the US troops to leave Iraq so we can begin to rebuild our own country. We also hope that there would be international peacekeepers who have not been part of the coalition forces and would assist the rebuilding process, as is called for the Global Women's Call for Peace. Our hope is that American people will stand up and raise voices to call for an end to the occupation of our country. Where there is life, there is hope. We hope that this tour will bring the realities of the occupation to Americans and that they will renew their commitment to working for peace.