A message from the 3rd and 4th grade classes at Summers-Knoll School in Michigan:

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The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP) and our partner in Iraq, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT), are proud to announce that the 727 students of Al Adnaniyah Elementary School, 575 students of Demashaq Middle School, and 925 students of Imam Hussein High School in Najaf, Iraq now have access to clean water through our Water for Peace program. MPT recently installed large (200 gallon per day) water sanitation systems at each of the schools. Thank you to the donor St. Joan of Arch Church!

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A message of condolences and solidarity from Iraqis to Americans. 

Photo credit: Sami Rasouli and the Muslim Peacemaker Teams. View on Facebook.

You helped us accomplish a lot last year. You helped us plant seeds of reconciliation between Iraqis and Americans. Together we are working to nurture and grow those seeds, to transform a legacy of violence into one of reconciliation. We invite you to explore what you helped make possible in 2012:

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The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP) and our partner in Iraq, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT), are proud to announce that the 651 students of Al Amani Middle School, the 729 students of Al Nidhal (The Struggle) Elementary School, and the 599 patients per day at the “For You” Medical Clinic in Najaf, Iraq now have access to clean water. Through our Water for Peace program, we recently installed large (200 gallon per day) water sanitation systems at all three locations.

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IARP co-founder Sami Rasouli is both Iraqi and American. Since 2004 he has worked to heal the wounds of war and transform a legacy of violence in his home country of Iraq into one of reconciliation. Author Burt Berlowe tells his story in an article on CommonDreams.org, “From ‘Shock and Awe’ to ‘Mission Accomplished’ — The Journey of an Iraqi-American Peacemaker.”

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IARP Board Member Steve Clemens and Executive Director Kathy McKay, along with five other Americans, spent ten days in Minneapolis’ Sister City of Najaf, Iraq, in November 2012. On the 10th anniversary of the second Gulf War, they will speak about their experience and the broader political reality in Iraq.

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Curated by Tricia Khutoretsky and presented by IARP, Not About Bombs addresses how a female perspective can fit into the modern context of turmoil and conflict through art and avoid falling into the typical ways that women are represented and misrepresented. The exhibit will open at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago on March 9, 2013. Featured Iraqi and Iraqi-American women artists are Sundus Abdul Hadi, Tamara Abdul Hadi, Julie Adnan, Dena Al-Adeeb, and Sama Alshaibi.

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IARP and our partner, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams, are proud to announce the release of a new report, The Minneapolis – Najaf Sister City Relationship: A Model for Sister City Relationships between Iraqi and American Cities in Support of Reconciliation.

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The following is an excerpt from an article appearing in the January 2013 edition of InterActs, the newsletter of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Read the full article on page 8 here.

“The healing journey for veterans in the aftermath of war can take varied pathways. Some veterans of foreign wars have found it helpful to develop relationships of understanding, not of war, with the people of the countries where they were deployed.

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