Dear Senator Bayh,

Another week has gone by. We have had another week of the US dead and another round of civilian and Iraqi military deaths.

Tonight I received a letter from Sheila Provencher, a Christian Peacemaker Team representative who has been in Bagdad this past year. You may well have received info directly from her or from the CPT. What struck me about the letter today was the following paragraph:

A mother of five came to ask for CPT's help in advocating for her husband, who has been detained at Abu Ghraib for 18 months. She described her own terrible treatment at the hands of the Abu Ghraib guards: "One day, they wanted the visitors to leave, and they set dogs on us. They were laughing as we were running and crawling to get away."

I know that I am not there experiencing the day-in, day-out stresses of our troops and the Iraqi troops. I also know that the above treatment is not what we expect of our troops or of our citizens. It does reflect continued tolerance of unacceptable behavior by US military commanders. It does not bode well for the mind set of our troops both now and when they return home.

I ask that you investigate the current standards at Abu Ghraib and this particular incident.

Best regards,

Ellyn Stecker
For the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition