The Gospel of Rutba, War, Peace, and the Good Samaritan Story in Iraq

"Go and tell the world of Rutba." That was the only request the Iraqis had of the American peacemakers whom they rescued and cared for during the outset of war in 2003. The Gospel of Rutba interweaves two extraordinary stories: The first, a story of three U.S. Christian peacemakers (including Shane Claiborne, author of the bestseller The Irresistible Revolution) who remained in Baghdad during the horrifying first days of Shock and Awe only to be nearly killed in a car accident, then rescued by Iraqi Muslims who took them to a clinic in the town of Rutba (where the only hospital had been bombed). The second story: the peacemakers' return to Rutba in 2010 to thank the doctors and all who saved them and to contribute to a process of peace, friendship, and reconciliation. In his afterword, Shane Claiborne describes the impact of this experience and the lessons it holds for the cause of peace.

Greg Barrett is a twenty-year veteran of local, national, and foreign reporting for wire and newspapers in Georgia, the Carolinas, Hawaii, and Maryland. He was a roving correspondent based in the DC bureau for Gannett News Service/USA Today. He is the author of The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok (Josey-Bass, 2008). He lives in northern Virginia.