> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Back to Baghdad: A local’s perspective on war in Iraq - URL: https://www.smdp.com/back-to-baghdad-a-locals-perspective-on-war-in-iraq/ - Published: 2003-06-19T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T02:21:58.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Santa Monican nervous about her travels in Iraq* A Santa Monica woman is traveling to Baghdad today to get the full story on how devastating the recent war has been on the natives there. Kelly Hayes-Raitt will spend the next month in Baghdad gathering information on a human level so that when she returns she can tell Southern Californians what’s really going on in the war-torn country. Hayes-Raitt, who went to Baghdad in February, has spent the past three months giving presentations to local community groups and religious congregations about the people of Iraq and the pain they have suffered since the 1991 Gulf War. Her hope is to not only tell her stories, but to open a dialogue within the community about the politics of the current war. When she returns on July 17, Hayes-Raitt plans to give more presentations about the people and experiences she encountered. “I want to get a better, fuller sense of what’s happening,” she said. “My goal is to present to people a perspective that they are not getting and bring it down to a human level, which is what this is about.” Hayes-Raitt, who owns a Santa Monica-based public relations firm, criticized the national press for playing into the White House’s fear-mongering tactics and its one-sided reporting of the war. She points out that more than 3,000 Iraqis have died in “Operation Freedom,” which is rarely discussed in the national press. “I think one of the things President Bush has done well is create fear,” she said. “We can’t be afraid to speak out and question our government.” And while many attendees at Hayes- Raitt’s speaking engagements have welcomed her perspective, others have not. She’s been called unpatriotic and naive by some who’ve heard her talk. “It’s been a real privilege to be able to open the conversation,” she said. “Not everyone agrees but it makes people think and it’s making me think.” Hayes-Raitt has had enough support, however, to raise $10,000 in the past month for her trip. She’s’ gotten donations as little as $1 and as much as $500 from complete strangers who have either learned of her endeavor through others or heard her speak. “I think what I’m tapping is a true sense of compassion,” she said. “People are responding to a sense of helping the Iraqis and a sense of horror about what we’ve done to the Iraqis... “My message is still the same — we dropped cluster bombs on children,” she added. On Tuesday, Students Against Violence and War at Santa Monica High School, donated $150 toward the trip. When Hayes-Raitt was buying Power Bars at the Budget Market on Fourth Street and Hollister Avenue earlier this week, complete strangers shopping in the convenience store pitched in $5 and $10 to help her stock up for the trip. The store owners even donated few boxes toward the cause and sold the rest at a discounted rate. “The support has been unbelievable,” Hayes-Raitt said. Hayes-Raitt said she plans to try to find some of the natives she met when in Baghdad a few months ago. Hayes-Raitt carries a picture of Sura, a 12-year-old girl she met at a bomb shelter, to remind her of why she continues to spread the messages from Iraq. “When I get tired, it makes me do one more thing when I think of her,” Hayes- Raitt said, adding that although she does-n’t have Sura’s address, she hopes she’ll be able to find her alive and doing well. Hayes-Raitt also plans to track down a 24-year-old man named Dhia, who worked at a local coffee shop near her hotel in Baghdad. However, she’s not sure how to find him since he told her in February that he would probably flee to the countryside when the bombing started. And she’ll try to find the family of an Iraqi native who lives in Oklahoma. Aretired minister, the man donated $500 for Hayes- Raitt’s trip because he hasn’t been able to contact his family since the war started. Hayes-Raitt said she expects Baghdad to be much different than it was in February. She has heard from others who are there now that electricity in the city runs about three hours a day, running water and food is scarce, gunfire erupts at night and the city has become lawless. While she was welcomed by the Iraqis a few months ago, Hayes-Raitt is now a bit nervous about how she’ll be received this time around. “Iraqis don’t want us coming in there and asking how they are doing,” she said. The highway she must travel between Amman, Jordan and Baghdad has become notorious for thievery and shooting. Because the banking system is all but shut down in Baghdad, Hayes-Raitt plans to carry $5,000 in cash. She hopes the translator and driver she hires will be enough protection. She will meet up with a small group of Americans in Amman that was organized by Amira Matsuda, a native of Babylon who served as a guide that helped with Hayes-Raitt’s first trip with CODE PINK, a women’s peace organization. Hayes-Raitt also is afraid about her own reactions to what she encounters. When she got back from the February trip, her emotions ran high. She said she broke down and cried in the middle of a museum in Amsterdam on her way back to the states thinking about what could happen to the people she met. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like to go over there and see the devastation,” she said. Hayes-Raitt will be reporting from Baghdad through various media, including periodic columns published in the Santa Monica Daily Press. She can be heard on KNX News Radio on AM channel 1070 during the mornings of June 26, June 30, July 2 and July 4. She’ll also be featured on the KNBC Channel 4 11 p.m. news on June 30\. She’ll be heard at the Pacifica Peace Watch on Friday, June 27\. On Saturday, July 12, Hayes-Raitt will call in live as part of the Valley United Democrat Forum held at 10 a.m. at Taft High School. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/061903-01_03.jpg) of Kelly Hayes-Raitt Clockwise from top: When Santa Monica resident Kelly Hayes-Raitt travels to Iraq, she hopes to find Sura, a 12-year-old girl who lives in Baghdad. (Photo: Photo courtesy) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/061903-01_04.jpg) of Kelly Hayes-Raitt Clockwise from top: When Santa Monica resident Kelly Hayes-Raitt travels to Iraq, she hopes to find Sura, a 12-year-old girl who lives in Baghdad. (Photo: Photo courtesy) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/061903-01_05.jpg) of Kelly Hayes-Raitt Local peace activist Kelly Hayes-Raitt will return to Iraq today. (Photo: Photo courtesy) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061903.pdf?ref=smdp.com)