While the Iowa National Guard patrolled the Middle East no fly zone, a 72-year-old Ames resident walked the streets of Iraq with other peace activists from North America.

Marian Solomon, a retired nurse and grandmother, was the third oldest in a 17-member group that left on a flight to Armand, Jordan, on Oct. 23. After the plane’s arrival in Jordan, the group traveled 15 hours by bus down a two-lane highway to Baghdad.

The group members, who each faced a possible $1 million fine and a 12-year prison sentence, entered Iraq with only minor delays.

The group was warmly received when they entered Iraq, Solomon said. The group stayed 10 days before coming back to the United States.

While there, she said they talked with many citizens of Iraq.

“We visited various hospitals, schools and churches,” she said. The team also spoke at a university and to government officials.

The whole time the group was in Iraq, Solomon said they were observing what was going on around them in order to tell people back in the United States what they witnessed.

“The picture we got of Iraq is certainly not the picture our government likes to paint,” Solomon said.

She cited medical needs as one of the leading problems in the Middle East. “What I saw was pretty awful.”

There has been an increase in the number of cancer diagnoses and children born with malformations in recent years. In her opinion, as a former nurse, many of these problems are caused by the after effects of U.S. bombs dropped on Iraq in previous years. She compared the Gulf War aftermath to what happened in Japan when the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Open sewage channels are another problem, Solomon said. These channels are causing the spread of infectious diseases, which need to be treated.

However, “[the United States] does not let them import antibiotics,” she said.

Soloman said the various regulations on imports and exports to Iraq are hurting the nation.

“The sanctions need to be taken off so they can fix their water systems and sewage systems. They need to be allowed to develop their country,” she said.

Soloman listed a Catholic school playground and several churches among the things damaged by American gunfire.

Incidents like these have pushed Iraq to become more conservative and anti-Western in its ways, she said.

One example, Soloman said, is that the number of women covering their heads has significantly increased during the past 10 years.

The hardest part of being in the Middle East was “to see what difficulties have been caused by something my country has done,” she said.

Solomon said she wants to have pride in her country, but “when I look at this I cannot be very proud.”

Most of the people the group talked to in Iraq were worried that bombs would start to come again, she said. A lot of them also believed the United States cared more about oil than the 22 million people living there.

“America needs to rethink what we really are about as a people,” Solomon said.

After being in Iraq, she said she has become more convinced about the need to actively spread the message of peace.

Soloman will be speaking in several different cities about her experiences in Iraq.

Claire Evans, delegation coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that co-sponsored the trip along with Voices in the Wilderness, said many of the group members have already lined up speaking engagements.

“They want to put before the public that not everyone thinks it’s a good idea to go to war,” Evans said.

Solomon, a longtime activist, said she hopes to be able to convey to the world what she saw. “That is my mission,” she said.

Evans said three members of the group decided to extend their stay in Iraq and are still there.

She also said Christian Peacemakers Teams is planning to send another team to Iraq, possibly as early as the end of the month.