Iraqi schoolboy delivers peace message in a bottle

By Yasser Faisal

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - On a cold day in what was once the crucible of Iraq's insurgency, a group of young boys sat around their schoolyard and drew messages of peace.

Fourteen-year-old Taha Saadi, a Sunni Muslim, lost his father in Iraq's bloody sectarian conflict, killed by Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad when they found out he wanted to move his family to Sunni Arab Falluja west of the capital.

Speaking without tears or bitterness, Taha said he did not want revenge against the men who shot his father 16 months ago.

"I hope justice will take place," he said.

It was in that spirit that Taha had an idea, his own small attempt to hit back against the bloodshed and mayhem which has become a routine part of life for thousands of boys like him by floating messages of peace down the Euphrates River.

The river cuts through Iraq like a lifeline, snaking its way across the vast western, Sunni Arab desert province of Anbar that was once the bloodiest place in Iraq, through Falluja and then the southern Shi'ite heartland on its way to the Gulf.

So, Taha thought, why not use the famous river to try to bring Iraqis together?

"I know most Iraqis drink from the water of the Euphrates, Sunni and Shi'ite," Taha said.