June 23,
2008, 4:00 a.m.
Another Surge Needed
Support the Christians
in Iraq.
By Robin Harris
In
Iraq the “surge” is
working, but at the
same time the Iraqi
Christian community
is dying. Hardly
anyone seems to
know, and those who
know don’t seem to
care. In former
times, the violent
persecution of
Christians in a
country effectively
under the rule of a
Western, Christian
power would have
been unthinkable.
But not, it seems,
in the enlightened
21st century.
The names may be
complicated. The
facts are not. The
Chaldo-Assyrians
constitute what
remains of the
original, non-Arab,
population of the
area. Iraq’s
principal Christian
communities today
belong to the
Chaldean (Catholic)
Church, Syrian
Orthodox Church, and
the Assyrian Church
of the East. All use
Aramaic, the
language spoken by
Christ. Despite
successive
persecutions and
constant pressures,
Christianity has
continued in Iraq
since, according to
tradition, it was
brought there by St.
Thomas the Apostle.
But Christianity now
faces extinction.
The 1987 census
recorded 1.4 million
Christians in Iraq.
Numbers began to
drop as conditions
deteriorated after
the first Gulf War.
There were, though,
around 800,000 at
the time of the U.S-led
invasion of 2003. Of
these, about half
have now left the
country altogether,
while more than
100,000 are
internally displaced
persons.
There is no mystery
as to why. With
other (still
smaller) religious
minorities, such as
Yazidis and
Mandaeans, Iraq’s
Christians are
suffering sustained
persecution. While
constituting less
than 4 percent of
the population of
Iraq, Christians
constitute 40
percent of the
refugees leaving the
country. Most of
these have found
refuge in Syria and
Jordan, where they
are living in
utterly degrading
conditions. The
current rate of
Christian exodus is
estimated at about
2,000 a day.
Members of all
religions have been
affected by the
violence since the
toppling of Saddam
Hussein. But
Christians are in a
worse position since
they suffer directly
because of their
Christian faith.
Targeted by Islamist
extremists, they are
confronted by
demands to convert,
death threats,
looting of their
homes and
businesses,
systematic
intimidation,
abductions for
ransom, bombings,
and frequently
murder. Because
Christians are known
to be weak they and
their property are
also prey to
gangsterism.
Churches and church
leaders are
particular targets
for Islamists. The
65-year-old Chaldean
archbishop Paulos
Faraj Rahho of Mosul
was abducted and
murdered in March.
Numerous priests and
deacons have been
tortured and shot or
beheaded. At least
40 churches have
been burnt.
The Iraqi Christian
community has
disappeared
altogether from many
areas of the
country. Baghdad is
rapidly emptying of
its once flourishing
Christian community,
whose members have
fled north to the
traditional
Christian homeland
in the towns and
villages of the
plains of Nineveh.
But here too they
are hugely
vulnerable. The
regionally dominant
Kurds, with whom
relations have
historically been
bad and occasionally
bloody, have little
interest in offering
protection. The Shia-dominated
government in
Baghdad is distant,
unsympathetic, and
has its own
interests and
problems. Even the
relative success of
the U.S. surge
strategy has brought
difficulties for the
Christians, because
the struggle with
al-Qaeda is now
focused on the
regional centre
Mosul, where
Christians had hoped
to find security.
The Christian
population itself is
unused to bearing
arms. It has no
militia to defend
it. It has no
regional protectors.
It is subject to
pressures of illegal
land confiscation
and annexation,
aimed at pushing it
out of its last
refuge.
And an immediate
humanitarian crisis
threatens. It is
estimated that 6,000
Christian families
(30,000 people) in
towns and villages
of the Nineveh
plains lack ration
books. The aid which
comes to the region
is channeled through
the Kurdish
authorities so,
naturally enough, is
directed to the
Kurds, at the
expense of the less
powerful Christians.
NGOs are almost
entirely absent.
Open sewage flows
through streets
separating ruined or
makeshift
structures, where
families live in
fear and squalor.
There is little
work, less
education, and
no hope.
The situation can
thus correctly and
without exaggeration
be described as
desperate. The best
long-term hope for
the Christians is
the success of
America’s and the
Iraqi government’s
war against
al-Qaeda. Stability
is what all Iraqis
need — and the
Christians, as the
weakest, need it
more than most. But
under current
conditions, the
Christian community
will simply not
survive to see the
benefits. Immediate,
focused action is
required to offer
effective protection
and aid. Giving
Christians their own
police force and
local autonomy as
well as guaranteeing
humanitarian relief
— both for the
internally displaced
population and the
refugees — must be
the priorities.
Unfortunately, until
now there has been
a
conspiracy of
near-silence. Some
in the U.S.
administration have
been
unwilling to
have public
attention drawn to
the problem, for
fear it would
undermine support
for the surge
strategy. Other
countries — with the
notable exception of
Germany — do not
wish to do so
either, for fear
that they will be
expected to take in
more refugees.
(Britain has a
particularly
shameful record in
this respect).
Meanwhile,
diplomatic circles
have a politically
correct repugnance
against any
initiative directed
towards helping a
particular religious
group — especially,
of course, a
Christian one. At an
international level,
only the pope has
called for urgent
action to avert the
tragedy.
America and her
allies have now to
decide whether they
are prepared to see
the imminent
extinction of Iraq’s
nearly-2,000-year-old
Christian community.
Such an outcome is
not inevitable, but
it would certainly
be irreversible. If
ever there were a
test for the West’s
— and America’s —
Christian
conscience, this is
it.
—
Robin Harris is
consultant director
of the London-based
Politeia think tank
and a former adviser
to Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher.
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