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Los Angeles Times, CA
Nov 14 2004
After Years of Relative Peace, Christians Live in Fear
Church bombings, threats and attacks have driven tens of thousands
to leave Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Many fear a pogrom.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — A wave of attacks on churches and Christians viewed as
infidels or collaborators is generating alarm among a Christian
community that has long lived in relative peace alongside Iraq's
Muslim majority.
Growing antagonism from Islamic extremists and insurgents has driven
tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians from the country in the last 18
months, and many more are planning to emigrate.
"We are crying tears of blood in grief for what is happening in
Iraq," said Khayri Estayfan Abona, a 44-year-old mechanical engineer
and father of three who was among a number of Christians lined up at
a passport office here. "We are weak and helpless, so we are made
into scapegoats."
In the northern city of Mosul, home to a large Christian population,
leaflets from self-described mujahedin warned women to cover their
faces and dress conservatively during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan. Christian students at Mosul University boycotted classes
last month after threats from extremists. Rumors have spread of
expropriation of Christian property. Graffiti have warned Christians
to leave or face death.
"Muslims and Christians have been living together on this land for
more than a millennium, as brothers living in one homeland," declared
several Christian groups in a public appeal issued last month seeking
support from Muslims. "The blood of Christians mixed with the blood
of Muslims in defending this land."
Privately, some Christians fear repression and a sanctioned pogrom if
conservative Islamists come to power next year, when Iraq is
scheduled to hold its first democratic elections. Islamic groups long
repressed under Saddam Hussein's secular regime have moved to the
forefront of Iraqi political life since U.S.-led forces ousted the
dictator. Christians have endeavored to maintain a low profile amid
the turmoil.
Christians are said to have resided in what is now Iraq since the
early days of their religion. Today, Iraq's diverse Christian
population stands at about 800,000, according to community estimates,
or about 3% of the nation's population of 25 million.
Although Christians have long been marginalized in Iraq, and suffered
like most Iraqis under totalitarian rule, even Hussein's Baathist
regime did not systematically persecute them. Christian villages in
the north were emptied as part of Hussein's "Arabization" campaign,
but that drive was primarily aimed at displacing Muslim Kurds and
creating a new Arab majority in areas close to the lucrative oil
fields.
Many Iraqi Christians did well in business and assorted trades,
particularly the hotel and restaurant sectors. Hussein's deputy prime
minister, Tariq Aziz, currently in U.S. custody, was perhaps the
best-known Christian in Iraq. Christians here generally are
considered pro- democracy and liberal.
Driving away this generally well-educated and moderate population can
only harm a nation with a dire need for economic advancement and
tolerance, Christian leaders say.
"What worries us is the tyranny of the majority," said Wathiq Hindo,
a U.S.-educated businessman and prominent Christian whose uncle was
an archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church.
"Saddam was a dictator, but he was not a religious fanatic. Religious
fanaticism is a threat to us," said Hindo, who graduated from a
Jesuit high school and college in Baghdad.
Although fanaticism may motivate some of the attacks, others probably
are related to the widespread perception that Iraqi Christians
welcomed the downfall of Hussein and the arrival of the U.S.
military. Insurgents have targeted anyone working with U.S. troops,
be they Muslim or Christian, Arab or Kurd.
Late last month, Christian representatives here estimated that about
7% of their fellow Christians — or more than 50,000 people — had left
Iraq since Hussein was toppled. A large number headed initially to
Syria, where many have relatives. But the ultimate hope of a great
number of Christians is to immigrate eventually to the United States,
Canada, Australia or other destinations for the Iraqi Christian
diaspora.
One of the largest Iraqi Christian communities in the United States
is in San Diego County. Iraqi immigrants there say they are
increasingly dismayed as they hear of difficulties for Christians in
their homeland. Efforts to get approval from the federal government
to allow fleeing Christians into the U.S. have been unavailing,
community leaders said.
"It's very bad," said Jibran Hannaney, a civil engineer. "As much as
I thought the grace of God was coming to our people when Saddam
Hussein was pushed from power, basically it's been the wrath of the
devil instead. This liberation-turned- occupation has not helped our
people."
Hannaney said almost all Iraqi Christian families in San Diego County
have relatives and friends who have fled Iraq for Jordan, Syria,
Australia or another country after learning that they could not enter
the United States.
The recent migration is an acceleration of an established trend of
Iraqi Christians seeking opportunities elsewhere. The withering cycle
of warfare and sanctions has prompted as much as half of the nation's
Christian population to emigrate since the 1980s, community leaders
say.
The great majority of Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, an Eastern Rite
Catholic group. Other groups — Assyrians, Syriacs and Armenians —
also have lived here for generations. One sect, the Mandaeans, are
followers of John the Baptist. Some Christians still speak and hold
services in a modern-day form of Aramaic, the language Jesus is said
to have spoken.
A smattering of Protestants and Roman Catholics also have lived in
Iraq since the period of British rule after World War I. In addition,
the fall of Hussein has drawn Protestant missionaries.
Coordinated bombings of at least seven Baghdad churches in the last
four weeks followed attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul in
August that left 11 dead and 50 wounded. Some churches have suspended
Sunday services.
Numerous Christian-run liquor stores have been firebombed and forced
to close. Because alcohol is taboo to Muslims, Christians
traditionally have been the only Iraqis licensed to sell it.
"We've always been able to do our job and live with our Muslim
neighbors in peace, but now all that is changed," said Imad Polis
Jajo, whose liquor store in Baghdad was firebombed last summer.
A few days after the bombing, a letter arrived at Jajo's door. If he
attempted to restart the business, it warned, his 15-year-old son,
Rafeef, would be kidnapped. Jajo is now unemployed and must seek help
from relatives, he said during a recent interview at a near-deserted
Christian social club in central Baghdad. Its gloomy emptiness
attested to the fear that has gripped the Christian community here.
"Even during the time of Saddam we were free to come to our club,"
said Sameer Khouri, the administrative secretary of the facility.
"Now, people are afraid to leave their homes."
In Mosul, some Christian women have acceded to anonymous demands to
modify their dress in accordance with Islamic code as a means of
self-protection.
"I put on the hijab [head scarf] … to prevent being harmed by these
crazy people," said Dalia Ishaq, 18, a student at the Fine Arts
Institute for Girls in Mosul. She blamed the excesses on extremists.
"All my friends are Muslim girls," Ishaq said, "and this threat would
never change my relationship with them."
Throughout Iraq, Christians interviewed echoed those sentiments,
emphasizing their ties to Muslim neighbors.
"I have so many Muslim friends, and they have never treated me
harshly — they are just like my sisters," said Rana Saeed Jerjees,
25, a teacher in Mosul. "I think there are certain people who want a
civil war to break out in Mosul and all over Iraq. This is all part
of a major plan, and we must never surrender to such schemes."
Mainstream Muslim clerics and the Iraqi interim government have
repeatedly condemned sectarian attacks on Christians. The nation's
interim constitution explicitly recognizes religious freedom and the
rights of minorities.
However, many Christians wonder whether the government — battered by
an insurgency and needing U.S.-led multinational troops to maintain
some semblance of order — can prevent such violence.
One plan under consideration is for Christians to field a slate of
candidates for January's elections to ensure that they are
represented in the 275-member National Assembly.
Another idea that has met with a cool reception among Christians is
the creation of a kind of Christian safe haven in the plains of
Nineveh province, outside Mosul. Proponents hope to attract
Christians who have left the country, but others fear a kind of rural
ghettoization.
"We don't want to be refugees in our own homeland," said Yunadam
Khanna, a Christian representative in Iraq's interim parliament.
"There is a general crisis in Iraq, and what is happening to the
Christians is part of that crisis."
*Times staff writer Suhail Ahmed and special correspondent Said Rifai
in Baghdad, special correspondent Roaa Ahmed in Mosul and staff
writer Tony Perry in San Diego contributed to this report.
--Boundary_(ID_IruMllrBnvOEoltu+pUuBg)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Nov 14 2004
After Years of Relative Peace, Christians Live in Fear
Church bombings, threats and attacks have driven tens of thousands
to leave Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Many fear a pogrom.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — A wave of attacks on churches and Christians viewed as
infidels or collaborators is generating alarm among a Christian
community that has long lived in relative peace alongside Iraq's
Muslim majority.
Growing antagonism from Islamic extremists and insurgents has driven
tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians from the country in the last 18
months, and many more are planning to emigrate.
"We are crying tears of blood in grief for what is happening in
Iraq," said Khayri Estayfan Abona, a 44-year-old mechanical engineer
and father of three who was among a number of Christians lined up at
a passport office here. "We are weak and helpless, so we are made
into scapegoats."
In the northern city of Mosul, home to a large Christian population,
leaflets from self-described mujahedin warned women to cover their
faces and dress conservatively during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan. Christian students at Mosul University boycotted classes
last month after threats from extremists. Rumors have spread of
expropriation of Christian property. Graffiti have warned Christians
to leave or face death.
"Muslims and Christians have been living together on this land for
more than a millennium, as brothers living in one homeland," declared
several Christian groups in a public appeal issued last month seeking
support from Muslims. "The blood of Christians mixed with the blood
of Muslims in defending this land."
Privately, some Christians fear repression and a sanctioned pogrom if
conservative Islamists come to power next year, when Iraq is
scheduled to hold its first democratic elections. Islamic groups long
repressed under Saddam Hussein's secular regime have moved to the
forefront of Iraqi political life since U.S.-led forces ousted the
dictator. Christians have endeavored to maintain a low profile amid
the turmoil.
Christians are said to have resided in what is now Iraq since the
early days of their religion. Today, Iraq's diverse Christian
population stands at about 800,000, according to community estimates,
or about 3% of the nation's population of 25 million.
Although Christians have long been marginalized in Iraq, and suffered
like most Iraqis under totalitarian rule, even Hussein's Baathist
regime did not systematically persecute them. Christian villages in
the north were emptied as part of Hussein's "Arabization" campaign,
but that drive was primarily aimed at displacing Muslim Kurds and
creating a new Arab majority in areas close to the lucrative oil
fields.
Many Iraqi Christians did well in business and assorted trades,
particularly the hotel and restaurant sectors. Hussein's deputy prime
minister, Tariq Aziz, currently in U.S. custody, was perhaps the
best-known Christian in Iraq. Christians here generally are
considered pro- democracy and liberal.
Driving away this generally well-educated and moderate population can
only harm a nation with a dire need for economic advancement and
tolerance, Christian leaders say.
"What worries us is the tyranny of the majority," said Wathiq Hindo,
a U.S.-educated businessman and prominent Christian whose uncle was
an archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church.
"Saddam was a dictator, but he was not a religious fanatic. Religious
fanaticism is a threat to us," said Hindo, who graduated from a
Jesuit high school and college in Baghdad.
Although fanaticism may motivate some of the attacks, others probably
are related to the widespread perception that Iraqi Christians
welcomed the downfall of Hussein and the arrival of the U.S.
military. Insurgents have targeted anyone working with U.S. troops,
be they Muslim or Christian, Arab or Kurd.
Late last month, Christian representatives here estimated that about
7% of their fellow Christians — or more than 50,000 people — had left
Iraq since Hussein was toppled. A large number headed initially to
Syria, where many have relatives. But the ultimate hope of a great
number of Christians is to immigrate eventually to the United States,
Canada, Australia or other destinations for the Iraqi Christian
diaspora.
One of the largest Iraqi Christian communities in the United States
is in San Diego County. Iraqi immigrants there say they are
increasingly dismayed as they hear of difficulties for Christians in
their homeland. Efforts to get approval from the federal government
to allow fleeing Christians into the U.S. have been unavailing,
community leaders said.
"It's very bad," said Jibran Hannaney, a civil engineer. "As much as
I thought the grace of God was coming to our people when Saddam
Hussein was pushed from power, basically it's been the wrath of the
devil instead. This liberation-turned- occupation has not helped our
people."
Hannaney said almost all Iraqi Christian families in San Diego County
have relatives and friends who have fled Iraq for Jordan, Syria,
Australia or another country after learning that they could not enter
the United States.
The recent migration is an acceleration of an established trend of
Iraqi Christians seeking opportunities elsewhere. The withering cycle
of warfare and sanctions has prompted as much as half of the nation's
Christian population to emigrate since the 1980s, community leaders
say.
The great majority of Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, an Eastern Rite
Catholic group. Other groups — Assyrians, Syriacs and Armenians —
also have lived here for generations. One sect, the Mandaeans, are
followers of John the Baptist. Some Christians still speak and hold
services in a modern-day form of Aramaic, the language Jesus is said
to have spoken.
A smattering of Protestants and Roman Catholics also have lived in
Iraq since the period of British rule after World War I. In addition,
the fall of Hussein has drawn Protestant missionaries.
Coordinated bombings of at least seven Baghdad churches in the last
four weeks followed attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul in
August that left 11 dead and 50 wounded. Some churches have suspended
Sunday services.
Numerous Christian-run liquor stores have been firebombed and forced
to close. Because alcohol is taboo to Muslims, Christians
traditionally have been the only Iraqis licensed to sell it.
"We've always been able to do our job and live with our Muslim
neighbors in peace, but now all that is changed," said Imad Polis
Jajo, whose liquor store in Baghdad was firebombed last summer.
A few days after the bombing, a letter arrived at Jajo's door. If he
attempted to restart the business, it warned, his 15-year-old son,
Rafeef, would be kidnapped. Jajo is now unemployed and must seek help
from relatives, he said during a recent interview at a near-deserted
Christian social club in central Baghdad. Its gloomy emptiness
attested to the fear that has gripped the Christian community here.
"Even during the time of Saddam we were free to come to our club,"
said Sameer Khouri, the administrative secretary of the facility.
"Now, people are afraid to leave their homes."
In Mosul, some Christian women have acceded to anonymous demands to
modify their dress in accordance with Islamic code as a means of
self-protection.
"I put on the hijab [head scarf] … to prevent being harmed by these
crazy people," said Dalia Ishaq, 18, a student at the Fine Arts
Institute for Girls in Mosul. She blamed the excesses on extremists.
"All my friends are Muslim girls," Ishaq said, "and this threat would
never change my relationship with them."
Throughout Iraq, Christians interviewed echoed those sentiments,
emphasizing their ties to Muslim neighbors.
"I have so many Muslim friends, and they have never treated me
harshly — they are just like my sisters," said Rana Saeed Jerjees,
25, a teacher in Mosul. "I think there are certain people who want a
civil war to break out in Mosul and all over Iraq. This is all part
of a major plan, and we must never surrender to such schemes."
Mainstream Muslim clerics and the Iraqi interim government have
repeatedly condemned sectarian attacks on Christians. The nation's
interim constitution explicitly recognizes religious freedom and the
rights of minorities.
However, many Christians wonder whether the government — battered by
an insurgency and needing U.S.-led multinational troops to maintain
some semblance of order — can prevent such violence.
One plan under consideration is for Christians to field a slate of
candidates for January's elections to ensure that they are
represented in the 275-member National Assembly.
Another idea that has met with a cool reception among Christians is
the creation of a kind of Christian safe haven in the plains of
Nineveh province, outside Mosul. Proponents hope to attract
Christians who have left the country, but others fear a kind of rural
ghettoization.
"We don't want to be refugees in our own homeland," said Yunadam
Khanna, a Christian representative in Iraq's interim parliament.
"There is a general crisis in Iraq, and what is happening to the
Christians is part of that crisis."
*Times staff writer Suhail Ahmed and special correspondent Said Rifai
in Baghdad, special correspondent Roaa Ahmed in Mosul and staff
writer Tony Perry in San Diego contributed to this report.
--Boundary_(ID_IruMllrBnvOEoltu+pUuBg)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress