Christmas Requiem for Iraq's Christian Community

Haaretz ^ | 12/24/10 | Zvi Bar'el

[marshmallow]

In order to meet Iraq's Christians this year, Santa Claus will have to steer his sleigh to Jordan, Syria, Kurdistan or Europe. After Al-Qaida's October 31 massacre at a central Baghdad church, thousands of Christians have decided that their homeland is no longer safe.

This is not the first time Muslim terror has hit Christian sites, nor is it the first time Christians have fled Iraq. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there were approximately 1 million Christians in Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003, and only half a million now - and that number is shrinking.

This week the Iraqi legislature discussed the Christians' situation and passed a resolution in principle to help families who fled. However, the parliament does not know where the Christians are, how many are still in Iraq, in their homes, and how many have found asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Reports from Iraq show some Christians are even afraid to report they have received threatening phone calls or e-mails telling them to leave the country.

"Contacting the authorities forces us to identify ourselves, and we aren't certain that some of the people threatening us aren't the people in the government offices that are supposed to be protecting us," one Christian Iraqi told the newspaper Sawt al-Iraq. Others have reported masked men coming to their homes at night and demanding that they "convert to Islam, leave or die."

[juliej]

Pat Buchanan managed to blame the Jews/Israelis for this! When will Townhall give him the boot?

[ScottinVA]

"Contacting the authorities forces us to identify ourselves"

Contacting the authorities likely condemns them to death. As bad as Saddam was, he was far less a threat to the Christian community in Iraq than the current regime.