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Insurgents are telling Baghdad's Christians to meet their demands or pack up and leave. BY HANNAH ALLAM McClatchy News Service BAGHDAD -- AND LEILA FADEL An al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group is giving Christians in Baghdad a stark set of options: Convert to Islam, marry your daughters to our fighters, pay an Islamic tax or leave with only the clothes on your back. A U.S. military official said American forces became aware of the threats only last month and now have erected barriers around the largest Christian enclave in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood in an effort to protect its residents. Christians in...

More on Muslims Forcing Christian Assyrians in Baghdad to Pay 'Protection Tax' Posted GMT 4-17-2007 15:53:13 (AINA) -- On 3-18-2007 AINA reported that Muslims were forcing the Christian Assyrians in the Dora Neighborhood of Baghdad to pay the jizya, the 'Protection Tax' demanded from Christians and Jews by Islamic law. AINA has obtained testimony from two residents of Dora and an observer. All names are withheld to protect the safety of the individuals. Baghdad Observer: Elements of Al-Qaeda have moved into Dora from Anbar. No security forces are to be seen there, it seems to be abandoned by both Iraqi...

Muslims in the Dora neighborhood of Iraq are forcing Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) to pay the jizya, the poll tax demanded by the Koran which all Christians and Jews must pay in exchange for being allowed to live and practice their faith as well as being entitled to 'Muslim protection' from outside aggression. At least two cases have been reported to a government employee -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- in which the Christian Assyrian wives were instructed to go to a certain mosque and pay, which they did out of fear. The stated reason for...

Democrat Keith Ellison is now officially the first Muslim United States congressman. True to his pledge, he placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and pledged his allegiance to the United States during his ceremonial swearing-in. Capitol Hill staff said Ellison's swearing-in photo opportunity drew more media than they had ever seen in the history of the U.S. House. Ellison represents the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota. The Quran Ellison used was no ordinary book. It once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed it...

Ending days of speculation about whether they had agreed to a cease-fire with Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Tuesday denied that they would halt terrorist attacks "without making Israel pay a price." Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, the Syria-based head of the movement's political bureau, said there would be no discussion of a truce before the Palestinians test Israel's intentions and receive assurances from the international community that Israel would halt its attacks on the Palestinians. He described the recent talks between Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as "positive." "We agreed that the...