Iraqi Christians' perilous choice

NY Post ^ | December 19, 2010 | Amir Taheri

[Scanian]

For the last 10 days, Christians throughout Iraq have been holding meetings to decide whether to stay and risk being killed or flee into exile and an uncertain future.

Most Iraqi Christians have Assyrian, Chaldaean and Babylonian backgrounds, peoples who have lived in "the Land of the Two Rivers" for more than 3,000 years and thus must feel at home. If many of them don't, it is because their community has become the latest target for terrorists dreaming of the "religious cleansing" of Iraq.

This year, more than 180 Christians have been killed, either by snipers or in suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists. In the biggest incident, on Oct. 31, 44 worshipers and two priests were killed when al Qaeda gunmen raided Our Lady of Salvation Cathedral in Baghdad's Karada district. Sixty others were injured, some seriously.

Although most killings have been in Baghdad, there are also reports of attacks in Mosul, Iraq's largest mainly Sunni city, and Basra. in the Shiite heartland. Murder is not the only weapon used; Islamic "religious cleansers" also use arson and intimidation. Businesses owned by Christians are set on fire or looted. Gunmen arrive at night at Christian homes to "advise" the inhabitants to leave the country or else.

"Religious cleansing" has already happened in some parts of the country. According to local sources, more than 90 percent of Basra's Christians have left the city. Even in Baghdad, Christians are now moving out of some districts to concentrate in others.

In the current debate, those who urge a mass exodus argue that Christians are the only community in Iraq not to have armed militias to defend them.

"Why should we stay and be slaughtered?" asks Archbishop Athanasius Dawood, a leader of the Assyrian Orthodox Church.

[Gamecock]

Prayers for those persecuted.