Christians of the Middle East have been leaving the region for the last century and so simply because they are besieged by the Moslem activists and find no one caring about their plight. Soon there will be few left in the birthplace of Christianity which Christians of the west claim to be inspired by but evidently not by the very people who gave them the Christian religion. They don't even seem to believe in kindness, Justice, being fair and standing up for the rights of a people being persecuted because of their religion and the war policies of the United States.

Jane Shallal in her commentary titled " Iraqi Christians murdered Sunday in Baghdad" on http://info.detnews.com/weblog/?blogid=1686 seem to be far more compassionate and caring about the plight of these unfortunate people than all the News services which seldom write about their suffering, the Bush administration which has not lifted a finger to protect them or provide them with financial help and the Christians of the west who have shown little compassion for them. Billions are spent supposedly to bring Christianity to un-believers but not a penny for the Christians in distress in Iraq even when they face murder because of their Christianity and the US war policies. In many ways attempts by the western missionaries to promote Christianity among Moslems have unleashed retaliatory persecution of the native Christians by the Muslim extremists but the death of the local Christians does not seem to matter much. (web-master's comments)

The Christian Exodus in Iraq

More Iraqi Christians murdered Sunday in Baghdad By Jane Shallal

The situation in Iraq worsens. The Iraq's Christian community is being driven out by daily violence and intimidation. Nine more Christians are killed in Baghdad Sunday because of their religious beliefs. It has been recently estimated that 30,000 Christians have left Iraq since the church bombings which occurred this past August. Iraq's Christian population has dropped dramatically. Many more will soon leave. We are rebuilding Iraq, but we are doing so without protecting lives, and we are losing valuable talent.

How Bush campaign representatives constantly maintain that peace efforts are improving, is beyond me. Apparently, little is being done to protect this group. If things are improving, as claimed by the administration, then why are family members being kidnapped daily and thousands o dollars being demanded as ransom for their release. As an immigration attorney, I hear stories daily from my clients of how they have been forced to pay thousands of dollars for the release of their family members, tales of how children have died in recent bombings in Christian places of worship, women being threatened and stoned for not wearing a hijab (veil) over their head, a nun is dismembered in the name of someone's opposing view on religion. Tears swell in my eyes as I hear from a family member of how her father is killed before her mother's eyes as a nearby car bomb explodes after leaving their place of worship.

What is being done to protect and maintain peace for this group. How could we launch war against a country because of our disagreement with its political rulewithout completely understanding the political and religious underpinnings of Iraq.

Today, car bombs shatter the homes of Christians. For many of our religious faith, Iraq is too dangerous to walk the streets. Many rarely leave their home because of fear of kidnapping, murder ,Äì being gunned down simply because they are going about their business which they have done for many years. Young children have been executed simply because their father sells alcohol in his business, people die because they go to church. Many Christian families have received messages to leave the country or they will be killed.

Many are threatened because of their support of the U.S. military presence or their family ties to the U.S. Th U.S. has been slow to understand or react properly to the violence against this group. The U.S. Administration's apparent inability or refusal to deal with this security crisis is troubling to many of us. I fear that the United State's war in Iraq will repeat the history of the abandonment and massacre of the Christians which our group suffered thousands of years ago.

As the originator of this war in Iraq, the United States has a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen and must move quickly to restore peace. So far, this has not happened.