Who will protect us?

AFP- Baghdad
June 12, 2007

A furious Assyrian Christian woman displaced from the Dora area south of Baghdad, asked during a meeting organized Sunday by al-Sadr office and the Chaldean Church. "Who will protect us, you as Iraqis or Bush?"

Jihan Louis Mansour was clearly bitter when a question was posed, whether the American president Bush is capable of protecting the Assyrian Christians in Iraq? Her answer: “Being Iraqis you have to protect us”.

During his first meeting last Saturday in Rome with the American president Bush, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his concern regarding the fate of the Christians in Iraq as they discussed “the disturbing situation in Iraq and the difficult circumstances faced by the Christian denominations there”.

Bush on his part said:” I assured him (the Pope) that we are working very hard so that the people would respect the Iraqi constitution which confirms tolerance between the religions”.

Mrs. Mansour added:” Why has every one abandoned us? They are distorting religion, until when shall the government abandon us? There are pamphlets being distributed demanding the displacement of Christians. They tell us we don’t want you here in Dora this is an Islamic Emirate, you convert to Islam, pay the Jizya (head Tax) or leave the area”. She added:” They began with the Shiite and bombed their homes and today it’s the Christians turn and they bombing Christian homes”.

The meeting was attended by dozens of people and there were banners which carried slogans such as “No compulsion in religion”, “solidarity with the displaced Christians… Activate the role of al-Mahdi army in Dora”, there were other banners praising al-Sadr stream signed “the Christians in Dora”. One of the banners carried the slogan:” The Seteen (sixty) street has turned into the Sekeen (knife) street”.

The Assyrian Christians who attended the meeting confirmed that over 300 people have been displaced from al-Mechanic, al- Seteen streets and Dora district.

A woman veiled in black said:” An armed group came to our house, took our car and my husband who we didn’t know his fate, later they contacted us and asked me to convert to Islam, pay $10000 dollars and give them the car, now we have been displaced of our home and we don’t know who is living in it”.
Sabah Touma Raphael said:” They placed explosives and blew up my home, I was displaced with my family of five and my daughter was injured. We left every thing and fled to the Na’eeriya area in (New Baghdad) fearing murder”.

A weeping Elham Elias said:” They abducted my husband and my brother, a father of two children and his daughter is disabled and suffers from an eye condition. They demanded $60000 dollars for their release and they occupied our house. The takfir (fanatic Islamic groups) gangs are behind these acts”.

Farid al-Musawi a Muslim sheikh said:” The occupier and his helpers have distorted Islam in the eyes of others making it a religion of terror and fanaticism. Islam is a friendship contract under the banner of Tawheed (the oneness of God) accepting any one who says there is no God but Allah regardless of who their Prophet is”. He added:” The Islamic Shari’aa (religious law) isn’t just applying rules, rejecting corruption, selfishness, envy and betrayal but it is also a common dialogue language and every Muslim who upholds the Prophet’s morals will approach the Christians, and we will defend every Christian as we share many things with them”. He continued:” Terrorism has no religion, its barbarism has affected every one from Muslims to Christians, Sabaeans to Yizidis”.

Deacon Natheer Daqqo of St. Elia Chaldean Catholic Church praised Muqtada al-Sadr saying:” We thank Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr and the Supreme Social Committee because your stand is a pride for the people and the homeland”.

Gunmen had killed earlier in June a Chaldean Catholic priest and three deacons near the Church after Sunday Mass in Mosul which has a Sunni majority and four days ago in Baghdad another Chaldean Catholic priest was kidnapped with five of his parishioners. In October of last year the Mosul police had found the decapitated body of Fr. Amer Eskandar (55 years) from the Syrian Orthodox Church dumped in al-Muharebeen district three days after he was abducted.