Peace and Justice Post

By Fatih Abdulsalam, Uruknet.info, July 25, 2009

Targeting Iraqi Christians and their churches is a very dangerous thing, though it is nothing new in the ‘new’ and ‘democratic’ Iraq.

The bitter memory of what happened to Iraqi Christians last year in the northern city of Mosul is still alive and hurts everyone concerned with the well-being of Iraqis as a nation.

Mosul Christians were terrorized, forced to flee, leaving behind almost everything. Many of them were killed or injured.

What is shocking is the attitude of the Iraqi government. It did nothing to halt anti-Christian violence or alleviate the suffering of internally displaced Christians.

The outcome of the ‘independent’ investigation on the causes of the persecution is still under wraps. Like many other commissions, it will certainly never be made public.

The spate of bombings targeting Christian churches recently was met with indifference on the part of the government. There have been no tangible security measures to persuade Christians or their leaders that their future in the country is guaranteed.

But what is clear is that Iraqi Christians face systematic violence. And the government, as it does with almost every thing, puts the blame on al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda has turned into something like a hanger on which the government drapes all its dirty garments.

It is always easy to blame al-Qaeda. But when it appeared that the government had no measures in place to quell the anti-Christian violence in Mosul last year, it was clear that similar deeds were bound to happen.

It is the government which encourages violence by being so indifferent to the suffering of Iraqi Christian and other vulnerable minorities.