Christian Iraqis in LV seek democracy

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Wednesday, April 23, 2003 | 10:54 a.m.

It's been said you can't go home again, and for Christian Iraqis in the Las Vegas area, it's literally true.

Much of what was home when they left the Iraq no longer exists.

The Baghdad school where teachers spoke to James Yousif as a boy in the ancient language of the country's Assyrian people was destroyed by Saddam Hussein long ago.

Durah, a northern village built by Sam Sapper's ancestors 2,000 years ago, was also razed by Saddam's regime.

Still, Sapper and many of the 400 or so members of the Assyrian American Society of Las Vegas would like to go home again -- but only if democracy rises from the war's rubble.

In many ways, the Assyrian Christians, about 5 percent of Iraqi's population, will serve as a litmus test for the country's developing democracy that members of the local society spoke fervently in favor of Tuesday afternoon.

Many fled the country because of persecution. If the religious minority can live in peace and have a seat at the table in the new government, then the war will have been worth it, they say.

"We want a secular government that allows multicultural rule," said Sapper, president of the organization. "Americans were supposed to create freedom and democracy for all. If that's not achieved, what was all this for?"

The society will rally from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at Las Vegas City Hall in support of the coalition troops -- "because they did a great job in liberating Iraq," said Sapper, a geologist who also works in real estate.

Isaac Toma, 68, works with Sapper in real estate, but he was the chief technical superintendent for Iraq's Ministry of Oil as a young man.

He remembers the persecution he faced as an Assyrian Christian under Saddam 30 years ago.

"They pushed to get Assyrians to join the party. They accused me of being an American spy," he said.

After receiving threats, he decided to seek a fake passport and escape to Beirut. By 1973 he was in Chicago, a refugee protected by the U.S. government. Now he is a U.S. citizen.

Like many Assyrian Christians, most of his family also fled Iraq, except for some cousins, whose fate remains uncertain.

James Yousif, 39, left Iraq when he was only 18, the first in his family to escape the country. His five sisters followed and are scattered around the globe; his mother lives in Germany.

"As an Assyrian Christian in Iraq, I was born feeling (like) a foreigner," he said.

He still has uncles and an aunt in Baghdad, one of whom he spoke to four days before the war began.

"I haven't heard anything since, but they're good survivors and can live a long time without electricity," he said.

Sapper has a sister and "lots of cousins" still in Iraq, none of whom he's heard from in the last three months.

The geologist worked for Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and directed a project mapping the country's minerals before fleeing the country in 1966.

He said he didn't understand those who say the U.S. went to war over oil -- "especially since Americans could have taken the oil in 1991."

"It isn't about the oil, it's about the situation in the Middle East," he said.

Sapper, 62, said he would like to lend a hand in the country's reconstruction, especially in the area around Durah.

"In my village they have the oldest mines in the world. I'd like to go back and bring the mines to production.

"At night when I'm dreaming I see myself flying over my village. I remember every rock, every stream.

"I'm praying there will be a democracy."