Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: A new threat to Iraqis

Friday, April 25, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.

THE ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANS, like the Lebanese Maronites, have quietly become vital and strong members of American society and business. Many have come to the United States because of persecution in the Middle East. A large number of them live in Clark County and have become invaluable citizens.

Mordechai Nisan in "The Forgotten Millions" puts the overall persecution of Christians in perspective when writing: "Religious minorities throughout the Mideast terrain are the simplest to define because the religious identity is one of the most salient in mankind. Christian minorities in the Islamic realm (Dar aI-Islam) suffered interminably over the centuries: Maronites in Lebanon, Assyrians in Iraq, Copts in Egypt, with a special though particular mention of Armenians in the lands conquered by Turks and transformed into Turkey. The Christian percentage of populations, historically majorities in such countries as Egypt and Syria, dropped markedly and numbered about 12 per cent in Egypt and just 10 per cent in Syria in the 1990's. The proportion of Christians throughout the Middle East has reached a historical low of just 2 per cent. A long record of disc rimination in education and administration, and a recent trend of fundamentalist violence against the vulnerable Copts, has! evoked an atmosphere of Christian fear. Wanton murders of Copts, for instance, as in a church in Upper Egypt in February 1997, and the Muslim call to impose jizya tribute payment on the Christians, serves notice that survival by introversion or emigration to the West may be the only remaining practical alternatives when a decent and secure communal life at home is seemingly no longer possible."

The Syrian butchering of Christians in Lebanon has often been written about in this column. What has been especially bothering to me is the lack of our own country's political establishment giving the slaughter much notice. Our Department of State was too busy making love to Syria's Hafez Assad to interfere. We now must correct this problem and tell his son Bashar Assad to get his troops out of Lebanon. Soon we will know if that's the message Secretary Colin Powell will deliver for President George W. Bush.

Meanwhile we have several Assyrian Christians in Las Vegas who would like to go back to Iraq if a true democracy is established. They were scheduled to hold a rally at Las Vegas City Hall from noon until 2 p.m. today. Assyrian Christian Sam Sapper told Sun reporter Timothy Pratt that the members of his group "want a secular government that allows multicultural rule" in Iraq.

This has to be the dream of millions of Christians around the world. The United States will not be able to provide the foundation for this kind of society in Iraq if it allows the Shiite Muslims to turn Saddam Hussein's repressive government into a theocracy. Of course, it will be their theocracy, which would be even more repressive and intolerant of Christians and Jews. A short look at the history of the Shiites in Iran makes clear the problems ahead.

The Shiites have suffered persecution by Saddam and rejoiced that for the first time in more than two decades they could freely make the pilgrimage to Karbala this week. Here they lashed their backs with whips and pounded their chests in celebration. Saddam is gone and they are happy. Then the crowds took up the chant that the Americans must leave now! It's obvious that the majority feel closer to Iranian Shiite mullahs than they do to a democratic secular government.

Wisely the U.S. military and President Bush are telling Iran to back off and to quit using the Shiites to stir up trouble. Will they be successful? I don't know, but they had better be or Christian minorities will be even lesser in numbers during the coming years.