Tweet
International Herald Tribune, France
WAR IN IRAQ
The other victims
By Mokhtar Lamani The Boston Globe
Published: September 20, 2007
Armenians, Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Faili Kurds, Shabaks,
Palestinians, Baha'is, Mandeans, Yazidis, Turkomans and Jews, together
with their Sunni and Shiite neighbors, form an intricate fabric that
gave rise to today's modern Iraqi state. Ironically, they find
themselves on the fringes of the Iraqi society. Tragically, last
month's massacre of more than 400 Yazidis - one of Iraq's numerous
religious minorities - and the international coverage it received, has
placed the spotlight on a forgotten tale in that country's ongoing de
facto civil war: The continuous and often-underreported violence,
which ethnic minority leaders in the country portray as genocide of
devastating consequences, against minority populations. Both Iraqi and
U.S. officials have blamed the attack on Qaeda-linked Islamic
militants.
The brutal attacks against the Yazidis, who are predominantly ethnic
Kurds whose religion blends elements of Islam, Christianity,
Zoroastrianism and Judaism, dating back more than 4,000 years,
underscored the fear and the harsh reality that reflect the growing
insecurity and anxiety gripping Iraq's minorities. Minorities are
especially vulnerable given the lack of militias to protect their
communities, a practice often used by the Shiite and Sunni
populations. Notwithstanding press coverage of the daily atrocities,
which have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Sunnis and
Shiites and, to a lesser extent, Kurds, the plight of the country's
disappearing minorities, who are caught in the cross fire of the
ongoing conflict, does not feature high in the international debate on
Iraq.
With this tragic state of affairs and an absence of any semblance of
normality, peace and security, allowing both Shiites and Sunni
extremists to use their discretionary power to bomb churches, massacre
and rape women and girls, and engage in the forced conversion of
numerous innocent Iraqi minorities every month, hundreds of thousands
have fled the country since the overthrow of Saddam's secular
Baathist-led government, and many more are attempting to run for their
lives.
In what has become the rule rather than the exception, minority groups
across the country are often required to either pay a "protection tax"
or face banishment from their ancestral lands or conversion to
Islam. The consequence of noncompliance with these ultimatums is
usually punishment by death. According to relief agencies and
religious minority leaders in the country, the smaller minorities are
disappearing quickly. The Sabean-Mandean sect, which follows the
teachings of John the Baptist, had a population of 25,000 in 2003. It
now numbers less than 5,000.
Meanwhile, United Nations estimates show that approximately 50 percent
of Iraqi Christians, who numbered 1 to 2 million at the last count in
2003, may have already left the country for neighboring states - Syria
in particular and, to a lesser extent, Jordan, while others have
managed to slip into Western states to join their extended families
who fled with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. They leave behind the
ruins of more than 30 churches destroyed by Islamic extremists.
Given the predicament that minorities find themselves in, and the
eventual withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition from Iraq, many have
begun contemplating the seemingly discouraging dilemma of figuring out
for themselves what it means to be freed from a tyrannical system of
dictatorship under Saddam, only to be left to the mercy of extremists.
A return to the fundamental understanding of what it means to be an
Iraqi, something that involves an innovative approach to fostering a
real dialogue among Iraqis, based on common citizenship, offers the
best hope of ending the chaos and anarchy that have engulfed Iraqis,
including the country's disappearing minorities. With precious time
left, neighboring governments and occupying forces ought to muster
enough courage, even to the detriment of their short-term foreign
policy objectives, to treat Iraq's minorities with special care and
consideration.
Mokhtar Lamani, a former Arab League special representative in Iraq,
is a visiting research fellow at the Center for International
Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada. He Hany Besada is senior
researcher at the center. This article first appeared in The Boston
Globe.
WAR IN IRAQ
The other victims
By Mokhtar Lamani The Boston Globe
Published: September 20, 2007
Armenians, Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Faili Kurds, Shabaks,
Palestinians, Baha'is, Mandeans, Yazidis, Turkomans and Jews, together
with their Sunni and Shiite neighbors, form an intricate fabric that
gave rise to today's modern Iraqi state. Ironically, they find
themselves on the fringes of the Iraqi society. Tragically, last
month's massacre of more than 400 Yazidis - one of Iraq's numerous
religious minorities - and the international coverage it received, has
placed the spotlight on a forgotten tale in that country's ongoing de
facto civil war: The continuous and often-underreported violence,
which ethnic minority leaders in the country portray as genocide of
devastating consequences, against minority populations. Both Iraqi and
U.S. officials have blamed the attack on Qaeda-linked Islamic
militants.
The brutal attacks against the Yazidis, who are predominantly ethnic
Kurds whose religion blends elements of Islam, Christianity,
Zoroastrianism and Judaism, dating back more than 4,000 years,
underscored the fear and the harsh reality that reflect the growing
insecurity and anxiety gripping Iraq's minorities. Minorities are
especially vulnerable given the lack of militias to protect their
communities, a practice often used by the Shiite and Sunni
populations. Notwithstanding press coverage of the daily atrocities,
which have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Sunnis and
Shiites and, to a lesser extent, Kurds, the plight of the country's
disappearing minorities, who are caught in the cross fire of the
ongoing conflict, does not feature high in the international debate on
Iraq.
With this tragic state of affairs and an absence of any semblance of
normality, peace and security, allowing both Shiites and Sunni
extremists to use their discretionary power to bomb churches, massacre
and rape women and girls, and engage in the forced conversion of
numerous innocent Iraqi minorities every month, hundreds of thousands
have fled the country since the overthrow of Saddam's secular
Baathist-led government, and many more are attempting to run for their
lives.
In what has become the rule rather than the exception, minority groups
across the country are often required to either pay a "protection tax"
or face banishment from their ancestral lands or conversion to
Islam. The consequence of noncompliance with these ultimatums is
usually punishment by death. According to relief agencies and
religious minority leaders in the country, the smaller minorities are
disappearing quickly. The Sabean-Mandean sect, which follows the
teachings of John the Baptist, had a population of 25,000 in 2003. It
now numbers less than 5,000.
Meanwhile, United Nations estimates show that approximately 50 percent
of Iraqi Christians, who numbered 1 to 2 million at the last count in
2003, may have already left the country for neighboring states - Syria
in particular and, to a lesser extent, Jordan, while others have
managed to slip into Western states to join their extended families
who fled with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. They leave behind the
ruins of more than 30 churches destroyed by Islamic extremists.
Given the predicament that minorities find themselves in, and the
eventual withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition from Iraq, many have
begun contemplating the seemingly discouraging dilemma of figuring out
for themselves what it means to be freed from a tyrannical system of
dictatorship under Saddam, only to be left to the mercy of extremists.
A return to the fundamental understanding of what it means to be an
Iraqi, something that involves an innovative approach to fostering a
real dialogue among Iraqis, based on common citizenship, offers the
best hope of ending the chaos and anarchy that have engulfed Iraqis,
including the country's disappearing minorities. With precious time
left, neighboring governments and occupying forces ought to muster
enough courage, even to the detriment of their short-term foreign
policy objectives, to treat Iraq's minorities with special care and
consideration.
Mokhtar Lamani, a former Arab League special representative in Iraq,
is a visiting research fellow at the Center for International
Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada. He Hany Besada is senior
researcher at the center. This article first appeared in The Boston
Globe.