Bombings Scare Minority Christians in Iraq
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Reprinted from NewsMax.com
NewsMax.com Wires
Monday, Aug. 2, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Wissam Sagman was thinking of emigrating recently, fearing his Christian family would not be safe in the new, chaotic Iraq. But he decided to stay.

Now, after a series of coordinated bombings at churches in Baghdad and Mosul that killed at least seven people, his fears have grown, and he plans to redouble his efforts to get out. Although Iraq's political and religious leaders have united to condemn Sunday's bombings, and Sagman's Muslim neighbors and colleagues have been dropping by to extend condolences, the Baghdad dentist feels the bombers simply want to drive out Iraq's 750,000 Christians.

"These people, they love blood. They hate humanity. They hate us," Sagman said, looking around his living room, wrecked by a car bomb attack on an Armenian church across the street. "They want all the Christians to leave."

The bombings were the first significant strike on Iraq's Christians since the ouster of Saddam Hussein last year. But even beforehand, Christians were feeling Islamic fundamentalism closing in, and hundreds had fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

Others are waiting to join them. Sagman said he had a permit to go to Syria but turned down the opportunity, hoping to move elsewhere. Now he says he'll try again.

"This is my church! My church!" Thomas George, 73, cried, shaking his walking stick outside a Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad that was targeted.

Muslim neighbors tried to console him.

One, Sadek Rabi, recalled attacks on Muslim places of worship that have killed hundreds.

"A Muslim can't go to a mosque, and a Christian can't go to church now," said the 32-year-old Rabi.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said authorities would "use all available force, both Iraqi and those of multinational forces in Iraq, to pursue and destroy the people who plan and carry out such atrocities."

Iraq's religious leaders unanimously denounced the bombings.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, called the bombings "hideous crimes" that "targeted Iraq's unity, stability and independence."

Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni Muslim group believed to have links to insurgents, offered condolences and blamed the attacks on foreign fighters seeking to divide the nation. "Such acts cannot be done by Iraqis," it said.

On Monday, a previously unknown group called Committee of Planning and Follow-up in Iraq claimed blame for the bombings and warned more attacks would follow. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the statement, posted on an Islamic Web site.

The Rev. Emmanuel Delly, patriarch of the Chaldeans, as Iraqi Roman Catholics are called, pleaded for interfaith unity. "We and the Muslims are one family, one Iraqi family that should be protected by brotherhood and love," he said.

Pope John Paul II cabled Delly saying the attack on Catholics at worship "struck me deeply."

'I'm Tired'

Despite the outpouring of support, churchgoer Tarek Kidr was also looking for a way out.

"I want to go now, go to Syria and try to get to Australia," he said. "It's not safe in Iraq, and it will only get worse."

The Armenian church sustained little damage, but the blast blew in the front window of Sagman's living room, where his two boys were watching cartoons on television.

His youngest son, 7-year-old Hamam, suffered minor cuts from flying glass.

"I'm tired. I didn't have any expectations from this life before, and now ... ," he broke off in mid-sentence, his shoulders shaking as he fought back tears.

"A true Muslim would never touch a house of God," he said. "I feel despair now, only despair."

Outside, Muslim neighbors and colleagues sat on chairs perched gingerly between pieces of glass and concrete.

"I didn't believe this until I came to see it with my own eyes," said co-worker Karima Hadi. She pulled back her veil to wipe the sweat from her face and tried to smile.

"We are all one heart. Whether we're Muslim or Christian, this can't break us," she said.

At St. Peter's seminary in Baghdad, damaged by a car bomb, administrator Majid Adwar gestured at the guard walking around the parking lot.

"We've never had to do this before," he said, pointing at the guard's automatic rifle. "We've always considered ourselves peaceful people. We never thought this would happen."

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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