Christians talk of leaving Iraq after church bombs

”If they don’t want us in Iraq, let them say it and we will leave,” said Samir Hermiz, 40, standing next to a church that was reduced to ashes. ”I’m really thinking of leaving Iraq.” The series of explosions which began at 4 a.m. o630 hrs ist caused no casualties but they further unnerved Christians already shaken by coordinated church bombings that killed 11 people in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul in August.

There was no immediate word on the identity or motives of the assailants who struck five churches, including a Roman Catholic church in Karrada that was gutted in the attack.

Iraq’s Christians had little power under Saddam Hussein’s rule but they did not feel threatened by sectarian violence.

Now Christians feel they have no protection in a country where the interim government is struggling to quell the bloody chaos of suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings.

Like others in his community, store keeper Nabil Khawam believes ”Christians are the true Iraqis”, but he fears they can no longer risk staying.

”We are a minority and we have no power. We are peaceful people. If attacks continue our numbers will decline,” he said.

The US military has accused Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of masterminding sectarian attacks designed to spark civil war in Iraq.
Iraq’s 650,000 Christians, about three percent of the population, have always kept a low profile, hoping to avoid being sucked into tensions among Sunnis, Shi’ites and Kurds. Now Christians, who are mostly Chaldeans, Assyrians and Catholics, can only wonder when the next bomb will explode. ”They are infidels…infidels… They have no faith,” Kamil Shabo, a 40-year-old labourer, said of the bombers.

”It is a religious sanctuary, how could they attack a religious place?” If he gets the chance to work abroad, Shabo said he will leave Iraq and never return.

After independence in 1932, the Iraqi military massacred Assyrian Christians in villages around Mosul for what was seen as their collaboration with former colonial power Britain.

Some Christians, like former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, a Chaldean, rose to prominence under Saddam.

After the latest bombings, Christians fear they may no longer be welcome in the land they believe their ancestors inhabited for about 2,000 years.

Housewife Khamina Nanno, 24, was always proud of her faith, studied the Bible every Friday at the now-ruined Catholic church in Karrada, as well as attending weekly mass.

”They want to create a sectarian war and unrest between Islam and Christianity,” she said, wiping away tears as she surveyed the destruction.

”I will come tomorrow for the mass. I don’t care if I die. At least I will die in a place of worship and go to Paradise.”