The Assyrian Democratic Organization
AINA) — I am a volunteer American serving my nation in Iraq. While here, I have had the opportunity to visit most regions of this country, and I have many months service training and serving with Iraqi forces. During my time, I have met many Chaldo-Assyrian people and consider them amongst my dearest friends.
As far as offering an assessment of the Assyrian situation in Iraq, I really am not qualified to state with any authority knowledge of the current political climate or what the future may hold for the Assyrian people. What I can say, though, is that I have visited 60 countries in my life, and the Assyrian people here are some the kindest and generous people I have ever met.
Although I don’t know the names of the towns, some of my fondest memories of Iraq occurred when my men and I had the opportunity to pass through some Christian villages last year on the Nineveh plain. My respect and admiration for the people in these villages, who have kept their heritage alive in this most difficult land, has no limit.
I could offer many anecdotes. For example, last year when I arrived, the first Iraqi with whom I spoke was an Assyrian in Baghdad. He gave me a card he had in his pocket and told me to keep it always for good luck, and as thanks for our country’s effort in Iraq. On the front of the card was a picture of the Virgin Mary and on the reverse, the Lord’s Prayer. He said he had carried since the day his mother died.
Before I came to Iraq, I had read much about the Assyrian people. While here, I have asked many questions about the culture, food, wedding customs, community life, language, politics, etc. I have feared sometimes that my Assyrian friends have wearied of me.
I learned to speak Kurdish well and can speak passable Arabic, so I was able to speak directly with many Assyrians without a translator. I have lived as an Iraqi, too, many days hardly seeing an American or speaking English only on a radio. Especially in North Iraq, of course, I had an excellent opportunity to learn much about the Assyrian culture.
Of interest to Assyrians in my experience, especially in the rural Christian villages in North Iraq and amongst the tiny populations of Assyrians in southern Iraq, many of them, while aware of the Assyrian Diaspora throughout the world, do not directly know anyone in the West. A few have distant cousins whom they once knew, or somehow kept in contact with someone during the long, isolated years of the Ba’athist dictatorship, but I believe this is an exception, presently. Many have little contact or great knowledge about Assyrians elsewhere on the globe.
Things are changing rapidly, though. Even the most remote places are now getting electricity, telephones, and satellite television dishes can now be seen in most villages near the bigger towns. The liberation of Iraq has also allowed all the people of Iraq to be more vocal, and hence in greater political and international contact with those of mutual interest.
Iraqis love to talk and I have had endless discussions with them. Religion is a big topic in this religious country. Unlike in the United States, for example, within the first few minutes of many conversations I have here, often someone will ask me about my religion. I state that I am Catholic. Because of the Christians here, most Muslims are familiar with the Catholic faith.
Sometimes the subject of Iraqi Christians will arise. The conversation generally is positive. Never have I heard a disparaging word from any Arab or Kurdish person about Iraqi Christians, and have I been around Iraqis 24 hours a day for months, in and out of combat, serving with them side by side. In fact, in my experience, most Arabs or Kurds speak of their Christian brothers with fondness, usually relating a story of previous employment working with Christians or perhaps speak about Christian neighbors.
The only other common thread that sometimes pops up in their conversation is that they don’t know for sure how the tiny minority of Christians here will fare again the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism, a concern for all minorities in the Middle East, and well known by all of every faith who hope for a better future in this part of the world. I remember my Kurdish friend once saying, “Those Assyrians are too gentle, too peaceful,” meaning how can they stand against such a force as radical Islam, and when in such small numbers?
I think this is a question of great importance. There are good people in Iraq working on this question, though, people of every faith and political persuasion. I think they will succeed in building a bright future for Iraq, and one bright for the Assyrian people, too. I have great confidence, and believe in the Iraqi people.
I will continue to help the Assyrian people in my own small way, in the best way that I can. Whenever the subject of Iraq is broached in the following fashion, “…Sunni, Shia, Kurd…,” I try always to gently remind the speaker about the fourth group that should be included. The speaker, of course, always replies, “Oh yeah, I forgot about those guys.”
By James Pow
James Pow is an American doing volunteer work in Iraq.
