Assyrian Demonstration on December 4, 2006
Remarks by Fr. Keith Roderick

It does not matter whether or not a tree has deep roots; if its branches have been so battered by storm and pruned, its long-term survival is in doubt. The Assyrians, Chaldean and Syriacs, are a people of deep roots, but whose branches are torn away.

Demonstration in front of the White House CSI  

Christians tortured and killed

Christians now comprise less than 5 percent of the population of Iraq. In 1987 the Christian population of Iraq was 1.4 million; today, it is estimated to be between 600,000 and 800,000. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that between October 2003 and March 2005, 36 percent of those fleeing Iraq for Syria were Christians. Untold numbers are now exiled in Jordan and Turkey where they live on the edge, most not allowed to work there nor receive social assistance. Christians in Iraq as elsewhere in the Middle East are the inconvenient minority. Even though indigenous, they are made to feel like the interloper. They are a vulnerable minority who are beingtargeted for violence.

During the past two years, over 27 churches have been attacked or bombed. Reports of kidnappings and rape of young girls are widespread.

In August, 13 Christian women were kidnapped and murdered.

In October, Father Boulos Iskander was kidnapped near Mosul city center. He was executed soon after. The priest’s severed head lay atop his chest. His severed arms and legs were placed around his head. During that same week, a 14-year-old boy was crucified in the Christian neighborhood of Albasra.

At the end of November, Isoh Majeed Hedaya, President of the Assyrian organization "Syriac Independent Unified Movement (SIUM)," was assassinated in Baghdeda. Mr. Hedaya was a leading proponent of the creation of an autonomous region for the Assyrians in the four districts of the Nineveh plain.


It has been reported that last week, Moqtada al-Sadr’s followers have renewed a fatwa that requires all school girls, including Christians, to wear the veil while attending school. The Middle East Journal reported that al-Sadr in May of 2003 called for strict Islamic law to be applied to Christians.

And this morning, Father Sami Abudlahad, a Chalean Catholic priest was kidnapped in the Al Sinaa District (near University of Technology) in Baghdad.

Offer your Voice - Protest!

When Christians suffer and are marginalized in the world who gives heed to their complaint? When priests are murdered, young children crucified, women kidnapped, raped and murdered, churches blown apart and civil rights activists assassinated who protests? You must protest! You who stand here today as the voice of those who have been silenced by violence. But, who will stand with you? The President should stand with you. Congress should stand with you. The American people should stand with you. If the Christians of Iraq should diminish to the point of irrelevance, the hope of a truly democratic multi-ethnic and religious Iraq will dissipate as well.

That is why it is so important that you demonstrate here today in front of the White House. The Administration can exert the pressure on the Iraq government to follow through on its constitutional prerogative to create an autonomous administrative unit for Assyrians and other minorities. There is a provision for ethnic/religious minorities in Iraq under Chapter 4, Article 121, of the Iraqi Constitution, “Local Administrations,” which guarantee the administrative, political, cultural, and educational rights for ethnic minorities.

The Nineveh Plains, the indigenous territory of Christians, along with other minorities such as the Yazidis and Shabak, would be the most obvious location for such a arrangement. The autonomous administrative unit of the Nineveh Plains would not end the attacks on minorities in the large cities of Mosul, Baghdad, or Basra. However, it may offer a place for these besieged minorities to flee for safety without giving up their national identity as Iraqis.

The President should recognize that the Assyrians, both Chaldeans and Syriacs, are a besieged and vulnerable population. If he will not add his influence to bring about the Administrative Unit, then he must accept responsibility for their rescue in other ways.

The United States in fiscal 2005 admitted 198 Iraqi refugees, or only 0.37 percent of the nearly 54,000 people admitted. The administration has established a ceiling of 5,500 refugee admissions from the Near East and South Asia region, and this includes vulnerable Iraqis, Afghans and Iranian religious and ethnic minorities. Christian Solidarity International representatives met with Iraq Christians, mainly from Baghdad and Mosul while on a fact-finding mission in Istanbul last week. The several thousand Assyrians in Turkey are living in terrible conditions.

The representatives reported that they want to go to a third country, but the door is closed. UNHCR will not process their applications for refugee status. The USA will not recognize them as legitimate asylum seekers. The administration policy assumes that these exiles are free to return to their home country of Iraq because it now has a constitution and an elected government that has promised to keep them safe and guaranteed their religious freedom is cynical. Assyrians are vulnerable.

Mr. President, if you will not make it possible for them to have an Administrative District so that they can provide for their own well being and security, then you must help them to find that security here among their friends and families in America as legitimate refugees and asylum seekers. The Christians of Iraq as throughout the Middle East are the most ardent supporters of democracy and pluralism. Do not abandon them! (Repeat)

Mr. President, keep that tree alive where is so deeply rooted. If you are unwilling or unable to do that, then transplant the branches from that tree here where they may take root in security and hope.