Religious freedom monitors say Iraqi religious minorities terrorized

Published: 2004-12-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The growing religious terror in Iraq "is having a particularly devastating effect on Iraq's non-Muslim minorities," the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warned in a letter to President George W. Bush. The commission -- which only last May removed Iraq from its list of worst violators of religious freedom around the world -- said "the very survival" of ancient Iraqi religious communities such as the ChaldoAssyrians, Mandeans and Yezidis could be at stake in the escalation of violence against them since August. "We urgently request a meeting with you to discuss this dire situation," the commission wrote. Its letter was released Dec. 24. It called for a number of immediate steps to counter the crisis, including the dispatching of armed Iraqi and coalition task forces to protect threatened worship sites and neighborhoods of religious minorities. The commission is an independent federal agency, formed by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which reports yearly to the president, secretary of state and Congress on threats to religious freedom in nations around the world. Its current members include two Catholic churchmen, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M.

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