No Christmas in Baghdad
نينا شيا
Ýí
2011-03-04
ate the U.N. has cited for years. The actual percentage of Christian refugees is likely far greater. In a reference to the fate of Iraq ’s <span id="lw_1299260289_8">Jewish population</span>, which stands at eight souls, down from a third of Baghdad ’s population in the 1940s, the <em>Times</em> reports:</p>
<p>
“It’s exactly what happened to the Jews,” said Nassir Sharhoom, 47, who fled last month to the Kurdish capital, Erbil, with his family from Dora, a once mixed neighborhood in Baghdad . “They want us all to go.”</p>
<p>
The obliteration from Iraq of its ancient Christian presence — and with it the reality of religious freedom and pluralism — is an <span id="lw_1299260289_9">unintended consequence</span> of the U.S. invasion but has never been factored in as a U.S. strategic concern. There is no Obama policy, not even a safe-haven or refugee policy, designed specifically to help Iraq ’s Christians as they confront religious cleansing.</p>
<p>
— <em>Nina Shea</em><em>is director of the Hudson Institute’s Center on Religious Freedom</em></p>
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