What is to be expected?

Submitted by Peter J. Herz (United States), Aug 25, 2004 at 20:22

The developments listed in this article are indeed appalling. However, the Assyrian International News Agency reported a year or more ago that a delegation of Assyrian-Americans had to correct one of the administration's high officials to point out that Assyrians did indeed exist in the 21st century AD. The official admitted his gaffe (by his reference he probably was thinking of the great Mesopotamian power of the 7th century BC), but the incident does point out that most Americans--including those positioned to make a difference--know next to nothing about the position of ANY non-Muslim minorities in the Middle East.

By the same token, a Western world that, as Saul Bellow once observed, seems eager to see the last of its own Christianity, can scarcely be expected to worry much about the fates of so many Assyrians, Copts, Armenians, and Antiochenes.

However, the statements by people like Allawi, Ali Sistani, and other Muslim Iraqis are encouraging--but would truly be convincing should the Iraqi government catch the perps, try them, punish them, and enjoy the approval of a majority of its Muslim citizens in doing so.

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