Christians in Middle East increasingly worried

"The attack on the Catholic Church in Baghdad, explicitly by Al-Qaeda, that's unusual. And Al-Qaeda has followed up on that with saying that because of events in Egypt, all Christians in the Middle East are now legitimate targets for attack. That sort of explicit terrorist threat is relatively new, but with the increasing power of more radical forms of Islam, the Christians in that area and even in North Africa but certainly in the Levant, also over into Iran, Christians are feeling more and more threatened. And in my contacts, my conversations with them, there is a level of tension, anxiety, and fear that you did not see 20 years ago, 30 years ago."

Maybe it was unusual in that the terrorists stormed the Church and initially held the Christians hostage and made demands, but Churches in Iraq have been attacked since 2004.

Obama to urge Allawi to join coalition govt

"Barack Obama will today make a personal plea to Ayad Allawi to join a coalition government with his rival Nouri al-Maliki in a deal designed to end eight months of political deadlock in Iraq.

The US president's intervention comes as fears grow among Iraqi leaders and US diplomats that Allawi – the leader of the bloc that won the most votes in March's election – will walk away from the government outlined by the Kurdish regional president, Masoud Barzani, today."

The six principles of shariah

"Here they are, the six principles of shariah:

1. The right to the protection of life.
2. The right to the protection of family.
3. The right to the protection of education.
4. The right to the protection of religion.
5. The right to the protection of property (access to resources).
6. The right to the protection of human dignity. "

I did not know these are the six principles of Sharia until I read this article. Obviously many Muslims have violated the principles of Sharia.

"Honor" killings in Iraqi Kurdistan

"Our research in the Kurdistan region of Iraq shows that despite the recent efforts of the authorities to clamp down on 'honour' killings, women and girls are still being murdered by relatives in their dozens, sometimes with the tacit approval of the wider community."

More Iraqi Christians are murdered

'Suspected Islamist militants detonated 11 bombs in Christian suburbs across the Iraqi capital, striking indiscriminately at shops and homes owned by members of the increasingly vulnerable minority. At least five Christians were killed and a further 33 wounded, among them a four-month-old baby.

The attacks came less than a fortnight after extremists linked to al-Qaeda blew themselves up during evening mass at Baghdad's main Syriac Catholic church, killing over 50 worshippers.

In the aftermath of the church massacre, The Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda front, announced its intention to open upon the country's Christians "the doors of destruction and rivers of blood." '

Man arrested in UK for encouraging terrorism

"A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of encouraging an act of terrorism in connection with a website that listed MPs who voted for the Iraq War.

The man was taken into custody in connection with the internet blog which influenced a student who tried to kill MP Stephen Timms."

The Christians I knew in Baghdad

I've been thinking a lot about the Christians I knew in Iraq. A few Christian families lived in our east Baghdad neighborhood. One of the Christian kids, a boy named Raad, was around my age and we became good friends. When my sister was hospitalized in the summer of 1982, my mother stayed with her at the hospital and my father had to work. Although I did not need a babysitter at the age of 13, my parents did not want to leave me and my brothers home alone. Raad's mother offered to watch me and my brothers while my mother stayed at the hospital with my sister. Raad's parents were most kind. I always remembered Raad as the one who played a good game of chess. After we fled Iraq in 1982, I often wondered how Raad and his family were doing. A few months ago Raad found me on facebook. I was so happy to hear from him! He and his parents had fled to Canada, presumably after the 1991 war. In an email he reminded me that as kids we also played Monopoly and Stratego. He said that my parents and I were lucky to have fled Iraq when we did. He said for him it wasn't fun being there. This is not to say that Christians were persecuted under Saddam - they were not. "Christians numbered approximately 800,000 before the war, and while prohibited from building new churches, enjoyed relative safety under Saddam Hussein." Life was just very difficult for all ordinary Iraqis during the 80s and 90s.

Across the street from us lived an Armenian Christian family. They had two boys. One of those boys, Shant, was around my age and was sometimes an arrogant punk (they were rich), and his little brother, who was around my little brother's age, seemed to enjoy practicing his karate skills on my little brother. Shant's parents were much nicer. Shant's mother baked a cake for us after we moved into our house. Overall they were great neighbors. They had always wanted to move to Miami. I wonder if they are there now.

Shant was a good friend of Ammar, the son of Palestinian Christians who were close friends of my parents and also lived in the neighborhood. My father visited them in 2005 and said they were doing well.

There were a few Christians in my junior high school. Qur'an class was the last class of the day at that school and the Christian students were allowed to skip it. I befriended one of those students, who seemed to be poor unlike the other Iraqi Christians I knew. He loved everything American and he admired my ability to speak and write English so easily. He wanted to see America. Sometimes after school he and I went to my house to listen to the western music I'd brought with me from the US. Abba and the Bee Gees were big hits among Iraqi youth in 1981. I remember how difficult it was trying to translate "Tragedy" into Arabic. We also listened to an instrumental version of Pink Floyd's "Us and Them". I had no idea at the time that the song is about war.

Since 2003, Iraq's Christians have been fleeing their homes in fear of the terrorism that's been aimed at them. Today, 82% of the students at St. Elia's Catholic school in east Baghdad are Muslim. I often wonder what happened to the Christians I knew in Baghdad. The poor Iraqi Christians are no doubt stuck in Iraq. I feel guilty that I, a Muslim, fled the tyranny of Iraq and ended up in America while Iraqi Christians stayed in Iraq until the bitter end and many still cannot leave. God help Iraq's Christians.