The Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.

Washington, D.C.  20500

7 February 2005

Mr. President:

              We are writing to express our concern for the future of Christians, Mandaeans, Yezidis and other non-Muslim minorities in Iraq.  There are three critical actions that you can take to help guarantee their survival as a community in Iraq:

• Direct all offices charged with the distribution of reconstruction funds to insure that the ChaldoAssyrian community receives an equitable assignment of funds that have been committed for reconstruction purposes.  The United States committed $20 billion for reconstruction of infrastructure.  Assistance, to rebuild infrastructure, —water system, electricity, sewer, and roads— has not been distributed to authentic leaders and representatives of the ChaldoAssyrian community for their administration.  The Christian areas have not benefited from the present administration of these funds through Arab and Kurdish agencies;

•  Urge the interim Iraqi government to implement Article 53 (d) of the Temporary Administrative Law creating an administrative district in the Nineveh Plains to secure the welfare of ChaldoAssyrian people who wish to remain in their homeland and those who desire to return from areas where they have previously fled; and

•  Urge the appointment of seats in the Iraqi Assembly constitutional drafting committee for non-Muslim minorities to enhance the inclusiveness of the constitutional process.  Christians, Yezizdis, Shebeks living in the Hamdaniya district in eastern Nineveh may have had their votes disenfranchised by the failure to deliver ballots to them during the election January 30. 

Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac Christians of Iraq, called ChaldoAssyrian under the Temporary Administrative Law, now comprise only between 5 and 10% of the population although they are the indigenous people of Iraq.  Religious/ethnic discrimination and persecution over the last half-century have driven one-half of their population into diaspora.  Over 80% of all Iraqis living in the United States today are Christian.  ChaldoAssyrians have been targeted by Islamic fundamentalist militias and insurgent forces that use kidnappings, assassinations, murders of little children, and the bombing of churches in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul. 

ChaldoAssyrians are also being persecuted and displaced in Iraq due to active and passive policies of Kurdish administrative authorities, resulting in encroachment on their lands, not allowing them to return to villages or rebuild churches and schools.  These acts intimidate the Christian community, leaving them with few alternatives but to flee their indigenous homeland in Iraq. 

During the past six months an estimated 40,000 Christians are reported to have fled to Syria and Jordan.  Other non-Muslims, such as the Yezidis and Sabean Mandaeans, have experienced similar pressures. Thousands have left Iraq to Jordan and Syria fearing for their lives.

In order to prevent a mass exodus that would destroy an indigenous population, detrimentally affect the preservation of diversity in the Middle East, and, critically, deprive Iraq of an educated and forward-thinking skilled and professional class, the United States do all in its power to guarantee the welfare of Iraq’s ChaldoAssyrian community and other non-Muslim minorities.  These communities are strong allies for the promotion of democratic ideals and moderation. 

With reports of tens of thousands of ChaldoAssyrians, fleeing Iraq in terror, there now exists the real possibility of the permanent loss of the indigenous ChaldoAssyrian people in Iraq for the first time in their 6700 year continuous existence.   Mandaeans and Yezidis also face extinction.  The final litmus test for the new Iraqi government and the international community’s genuine commitment to pluralism and democracy remains the preservation of ChaldoAssyrians, Mandaeans and Yezidi, the indigenous people of Iraq, as well as other existing non-Muslim minorities in Iraq.

Respectfully,

The Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick

Secretary General

Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights

Cc:  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Sabri Alhan

Assyrian Democratic Movement Europe

Simon Bar Mano

Assyrian Federation of Sweden

Gary L. Bauer

President

American Values

Charbel Barakat

World Lebanese Organization (WLO)

Ann J. Buwalda, Esq.

Director

Jubilee Campaign USA

Rich Cizik
Vice President for Governmental Affairs

National Association of Evangelicals

Narsai M. David, President

Assyrian Aid Society of America

Sait Demir

Zentralverband Der Assyryischen Vereinigungen in Deutschland

Dr. John Eibner

Executive Director

Christian Solidarity International –USA

Juliette M. Engel, M.D.

Mira Med Institute

Deborah Fikes

Director /Ministerial Alliance

Midland, Texas

Joseph K. Grieboski

President

Institute on Religion and Public Policy

Tom Harb

Chairman

American Maronite Union

Donna M. Hughes, Ph.D.

Professor and Carlson Endowed Chair

University of Rhode Island

Sheikh Sami al Khoury

President

World Maronite Union

Sheba Mando

Assyrian National Council of Illinois

John C. Michael, MD,

President

Assyrian Academic Society

Faith J. H. McDonnell

Director, Religious Liberty Programs

Institute on Religion & Democracy

William J Murray

Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition

Dr. Suhaib Nashi
General Secretary
Mandaean Society of America

Yakdan Nissan

Assyrian Democratic Organization USA and Canada

Professor Walid Phares,

Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Chairman, Academic Committee, Coalition for Human Rights

Suzanne Scholte

President

Defense Forum Foundation

Nina Shea

Director

Center for Religious Freedom

Freedom House

Adel Sleiman

Lebanese Information Service

Joseph Saouk

Chairman

Middle East Christian Committee, Sweden

Sait Yildiz

Assyrian Democratic Movement of Sweden

Ashur J. Yoseph, USA Liaison

Assyrian Democratic Movement

Manzoor Alam.

Chairmam

Pakistani American Christian Coalition