Dems outline priorities on national security

Democrats criticized the Republicans for being weak on national security at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) forum. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said the Democrats need to develop more allies than the Bush administration has done. Bayh said that the U.S. needs "other people standing by our side in our national security interests."

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) said Afghanistan was "strategically, the most important place in the world." She said that because of its lack of resources and structure, many terrorists have gone there to congregate and regroup. Retired Marine Corps Col. T.X. Hammes said the current U.S. mission in Afghanistan will never be successful until we develop a national security strategy. He also said that an influx of troops will not change the situation there if national security options continue to be "knee-jerk decisions."

The Bush administration "has failed to lead non-proliferation," Tauscher continued. There will soon be 500 nuclear power plants, and 40 will be able to make nuclear weapons on short notice, the congresswoman warned.

Reza Aslan, author of the book "No God but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," said that the U.S. is asking "Why do they hate us," when it should ask, "Who the hell are they?" A feeling has developed in the Middle East that the "war on terror" is a "war on Islam." He said that U.S. efforts in that region have radicalized the terrorist groups there.

Christians being targeted in Iraq

Congress members Anna G. Eshoo and Frank Wolf held a briefing today on the “Plight of Iraq’s Christians and Other Religious Minorities.” The guest speakers were the vice president of Resettlement of the International Rescue Committee, Bob Carey, the Middle East program officer of Mercy Corp, Emily Gish, the executive director of Chaldean Federation of America (CASCA), Joseph Kassab, and the senior fellow of Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, Nina Shea.

Nina Shea started the briefing by resenting her experiences and the research that she has conducted in the Middle East. She talked about the injustices, discrimination and the atrocities carried out by various Muslim extremists in Iraq. Forty churches have been bombed, twelve priests killed, Archbishops murdered, Christian churches have and are being decapitated. Recently, ten days ago, a priest was killed in Baghdad. Mandeans, a Christian minority are being murdered; only few have remained. These cases are not being investigated or followed by the police or any other international organizations.
As a result of this, two-thirds of the Iraqi Christians have fled the country and found refuge in Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region. The remaining one-third lives in the North near the Kurdistan borders.

Shea also touched upon the fact that President Bush had never commented on this issue before, but he acknowledged, during the Papal visit, that Christians and other minorities in Iraq are being targeted for religious reasons. She continued by saying that acknowledgment is not enough and there should be a set U.S. policy to deal with this issue, which has not happened yet. The U.S. failure to adopt policies to help the minorities ranges from being indifferent to minor activities. According to Nina Shea, Iraq is becoming more and more homogeneous and the fear is, when/if the war will be over, minorities will be absent. She also said that the Christians are not the only ones who are being targeted, “the Jewish population is only on double digits if that.” The lack of militias or security in the Christian regions is making it easier for the extremists to carry out their violence against the minorities. Shea said that there are couple of people with no uniforms, who are truing to protect the people and the State Department stated that those men are going to be given uniforms soon. all the minorities in Iraq carry only 12-13 seats of the Parliament.

Another 20, 000 Iraqi Christians have been forced to evacuate due to threats. The U.S. has been very passive about this, not even developed a mechanism, they are not aware of if aid is being reached to the people on the region. for instance, when the Mendean family was “wiped down” two weeks ago, there was no one to investigate. Shea emphasized the importance of the U.S. developing a way of contact with the civic leaders of the minority communities; she added that that particular act is in the U.S. interest, since the minorities are the bridge between the East and the West.

Bob Carey talked about the needs and the challenges for the Iraqi Christians. He presented the activities of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the region. The

IRC has held meetings with U.N., Syrian and Jordanian officials, even the President of the Bashar el Assad, to find a solution for the refugees present in those countries. Carey emphasized that more than 70 percent of the families have witnessed a death of a family member. They have experienced personal threats, received notes on public and notes on bodies. There is a need of an urgent medical care, the community is suffering from different sicknesses and people who have cancer are not able to get meditation. Carey talked about his experience of meeting 3 translators, all of them under the age of twenty four, who have severe physical injuries and were not treated until their arrival to the U.S.

Today, the IRC has 4 million projects operating in the Iraq and the host countries of the refugees. Carey urged the people to contact their congress representatives to add the fund to the Refugee Crisis Act, which will be spent on the refugees and the countries helping them.


Joseph Kassab talked about the operations of CASCA in the U.S. and Iraq. Kassab and his co-workers traveled to the affected regions in March. He started off by showing a map of the Christian areas. The region extended from near Mosul to the frontiers of the KRG in the North. Three different forces protect the region. Firstly, Kurds who are financed by the government, secondly, private security force funded by the Finance minister of Kurdistan and lastly, former police with uniform in very small numbers. Kassab said that the three forces are creating confusion amongst the people, because they do not know who to trust and who to talk to. To make matters more difficult, the forces themselves are not well-organized. they are heavily armed, but do not know how to use their weapons. There is another issue as well, Kassab said that the civilians are willing to volunteer to protect the region, but they are being offered to go to different areas of Iraq and not stay in the region.
Migration is another important issue to tackle. There are 3000 students who attend the University of Mosul, have not been able to go to school last year, because of the fear and lack of security in the city. Mosul is one of the most dangerous areas when it comes to this situation. This circumstance in mind, the youth is worried about their future, no jobs, no school. As the first opportunity of moving out of the country arises, they are acting on it.
People fleeing from their homes and coming to the Christian areas is establishing another problem in the community. 85 percent of these refugees are Christians, who have been “kicked out of their areas”. There are two three families living together in one household as a result of this. People are even living in graveyards. Community councils in the area are not able to report on the exact on goings of the region, intimidated by the other council members.
The homes of the families who have fled are being taken by the “murderers” and when the refugees decide on going back, they are referred to as betrayers, infidels and statements such as “you do not belong here.”
in order to gather information, CASCA talked to the people directly and then went to the authorities to find a solution to this problem.
Although the region is very fertile, the economic state of the area is very horrifying. Due to security reasons and fear for their lives, they cannot sell their products in the bigger cities, such as Baghdad and Mosul. Ironically, they cannot sell it in the North, due to certain rules and regulations.
Kassab concluded his statement by identifying the key problems of the IDP (people who fled their homes). Firstly, lack of shelter and housing, secondly, lack of essential food items, lack of jobs, lack of humanitarian and financial support, lack of education and lack of hygiene.

Lastly, Emily Gish touched upon the discrimination against women, children and the disabled. She talked about how women are not allowed to work, even if it is up to them to support their families because their brothers and fathers have been murdered and killed due to the bombings. She talked about the children and their psychological state. Many children, especially in the Christian areas are suffering from psychological illnesses, due to the excessive amount of moving and fleeing. No stable homes are being provided for these children. Mercy Corps has started different programs for these children in the region to keep them preoccupied. Lectures, sports, are only coupe of the projects of Mercy Corp in the region. The organization is even teaching women about their rights. Different projects have been started to minimize and finally demolish the discrimination against the disabled. Activities that bring the both counter parts together to “demolish the stigma.”

All of the speakers highlighted the seriousness of the area and the need to act soon.