Vying for a Voice, Tribe in N. Iraq Feels Let Down

'We Thought You Guys Were Our Saviors,' Village Leader Tells U.S. Commander

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 27, 2005; Page A19

KHARSI, Iraq -- When the 101st Airborne first reached this remote village in Iraq's northwestern Sinjar Mountains in 2003, elderly Yazidi tribesmen were thrilled: Their ancient religious prophesy had come true.

"We believed that Jesus Christ was coming with a force from overseas to save us," said the village leader, Khalil Sadoon Haji Jundu, wrapping his gold-trimmed cloak around him against the morning chill. Scrawled behind him on the wall, images of U.S. helicopters and soldiers depicted the arrival of the blue-eyed fighters awaited by the Yazidi, an obscure sect of sun worshipers with roots in Zoroastrianism who have inhabited the valleys of the Sinjar range for centuries.

The Yazidi, sun worshipers who have lived in the valleys of Iraq's Sinjar Mountains for centuries, suffered under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Now they say their struggle for political and economic relief has been stymied by Kurdish parties. (By Ann Scott Tyson -- The Washington Post)

But more than two years later, as the Yazidis struggle for a political voice and an escape from the poverty they suffered during decades of oppression under President Saddam Hussein, tribesmen such as Jundu say they feel let down.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600717.html

Go figure. Messiahs have a way of doing that, perhaps because they're created by the people who are so desperate for their appearance in the first place. It has to be tough to be a Messiah!

These Tribesmen should get in line behind everyone else that is disenchanted with the Unites State's presence in Iraq. Take a number, please.