Iraq: "...conditions for Christians there have worsened"

Long/interesting article about Iraqi Christmas traditions. Iraqi Christians in the US saying that things have gotten worse over there for Christians there since we invaded.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/1223dnmetchaldean.191c4503.html

The Chaldean people, who now live mostly in northern Iraq, trace their ancestry back 8,000 years. They are mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Hammurabi was Chaldean, as was Nebuchadnezzar. Chaldeans began converting to Christianity before the middle of the first century. They're now aligned with the Roman Catholic Church.

Some of the Christmas traditions they found here were familiar – Iraqi Christians, like their American counterparts, put up Christmas trees and attend midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

But the holiday was more austere in Iraq, the Dawoods recall. Because Chaldeans are a minority in an Arab country, there are few public expressions of the holiday there. And to the Chaldeans, Christmas is of less importance than Easter.

<snip>

But he said that whatever the cultural differences, the Dawoods love their adopted home. Since Mr. Hussein's fall, Islamic militancy has increased in Iraq and conditions for Christians there have worsened, the couple said. "We enjoy the freedoms and the blessings here," Mr. Dawood said. "We enjoy that fact that there is no fear."

He got rid of the secular government under Saddam where Christians were part of the actual government.

and chimp has screwed people living there even more than we could probably imagine.

Found this on a military blog...locals begging to be paid/be employed to help clean up their cities. Chimpass needs to pry some of the $$$ away from his cronies' companies and give these guys a job to keep them out of trouble.


http://medicinesoldier.blogspot.com/2005/10/ramadan.html

On my microscopic level, we are able to get out on the ground and talk to the people and learn. We spoke with some men who served in Saddam's army and now are unemployed. They were concerned why they have to be unemployed when there is litter in the streets and poor sanitation and electricity. They are willing to work and there is work to be done in the towns. The interpreter explained to us about the mistrust and low-level corruption. "It's like mafia," he said. In talking to some others citizens, we were told that we (US/Coalition Forces) are not needed here in this town; they trust their local security forces (the Iraqi police and National Guard), but they are happy to see us and see that we care.

:sarcasm:

Easter is the holiest day on the Christian calendar. Christmas is a minor holy day; the early Church didn't even bother to record birth days as the day of death was the most important day in a person's life, and the death of Christ is the raison d'être for the Christian faith.