My Email to Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" Regarding his Dec. 2, 2007 Report on Christians
in Iraq

Eunice Bet-Mansour

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Dear Mr. Pelley,

I am Assyrian and as a concerned Assyrian I watched with interest and anticipation your 60 Minutes report on Sunday, Dec. 2nd, on Christians in Iraq.

I was, however, deeply disappointed by the scope of your report and perplexed as to its objective. First, there is no mention in your report of the ethnic identification of Iraqi Christians as Assyrians/Chaldeans (heretofore, "Assyrian")-- I find this baffling. Second, there is no discussion of the long historical presence of Assyrians in Iraq. Third, there is no discussion of the Assyrian Nestorian church and its patriarchy nor any discussion of the Assyrian Roman Catholic church and its patriarchy. Fourth, your profile of the religious leader of the community in Iraq is that of an English Anglican chaplain without any concurrent profiles of Assyrian priests and monks; only highlighting the efforts of a foreign religious leader while ignoring the efforts of the local Assyrian religious and secular leaders in maintaining this community is a disservice to Iraqi Assyrians. Fifth, there is no discussion of the historical, cultural and political aspects of the presence of Assyrians in Iraq which give an important dimension to the current purge.

I would really appreciate it if you enlighten me as to the purpose of the report. Perhaps then I will understand why your report ignored some of the most critically important aspects of the "story" of Christians in Iraq, highlighted above.

Thanks & regards,
Eunice Bet-Mansour

http://hereasthere.blogspot.com/