Assyrians: Iraq's Overlooked Victims

www.jacksonville.com

December 2, 06

Carrie McDonnall recalls her ordeal in vivid detail - the hail of bullets, the searing pain, the gushing of blood, the grisly sight of her own disfigured hand.

And the lifeless bodies.

But most of all, she remembers the heroism of her husband David - and her immense relief when she learned that he was OK.

Except that he wasn't.

Here's what happened, piecing together accounts in Christianity Today, the Baptist Press and the Christian Broadcasting Network:

The couple had been involved in various humanitarian causes while on a missions trip to Iraq.

On that fateful day, they were working near Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

That afternoon, they got into a vehicle with three others, planning to return to the safety of Kurd-held regions before nightfall.

Suddenly, Carrie felt something hit her face. Then came the pain. And the unmistakable sounds of automatic gunfire.

A flurry of bullets riddled the vehicle.

Carrie glanced down at her left hand. It was drenched in blood, with most of three fingers missing and the bone exposed.

She looked at a companion, who stopped breathing.

Suddenly, there was the sound of her husband's voice - asking if she was OK, assuring her that he hadn't been hit and saying to stay down. He called for help - and it came.

Someone pulled her into a taxi, and she was whisked away to a hospital. Before her surgery, she was assured that David would be fine.

Carrie woke up eight days, and several surgeries, later in a Dallas hospital - and was given the bad news.

David had been shot in the chest - and had died en route to a hospital.

She was the only survivor.

This, sadly, is a common story.

When Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, the Christian minority - mostly Chaldean and Assyrian groups - lived in peace with Shiite and Sunni Muslims alike.

No more. As lawlessness spread after his demise, Christians were targeted.

A priest was beheaded recently in Mosul, for example, according to the International Herald Tribune.

There were coordinated car bomb attacks on six churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk in January, The Miami Herald reports, and six others, in Baghdad and Mosul, on another occasion.

Christian women have been raped - or, in other cases, acid thrown on their faces for not wearing a veil.

The Herald Tribune says the 1987 Iraqi census showed 1.4 million Christians lived there. Estimates vary but most sources say half have fled the country.

And this isn't just an Iraqi problem. The Herald says neighboring Iran's population has doubled over the past quarter of a century but, under its harsh Islamic regime, the Christian population has plummeted from 300,000 to 100,000.

The Iraqi experience shows us that overthrowing a dictator doesn't necessarily make things better, at least not in all respects.

It also shows us that the diversity so highly valued in the Western world is not often followed in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, the Iranian experience seems to indicate inaction isn't necessarily a better option.

For those who try to do good deeds, this can be a difficult, dangerous world.