ChristianIraq.com, IL
March 21 2005

ChaldoAssyrians need Congress Too
Filed under: Christians Editorials- Gordon Lake @ 8:09 am

Observation by Gordon Lake

When Congress rushed back into session and the President flew back
to Washington for the sole purpose of keeping one person alive I was
impressed. And when they assured the media that this was not about
politics and this was not because Terri Schiavo was in the headlines,
the American inside of me wanted to believe.

I thought, if Congress cared this much about one life, then surely
they would care about millions of lives at risk in the minority and
Christian communities in Iraq.

Iraq’s ChaldoAssyrian Christians, Turkmen, Yazidi, Shabak and Armenians
are not headline names like Shiite, Sunni or Kurds, but as Congress
has pointed out, it’s not about headlines, it’s about life. And the
lives of Iraq’s minority communities are at risk.

Those communities are seeking a safe haven in Iraq where they can
determine the future of their children and stem the ethnic cleansing
that has already begun, causing ten of thousands to flee Iraq since
the fall of Saddam Hussein.

I want to believe that Congress cares as much about the lives of
millions on the back pages as it cares about the life of the one on
the front page.

I want to believe that this is not about adding an extra line to a
re-election campaign commercial, or using Terri Schiavo as a talking
point in a political debate. I hope this is not about turning this
woman’s situation and her family’s agony into a campaign button or
bumper sticker.

If this is real, if Congress and the White House really does have a
heart for human life even if it’s not in the headlines, then there is
a possibility that Congress will take a look at the struggles of Iraq’s
ChaldoAssyrian Christians, Turkmen, Yazidi, Shabak and Armenians.

If this is not real, it means we have all lived to see the day when
Congress and White House no longer governs this nation, the media does.