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Letter for Iraq’s indigenous Christian Assyrians

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr. Ayoub
Date: Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 2:20 PM
Subject: RE: Fwd: 19 US Representatives are Listening to You to be POSTED on NOOIC www.nooic.org
To: Tahrir Kalasho <tkalasho@gmail.com>, Anthony Keith <AKeith@libertyfta.com>
 

                                                                                                                                                            October 27, 2011

Dear President Obama:

Dear Representative Levin:

Dear Senator Levin:

Dear Senator Stabenow:

Iraq’s indigenous Christian Assyrians, including Chaldeans and Syriacs, have been plunged into a situation of violence in the wake of the Iraq War that today threatens their very ability to survive in Iraq. Over 600,000 Assyrians, more than half of their pre-war population of 1.2 million, have fled the country. Assyrians are targeted for their Christian faith and their indigenous ethnicity. Islamist extremists persecute Assyrians in the most violent ways, as witnessed by the All Saints’ Day massacre of (58) Assyrians during Mass in October last year. The Kurdistan Regional Government discriminates against Assyrians as an indigenous people whose basic rights are a threat to the KRG’s aims of territorial expansion.

The type of oppression Assyrians are enduring is truly ‘ethno-religious’ and requires urgent United States intervention in the form of a comprehensive policy to ensure their continued survival in Iraq, particularly in the Nineveh Plains, the heart of their ancestral homeland. The preservation of Assyrians in Iraq is critical to American interests in seeing a thriving democracy in Iraq. As the fourth largest demographic in Iraq, Assyrians can play an important moderating force in the current political struggles between Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. However, their disappearance from Iraq would suggest ongoing persecution of minorities and motivate ongoing instability as these larger groups vie for power.

While the State Department is attempting to manage a complex diplomatic situation in Iraq, the reality is that the State Department has failed to respond adequately to the crisis that is quickly reaching the tipping point of full exodus. In fact, the State Department has failed to implement the past wishes of Congress in regards to preserving Iraq’s vulnerable ethno-religious minorities.

In response to this inaction, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Report on the State and Foreign Operations Appropriation for 2012 responds to this urgent need for a policy, directing the Department of State to submit a report “detailing U.S. efforts to help these communities, including assistance consistent with Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution; assistance in building an indigenous community police force in the Ninevah Plains; and efforts to support NGOs in the region."

I ask you to support this policy language as part of the final language for the 2012 State and Foreign Operations Appropriation Act. Passage of this language is critical to establishing the survival of Assyrians as an important component of American policy in Iraq. This language would help promote economic development, security, and potentially, explore and enable viable political representation through the implementation of Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution. Assyrians at home and throughout the international Diaspora hope that Article 125 could be the legal vehicle by which to create a province in the Nineveh Plains. Such a province would allow Assyrians to share control of local resources in proportions to their numbers with Arabs, Kurds, and other minorities. Given the lack of security and opportunity in the country generally, this shared local control in the land they have occupied since an ancient time is essential to stabilizing the population in Iraq.

However, sufficient resources must be allocated to demonstrate this policy is a high priority for United States. Not less than $75 million of the $681 million already allocated to Iraq should be targeted to support this report language. This budget neutral reallocation is proportional to the need that simply has not been adequately addressed since the beginning of the Iraq War. At least $75 million would be required to have a meaningful impact on stabilizing the Assyrian community in Iraq. And yet, at 11% of the total budget for Iraq and 25% of non-military development spending, such a reallocation would still preserve significant resources for other priorities. Moreover, reallocating such funds would send an important signal to our partners in the Government of Iraq that the survival of Assyrians in Iraq is of vital American interest.

Given the Department of State’s prior years of neglect of vulnerable Iraqi ethno-religious minorities, please ensure this proposed Senate policy is fully implemented.

Sincerely,

Dr. David, Y. Ayoub/President of

 Iraqis Media Cultural Center/USA.

32525 Mound Road, Warren, MI 48092

(586)275-5303