The struggle for land, resources and control along a northern strip that has become known as the fault line is festering and threatening hopes of unity among Iraq’s disparate ethnic and religious factions.
“We have three governments up here: the central government, the Kurdish government and the Islamic State of Iraq government,” said an Iraqi soldier from Khazna who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “We are lost in the middle.”
The central government is trying to push back an expansionist Kurdistan regional government; Sunni Arab leaders have old and new scores to settle with Kurdish leaders; and insurgents linked to Saddam Hussein’s ousted government and Al Qaeda want to foment conflict. All sides appear to be retrenching, shunning compromise or buying time as the withdrawal of American forces looms. Villages like Khazna and minorities like theShabaks who live on this fault line continue to pay the heaviest price.
What is missing from this article is any reference to Iraq’s Christian minority. There are substantial Christian communities in the north: Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean and Chaldean Catholic. Some towns eg Kharkosh are largely Christian. Christians have come under pressure from the Kurds who perceive them as Arabs – and indeed, they are Arabic speakers. The Kurds want to make their region more homogeneous, hence attacks and kidnappings of Christians are a real problem, as Christians are particularly vulnerable. The Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Mosul was among those killed. Sad that the article does not mention them at all. They are people of ancient faith whose forebears were evangelised in the first centuries after Christ and never apostasized. There have been calls, particularly from the Orthodox, for the creation of an autonomous Christian region. What to do? As our elected representatives to make sure that no Kurdish autonmous region is approved unless there are cast-iron safeguards for Christian and other minorities.