Al Jazeera’s (R)Evolution?

Here’s a study I was pleased to contribute to a new-ish e-zine called Jadaliyya which focuses on Arab affairs.

by Vivian Salama

Jadaliyya (click here for original link)

In March of 2011, an unusually forthright editorial by an anonymous writer made its way into The Peninsula Qatar, an English language daily bankrolled by a member of the emirate’s ruling family. At the time of publication, protesters had already toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, uprisings were in full swing in Libya and Yemen, and in the Persian Gulf, Bahrainis were gearing up for what would prove to be a bloody battle, only days after the op-ed ran.

“Businesses and institutions are treated as ‘holy cows,’” the author wrote in the editorial, entitled “Why are we so timid?”

“What essentially ails the Qatari media (English and Arabic-language newspapers) is the absence of a comprehensive law that specifies its role in a clear-cut way and seeks to protect it against the people and interests opposed to free expression or those who cannot appreciate criticism,” the op-ed read.

It was at about the same time that this editorial ran that Al-Jazeera Arabic, the renowned television network that essentially put Qatar on the map, started facing a dilemma. The network has found it increasingly difficult to distance itself from the growing political ambitions of its patron, Qatar, particularly as it is kept alive by the one hundred million dollars it receives annually from the Qatari government. Moreover, the wave of information now available to the masses via the Internet and satellite television has exposed the gaps in its reporting of issues that do not fall in line with the government’s agenda, while also highlighting its biases in the various uprisings. (more…)

Gulf Rulers Welcoming Arab Democracy Anywhere But Home May Store Up Unrest

By Alaa Shahine and Vivian Salama

Bloomberg (click here to view original)

Persian Gulf rulers say they understand that this year’s wave of pro-democracy uprisings has changed the Middle East. So far, they haven’t allowed it to change their own countries.

(l to r) Bin Ali, Saleh, Qaddafi, Mubarak

None of the region’s monarchies has taken steps to broaden political participation that match the spending pledges they have offered since the start of the unrest that toppled Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali andEgypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Instead, the rhetoric about a new era in the Arab world, and the cash handouts for homes and social security, have been accompanied by police repression.Protests have already reached Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the eastern province of Saudi Arabia this year. The reluctance of the Gulf Arab leaders, who control about two-fifths of the world’s oil, to loosen their grip on power may leave more of them vulnerable to the wave of unrest that has already pushed crude prices up more than 20 percent.“What we have learned from the uprisings in general, and from Tunisia and Egypt in particular, is that it’s really a matter of when,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, in a telephone interview. “Autocracies don’t last forever.”Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah told Arab counterparts in Cairo last month that regional leaders need “new thinking” to deal with the “Arab renaissance.” In Abu Dhabi, then-GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said that “political participation has become a key demand for development.”

‘Hydrocarbon Dictatorships’

Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, said in February that change was coming to the region and that Europe shouldn’t support “hydrocarbon dictatorships” in return for economic benefits, according to Al Sharq newspaper. He didn’t say which countries fall into that category.Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the other three Gulf Cooperation Council members are listed as authoritarian regimes in the 2010 Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit.The region’s leaders must convert ideas about change into concrete steps that will “improve the relationship between the state and the people,” said Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. “We have to change words into actions, actions that are arduous,” he said in a lecture in Abu Dhabi March 21.Some countries have begun to act. Sultan Qaboos of Oman agreed last month to boost the powers of the nation’s consultative council; the United Arab Emirates announced Sept. 24 elections to the Federal National Council, an advisory body; Saudi Arabia said it will hold municipal elections in September, while backtracking from earlier signals that women would be allowed to vote.

Saudi ‘Counter-Revolution’

Those measures, though, don’t involve real transfers of power, Hamid said. Repression has been a more typical response, with Saudi Arabia as “the leader of the Arab counter- revolution,” he said. “They are fighting change tooth and nail.”Saudi Arabia’s Information Ministry declined to comment and no one was available to comment at the Saudi Foreign Ministry or the U.A.E.’s federal government or Federal National Council, in response to repeated phone calls over two days.The prospect of unrest spreading to the world’s biggest oil exporter drove the benchmark Saudi stock index into a 13-day losing streak through March 5, the longest since 1996. Crude for May delivery rose above $112 a barrel last week, the highest since September 2008.

‘Not Very Worried’

The political upheaval in the Middle East has left markets “pricing in an element of uncertainty,” said Arthur Hanna, an industry managing director at Accenture Plc.Saudi oil wealth will help it escape the wave of unrest even though unemployment is high and civil rights limited, said Kai Stukenbrock of Standard & Poor’s. “We are not very worried about that scenario,” Stukenbrock, S&P’s director of sovereign ratings for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said March 7.Simon Henry, chief financial officer at Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), also backed the kingdom to navigate through the political tensions. “It has the resources, it has the established capability to handle some of the unrest it may face,” Henry said on March 8.One risk to Saudi stability is the succession to King Abdullah, who turns 87 this year, Henry said. Crown Prince Sultan is also in his 80s. Next in line is Prince Nayef, the septuagenarian interior minister who filled central Riyadh with police to block a planned demonstration March 11, after rallies by Shiite Muslims in the oil-producing eastern provinces.

Bahrain Crackdown

Saudi rulers offered asylum to Ben Ali, backed Mubarak before his ouster, and sent troops to Bahrain to support a crackdown by Sunni royals that has left more than 20 protesters dead, mostly from the country’s Shiite majority.The violence in Bahrain showed unrest can be expensive even when it doesn’t lead to regime change. It pushed borrowing costs more than 150 basis points higher and Bahrain’s credit rating at Standard & Poor’s three steps lower, and dented efforts to compete with Dubai as the region’s business hub.Qatar and the U.A.E. both sent troops to Bahrain to help the government quell protests. InLibya, they are on the opposition’s side, backing a U.S.-led military campaign to help the rebels fighting Muammar Qaddafi. Qatar will “look at” the possibility of providing defense equipment to the insurgents, Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim Al-Thani said yesterday.

‘Digging In Heels’

Dubai police on April 8 arrested Ahmed Mansour, a human rights campaigner, promptingHuman Rights Watch to criticize the U.A.E. for “digging in its heels” against democratic reforms. Two more activists, including an economics professor at the Abu Dhabi branch of France’s Sorbonne university, were arrested in the next two days. In Oman, two people have been killed as police broke up protest rallies.Saudi Arabia has also led the spending spree. King Abdullah ordered $128 billion of measures, including $90 billion on house-building and home loans, that will help the economy grow 6.6 percent this year, Standard Chartered Plc estimates.“The enormity of the stimulus package will help the region overall,” as it’s too much for the Saudi economy to absorb alone, and reduce the risk of civil unrest, Said Hirsh at London-based Capital Economics said in a March 21 report.GCC spending is another reason to expect high oil prices, according to John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Bank Saudi Fransi. Saudi Arabia needs a price of at least $80 per barrel, higher than previous breakeven figures, to finance its budget, he calculated.

‘Money Lying Around’

The GCC has promised $10 billion apiece to Bahrain and Oman to help assuage protesters. The U.A.E. allocated $1.6 billion for water and infrastructure projects in northern emirates that lag behind Dubai and Abu Dhabi.Spending conceived as a way of avoiding political change may end up fuelling popular demands, said Christopher Davidson, author of “Power and Politics in the Persian Gulf Monarchies.”

“You have the people in Saudi Arabia, for example, now asking: ‘If all that money was lying around all this time, why wasn’t it used on us earlier?’,” Davidson said. “These rulers are just reacting to the events around them, and their citizens know it.”

Open Letter to President-Elect Obama from the Political Council for the Iraqi Resistance

This is an interesting letter from the Political Council for the Iraqi Resistance, an Iraqi insurgent “political” coalition comprising of six major Sunni militant groups.  

It has been interesting to track the various online responses by militant groups to the elections and it is something I will be looking at quite closely in the coming weeks. 

—–

An Open Letter: To Barak Obama the new president of the United States of America 

We should put in front of you some points for the new American administration to benefit from and to use to avoid the mistakes that the old administration fell into: 

I- The reason why you won the presidency is not because the Americans suddenly found out that they should not be racist, it is because of the many mistakes that the Bush administration fell under which didn’t leave for the American citizen any room, not even for a second to think about keeping that administration and the least proof for this is the large numbers of votes against them. 

II- Your campaign promises were built on change and the time for it has come, and we say with that the time has come- the destruction that the previous administration caused for our country from killings, displacement, civil war and racism- has damaged your reputation as American people and it damaged elements of a nation that did not attack you by your own recognition and therefore we ask for change and do not listen to those who tell you that a withdrawal from Iraq is a defeat. We say to you that a withdrawal will mean a triumph of reason and logic. 

III- The vast number of people who have voted for you means that you can take your actions with courage. The disarray of those before you hurt the American people before anyone else, Allah swt has told us in his righteous book that he created man to get to know each other not for one to kill the other O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). 

IV- We are a country known for its courage and generosity and our good treatment to strangers. Whoever is good to us we are good to him more than he is good to us, and whoever attacks us he will find from us no mercy, so what do you think we will do to an invader who tampered with our religion and our country, its destiny, security and unity? 

V- To surround our countries security by making agreements with others around us to accomplish your interests and their interests at the expense of the interests of our people will have serious consequences. It is up to you not to try this and not to solve your problems with others at our expense and you should understand this. 

VI- We will be flexible in dealing with your withdrawal but it must not be as part of a security deal with parties that are traitors or a made up government. You must correct your mistakes and work with courage to pay compensation to all those who you have destroyed, their families or their house or their psychology. And you must release all those you have as prisoners until the last Iraqi of them, and you must order the sectarian government to release all its prisoners and to return the balance of security to Iraq. Without this we will not think that you will be coming with the change that you have promised, and if you do this you will be written down in history as the courageous one. 

And finally we in the resistance are staying on our promise to liberate our country and we will not tear from this, the history of our grandparents is the best witness and we will be the best next of kin to that kin in protecting the sanctity of our nation

– PCIR

The Cost of Major U.S. Wars

I stumbled upon this report today and found it really interesting, particularly given the state of the US economy these days.  It is mind boggling to think how much money President Bush and his father spent alone on warfare —- all the while, the economy took a hit during both presidencies.  It is high time America stopped trying to fix the world and started working to fix itself!  

 

Costs of Major U.S. Wars 

Stephen Daggett - Specialist in Defense Policy and Budgets 

Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 

 

 

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress has appropriated more than $800 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere around the world, including $65 billion to cover costs for the first few months of FY2009. Almost as soon as the next Administration takes office, the military services are expected to submit requests for additional funds — quite possibly $100 billion or more — to cover costs of overseas operations and of repairing and replacing worn equipment through the remainder of the fiscal year. In the face of these rather substantial and growing amounts, a recurring question has been how the mounting costs of the nation’s current wars compare to the costs of earlier conflicts.

Click here to read more

US military says it accidentally killed 9 Iraqi civilians in raid south of Baghdad

WHAT A MESS!!!!

US military says it accidentally killed 9 Iraqi civilians in raid south of Baghdad

By LAUREN FRAYER

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military said Monday that it had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq — the deadliest known case of mistaken identity in recent months.

The civilians were killed Saturday near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the Iraqi capital, U.S. Navy Lt. Patrick Evans told The Associated Press. Three wounded civilians were taken to U.S. military hospitals nearby, he said.

Evans did not give details about exactly how the people died, but said the killings occurred as U.S. forces pursued suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants. The incident is under investigation, he said.

Iraqi police said the victims, including two women, were in two houses in the village of Tal al-Samar, which was bombed by American warplanes late Saturday. They were all Sunni members of the al-Ghrir tribe, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The U.S. airstrike occurred after an American convoy came under enemy fire in Tal al-Samar and soldiers called for air support, the Iraqi officer said.

Shortly after the incident, American officers met with a Muslim sheik representing citizens in the area, Evans said.

“We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life,” he said in a statement e-mailed to the AP.

In November, a leader of one of the so-called awakening councils — groups of Sunni tribesmen allied with American forces who are fighting to oust al-Qaida from their hometowns — said U.S. soldiers killed dozens of his fighters during a 12-hour battle north of Baghdad.

The leader, Mansour Abid Salim of the Taji Awakening Council, accused American troops of mistaking his men for militants. The U.S. military admitted killing 25 men, but said they were insurgents operating “in the target area” where al-Qaida was believed to be hiding.

The U.S. military investigated that incident, but the two versions of events were never reconciled.

A month later, the U.S. military said its forces accidentally killed two people during a raid in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, and that one of them was later revealed to be an awakening council member.

Iraq death toll ‘over one million’

Um…. hello?  Genocide?

from Al-Jazeera

More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict started by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to a new survey by a UK polling group.

 

The report was followed by more violence on Thursday, with five people killed and eight injured in a bomb blast in the Kazimiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

 

The survey, conducted by UK-based Opinion Research Business (ORB), found that 20 per cent of people in Iraq had experienced at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.

 

The survey consisted of face-to-face interviews with 2,414 adults.

 

The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997 found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war.

 

The margin of error in the survey, conducted in August and September 2007, was 1.7 per cent, giving a range of deaths from 946,258 to 1.12 million people. The research covered 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces.

 

Those missing from the survey included two of Iraq’s more dangerous regions, Kerbala and Anbar, and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused the group a permit to work.

 

Tallys of civilians killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion have been controversial in the past.

 

The Iraq Body Count website estimates the number is under one million, but upwards of between 80,699 and 88,126 people, although US authorities have questioned the site’s methodology and figures.

Baghdad blast 

Those people killed and injured in Thursday’s car bomb attack in Baghdad were passers-by in the street or in three cars that were damaged as they drove past the explosion, the Reuters news agency reported.

 

An Iraqi police officer, said the car was parked about 300 metres from a bus station but it exploded early in the day before passengers had started to arrive.

 

In another attack in Iraq, rockets slammed into a British base in Basra, in southern Iraq, killing at least 10 Iraqis outside the base and wounding three British soldiers.

 

Captain Finn Aldrich, a British military spokesman in Basra, said no major damage was reported on the base, but one of the rockets landed outside the entry gates for Iraqi civilian employees.

 

British troops retaliated, firing six artillery shells towards the launching points, Aldrich said.

Major Rafea al-Ajwadi, a Basra police chief, said the British artillery fire had hit a construction company, killing one employee and wounding five others.

 Aldrich said joint British-Iraqi investigation was under way to determine whether the casualties found at the site of the artillery strikes were civilians or fighters, as well as other details about the attack.

Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

SO sad, but not surprising!!! 

January 13, 2008

War Torn

NEW YORK TIMES  

By DEBORAH SONTAG and LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”

Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.

“Matthew knew he shouldn’t be taking his AK-47 to the 7-Eleven,” Detective Laura Andersen said, “but he was scared to death in that neighborhood, he was military trained and, in his mind, he needed the weapon to protect himself.”

Head bowed, Mr. Sepi scurried down an alley, ignoring shouts about trespassing on gang turf. A battle-weary grenadier who was still legally under-age, he paid a stranger to buy him two tall cans of beer, his self-prescribed treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Mr. Sepi started home, two gang members, both large and both armed, stepped out of the darkness. Mr. Sepi said in an interview that he spied the butt of a gun, heard a boom, saw a flash and “just snapped.”

In the end, one gang member lay dead, bleeding onto the pavement. The other was wounded. And Mr. Sepi fled, “breaking contact” with the enemy, as he later described it. With his rifle raised, he crept home, loaded 180 rounds of ammunition into his car and drove until police lights flashed behind him.

 “Who did I take fire from?” he asked urgently. Wearing his Army camouflage pants, the diminutive young man said he had been ambushed and then instinctively “engaged the targets.” He shook. He also cried.

“I felt very bad for him,” Detective Andersen said.

Nonetheless, Mr. Sepi was booked, and a local newspaper soon reported: “Iraq veteran arrested in killing.”

Town by town across the country, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: “Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.” Pierre, S.D.: “Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.” Colorado Springs: “Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.”

Individually, these are stories of local crimes, gut-wrenching postscripts to the war for the military men, their victims and their communities. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Kurdish Minister Says Turkey’s Attacks Are Self-Defeating

by Vivian Salama

PostGlobal – WashingtonPost.com

The Turkish military has stepped up attacks against Kurdish rebels hiding in the mountains of Northern Iraq. Warplanes have carried out a number of cross-border raids to target the thousands of militants whom the military suspects are taking shelter in the predominantly Kurdish part of Iraq. In response to the bombings’ displacement of numerous Kurdish Iraqi families, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the government to pay one million dinars (approximately US$ 815).The strikes followed an agreement between the United States and Turkey to share intelligence on the activities of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which was labeled a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States. The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – an important U.S. ally – has lobbied in Washington and Ankara against a military incursion. The escalating situation in Northern Iraq is expected to dominate the agenda when President George W. Bush hosts Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul at the White House on Jan. 8.Kurdish officials condemn Turkey’s attacks, saying they have done little to quell PKK activities and have only delayed a viable solution. Meanwhile, a PKK leader in Northern Iraq has vowed to take his people’s battle for autonomy deep within Turkey’s borders.

Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the KRG, says the attacks are a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He spoke to Vivian Salama from Irbil on December 31st.

Excerpts:

Vivian Salama: At least three hundred Turkish commandos have reportedly raided Northern Iraq. What is the official response to this by the Regional Government of Kurdistan?

Falah Mustafa Bakir: The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq demands that Turkey end immediately its military actions in Iraq. The entire political leadership of Iraq — Arabs and Kurds — is united in condemning Turkey’s attack on our territory, which is in violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Turkish forces should not be operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Military action moves us farther away from a solution, not closer.

Information that emerged last week suggests that President Bush may have made a deal with President Erdogan during his Nov. 5 visit to Washington, under which the Turks would get a green light to attack PKK bases. You have repeatedly made reference to Kurdistan’s strong ties with the United States. What is your reaction to this information? Were you aware of such an agreement?

The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq counts itself among America’s best friends and allies in Iraq and the Middle East. I do not know about a “green light,” but we were aware of the widely reported agreement between the United States and Turkey regarding intelligence-sharing about the PKK.

Washington should understand the dangerous precedent and negative consequences of allowing Turkey, or any of Iraq’s neighbors, to take military action in Iraqi territory. We are appealing formally to the United States — as a close friend of the KRG, Iraq, and Turkey — to use its good offices to demand an immediate end to Turkish military action and to support a peaceful diplomatic solution to this long-running conflict. The U.S. has an important role to play in protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iraq and in bringing all parties to the table to seek a peaceful solution.

Kurdish officials have traveled to Ankara in an attempt to dissuade Turkey from taking such actions. Still, Turkey went ahead with the raids. What does this tell you about Turkey’s willingness to cooperate with the KRG?

The KRG does not support the PKK in any way, and therefore our territory and our people should not be accountable for PKK violence against Turkish citizens and soldiers. Indeed, we have condemned these acts of violence by the PKK. Furthermore, the KRG, both publicly and privately, has made clear that it is ready to work with Turkey on a comprehensive political solution to the problem of the PKK. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has formally offered talks with Ankara in a multi-lateral context — that is, including Turkey, US, and Iraqi officials. You would have to ask Turkish officials why they spurn KRG offers of dialogue and cooperation on the PKK and other issues, and instead resort to military force against our region of Iraq. Despite recent Turkish actions, we still are open to a political solution and willing to sit down at any time and in any place to seek a peaceful solution. It is not too late for diplomacy to succeed.

How do you think such a move by Turkey will impact the (in)stability in greater Iraq, if at all?

Turkey’s actions will only hinder efforts toward stability and national reconciliation in Iraq. This is a delicate time in Iraqi politics, with some progress being made with regard to security. The Kurdistan Region has so far been free of the sectarian violence that has consumed much of the rest of the country. The KRG’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law should be seen as a model for the rest of Iraq. An attack on our region threatens the stability and progress not only of the Kurdistan Region, but of all of Iraq. We hope the Turkish authorities will understand that these attacks will only make the situation worse for all concerned. We want peaceful and productive relations with all our neighbors, especially Turkey, and we are willing to work with them to bring stability to our common border.

What, in your belief, is the solution to the PKK-Turkey issue?

The long-term solution to the PKK problem is political, not military. It is connected to the larger issue of the role of the Kurds in Turkish politics. There has been some progress on the Kurdish issue by the current government in Turkey, but more needs to be done. We hope that Turkey will come to realize this, and that it will also understand that we in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq pose no threat to anyone. Our stability and progress should be seen by all our neighbors as a positive development.

The Other Christmas Rush Is Christians Fleeing Arabia

 As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts!

By Vivian Salama

Newsweek

Jan 14, 2008 Issue 

Christmas is usually a time to celebrate the arrival of Christians in the Holy Land. But this year, as Patriarch Michel Sabbah of the Latin Rite Catholic Church revealed during his Christmas sermon in Bethlehem, local leaders are currently concerned with the opposite phenomenon: exodus. Speaking to the legions of Arab Christians fleeing the region, Sabbah said, “I say to you what Jesus told us: do not be afraid.”But there’s reason to be. Last year, dozens of Christians were slain in Iraq and a Syriac Orthodox priest was beheaded in Mosul. Two prominent Christian Palestinians were recently killed in Gaza. A political stalemate in Lebanon and the increased dominance of Shiite Hizbullah has made Maronites fear their traditional perks, like control of the presidency, are slipping. Even in Egypt, where religion has played little role in government, Christians now worry that the increasing popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood could lead to new restrictions.

Thus many are voting with their feet. There are now just 12 million to 15 million Arabic-speaking Christians left in the Middle East, and this could drop to 6 million by 2025. Countries are being transformed: in 1956, Lebanese Christians made up 54 percent of the country; today they’re about 30 percent. Iraq’s Christian population has fallen from 1.4 million in 1987 to 600,000 today. And Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was 80 percent Christian when Israel won independence in 1948; now it’s 16 percent. Fred Strickert of Wartburg College estimates that hundreds of thousands of Christian Arabs have been displaced in the recent years, including half a million from Iraq alone. Christian Arabs emigration isn’t new. But according to Drew Christiansen, editor of America Magazine, the tide has increased since the second intifada in the Palestinian territories and the Iraq War. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute says most Christians chose to relocate to Europe and the Americas. Some 75 percent of the United States’ 3.5 million Middle Easterners are Christian, as are large slices in Canada, France, and Brazil. Many new exiles hope to relocate to the United States: no small irony given that the instability they’re fleeing was set in motion by the United States itself.

With the exodus, ancient practices and cultures are being lost, and Middle Eastern Christians risk eventually being “amalgamated into Western Christianity,” says Christiansen. The result will be “a dilution of the diversity of Christian traditions.” But given the life or death choices many Arab Christian emigrants now face, that looks like a small price to pay.

Controversy over Extending South Korean Troop Deployment in Iraq

Just a quick bit of news I received from sources in Seoul, South Korea:

 South Korea‘s Defense Ministry submitted a bill Monday to the National Assembly on extending the country’s troop deployment in Iraq for another year, an official said. The extension plan — which also would downsize South Korea’s deployment by half from the current 1,200 soldiers — is to be referred to the parliament’s defense committee before all lawmakers vote on final approval, said Shim Jung-hee, a parliament official. 

The official name of the Korean troops is “Iraq Peace and Reconstruction Division.” It is also known as Zaytun Division, with “Zaytun” meaning olive, which symbolizes peace, in Arabic. Zaytun Division has been at the center of fierce public disputes between the opponents and the proponents since the very beginning when the Korean government first reviewed dispatching of the troops to Iraq.

The fundamental argument of those who opposed the deployment was that Korea cannot simply send its young people to the deadly country mired in a war triggered by the United States without a clear justification. When the public dissent increased sharply, the government held the deployment and farewell ceremonies unofficially and the troops were secretly sent off to Iraq via Seoul Airport in Seongnam. Students and civic groups opposing the deployment criticized the government and held protests, clashing with the police in front of the airport.  

The Korean government has extended the operation of the Korean troops in Iraq three times thus far, and decided at the security policy meeting at Cheongwadae on October 19 to extend it once again by one year, which would mark the fourth extension. The government cited ROK-US alliance and participation of the Korean companies in Iraqi oil field development and reconstruction as the reasons behind the decision.