sending 20,000 soldiers and Marines to join roughly 130,000 US troops already serving in Iraq.
"If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home," Bush said in a televised address to the nation. Most will go to Baghdad to fight alongside Iraqi forces, while the rest leaves for Anbar Province in the west, which Bush said has become a haven of operations for al-Qaida terrorists.
Several Republican and especially Democratic senators have questioned the move and it was unclear how it would impact security for Iraq’s embattled Christian minority.
Stefan de Groot, who works in Iraq for Netherlands-based Christian rights group Open Doors, said the apparent anarchy in cities such as Baghdad and Mosul have made Christians pessimistic. "Almost nobody sees a future full of roses," he told BosNewsLife in a statement.
HUMAN HEART
"I always meet a man in Mosul who tells me the situation further deteriorated since the last time I visited the area," De Groot explained. He said he learned from a Christian that his wife had to buy new clothing after a wardrobe was hit by bullets during nearby street fighting. Another person reportedly told him that following a bomb explosion his young son fled to a school building only to discover a human heart, apparently because of the blast’s impact.
De Groot said Christians are in the cross fire of four groups, including Sunni Muslim rebels of late leader Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, Sunnis active for the al-Qaida network, Shiite Muslim militants and separate crime groups. "All of these groups have reasons to kidnap and even kill Christians. In most cases the main motive is money as Christians in many cases are belonging to Iraq’s middle class and often have their own businesses," De Groot claimed.
He said Christians are also targeted because they do not have an armed militia prepared to carry out revenge attacks. In addition, "extremist Muslims want to spread Islam and/or force Christians out of their cities," De Groot added.
Following controversial statements by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam and the publication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, attacks extended to churches, according to human rights investigators. "Attacks against churches only started in 2006 after the cartoon riots and the pope’s statements," De Groot said.
FEWER CHRISTIANS
The number of people visiting churches dropped dramatically because of the violence after it initially peaked followin the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In 1991 roughly 900,000 Christians lived in Iraq, now only 450,000, according to Open Doors and other estimates.
While many Christians left in the 1990’s a new exodus began in 2006, tChristian investigators and churches said.
Despite the apparent bloodshed, Open Doors Netherlands and other groups have reported a
growing interest in Christianity. Open Doors said it plans to distribute 45,000 Christian books in 2006 as well as educating 400 Christians and spending $161,000 on social-economic said.
“The sales of Christian books is up and people buy mainly Christian literature for children and study materials," said De Groot. In addition Open Doors distributed tens of thousands of Bibles and other Christian books in 2006, he added. "The distribution of Bibles has remained unchanged," but there is also a growing demand for Christian study materials, he noted.
"GOD WORKS"
De Groot stressed that "God works in the middle" of Iraq’s violence. "I know of an Islamic taxi driver who drove to Mosul after dropping off a Christian. However the man forgot his Christian chain," apparently with a cross sign, he explained.
"The taxi driver put the chain around his neck and was soon stopped by armed militants. They asked him if he was a Sunni or a Shiite Muslim. Fearful of giving the ‘wrong’ answer and being killed, the taxi driver told them he was a Christian, showing off his chain," said De Groot.
"The men laughed and said: "We don’t believe you, but continue your journey." When the taxi returned home he shouted to his wife: "Jesus saved my life!" He has been a Christian ever since."
