Thank you very much father for your visit to us were the pleased and encouraging words that are still ringing in my ears, and I think they will keep ringing for a long time, despite I heard them first before two weeks, exactly on the evening of Tuesday, 22^nd April 2003 in St. Mary Cathedral as I was to meet H.H. Mar Addai the second, Ancient Church Of The East patriarch whose office is beside the cathedral.

The people who said these words were a group of Christian Assyrians who happened them to be in the cathedral at the time of my visit and meeting with H.H. as a part of my schedule in my seven days short trip which I spent traveling from Dohuk to AlQush, Sharafiya, Telkaif, Nineveh, Kirkuk and Baghdad.

Many of the group were my old friends, many elite people and authors who I missed the dialogue and exchange of opinions with them for more than 12 years. A long time that leaves his signs of continuous stress and oppression on their faces, the same situation as with my self. In Iraq of Saddam Hussein you dont need to be personally in one of his dozens of hundreds of jails and unknown prisons to carry the signs and indicators of his oppression on your body.

Despite this continuous oppression and suffer I found them more optimistic and confident about future, indeed much more than we were before decades when we were as youth Assyrian people sharing discussions on the tables of Assyrian Cultural Club, Union Of Syriac Writers, Assyrian Patriotic Club, Youth Committees of the Churches and University Students activities in Baghdad in the decade of seventieth last century.

Today, we became wiser with more experience and with much more optimistic and confident feeling.

Of course, they ought to be more optimistic as the chaos of Saddam Hussein is removed. It is the common Iraqi dream that became a reality for all Iraqis in homeland and for most of them in Diaspora, one of them is me.

The visit to Iraq started with the noon of Great Friday 18^th April as I arrived with Mr. Terry Botros, an Assyrian activist and politician who resides in Germany for 15 years, and till Saturday 26^th as we crossed Tigris in our return to Germany via Syria.

We were the first Assyrian delegation to visit Iraq after been liberated.

This was my 10^th visit to North Iraq since 1995 when I resided in Germany, but it was the first visit to the other parts of Iraq which were controlled by the regime and was impossible for me to visit before April 2003 when the regime was toppled.

The goals of my visit were:

• To deliver the love and solidarity message to all Iraqi people, particularly to our beloved Christian Assyrian people in Iraq.
• To see closely the reality of the daily life of our people, his burdens at this critical time and his humanitarian needs.
• To see, hear and discuss closely the vision of our Christian Assyrian people to the Iraqi future, their place in it and their fears and concerns.
• To discuss the future role of CAPNI regarding its geographic area of operation, fields and sorts of programs needed, frame work and mechanism of the work besides the follow up of ongoing urgent relief program of CAPNI regarding the supplement of basic needs and medical services.

To achieve the goals mentioned, I tried to enrich the visit with as many as possible meetings and visits. Thanks Lord to help me able to carry the following in the short time of the trip:

• Visiting the displaced people from Baghdad and Kirkuk to Telkaif, Sharafiya and AlQush (all in the region of Nineveh plain nearby Mosul / photo on the right)
• Meeting the Church leaders and references:
  • H.H. Mar Addai the second, Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East
  • H.E. The Vatican ambassador to Iraq (photo on the right) 
  • H.G. Mar Toma Eramia, Archbishop of Ancient Church Of The East in Nineveh
  • H.G. Mar Andrews Sanna, Archbishop of Chaldean Church of The East in Kirkuk
  • H.G. Mar Sewriuos Hawa, Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Baghdad
  • H.G. Mar Mattai Mattuka, Archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad
  • H.G. Mar Isaac Yousif, Bishop of Assyrian Church of the East in North Iraq
  • Besides many of our brethren, the parish priests of different churches in different cities, towns and villages.
• Visit to hospitals in Baghdad
• Meetings with CAPNI
• Visit to many public sites and destructed buildings

The first thing you feel when you meet the Iraqis after war-liberation is that they have a mixed feelings of pleasure and happiness that you cant imagine and describe for the toppling of the regime, and the feeling of pain and suffer for the destruction they see happening for the public buildings and services. A destruction that was not because of the military operations of the allied forces, as these operations had specific military or semi-military targets and the facilities misused by the regime for military purposes. A destruction that was because and due to the looting that followed the topple of the regime on 9^th April in Baghdad. [photo: Iraqi Olympic Committee HQ (formerly directed by Udday Saddam Hussein), Baghdad)]

It is a clear fact to tell that Baghdad before 9^th April was not destructed in a measure that harms or effects the daily life circle and institutions of the normal people. It is the looting after 9^th April that almost damaged every single field and public facilities and offices including the health care services (hospitals, clinics, etc) and the education institutions (schools, universities, libraries, etc). I was told that even the patients beds were looted in many hospitals.

The same situation is for almost all other Iraqi big and main cities, e.g. Basrah, Mosul, Kirkuk, etc. We can be optimistic to believe that most of the destructed and looted stuff can be replaced by new one, but the great destruction and loss that happened to the Iraqi museums, libraries and manuscripts is a great loss for all humanity that cant be recovered for ever.

Assyrian people who suffered the worst under Saddams regime as they suffered the discrimination, ignorance and identity killing in their historical homeland, Mesopotamia the modern Iraq, are the great losers in this destruction of their heritage in the Iraqi museums and libraries. These museums were speakers on behalf of the Assyrian people and were telling the facts that the Assyrians in Iraq were not able to tell under Saddam and his bloody terrorist regime. They were telling the fact that the Assyrian people do exist and cant be ignored or killed by Arabisation or Kurdification policies subjected to them.

Jesus in His entry to Jerausalem said: "if they (children) keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

The statuses and artifacts in the museums of Baghdad and Mosul were shouting and speaking on behalf of us.

I met many Assyrians who were crying as we spoke or mentioned the looting and the destruction of the Iraqi museums. Still we hope many of them to be recovered and restored through an international campaign as they are a common heritage for all human being. Amid this mixed feeling of happiness from one side and pain from other, you can feel and see the hope in the eyes of the Iraqis, a hope for a better future, a hope that dont recognize the difficulties of the transmission period.

The love to life and liberty that they missed and the strong hope they feel make them confident of future despite it is not clear and the passage to it is not easy. What do I feel personally and share the same feeling with most of the Iraqis is that the coming future is to be a real shift and U turn in the history of Iraq and the region of Middle East as it is a turn from decades of oppression, discrimination and totalitarian regime that impose one color, one opinion, one party and the only one leader into a new era and system that respects the variety of  opinions and identities?

Yes, it is right the mission is not easy, but it is a passage that must be started. The infrastructure for democracy needs to be built from its basis and not to implemented from outside. The school system, curriculum, media, constitution, governmental institutions, etc are important tasks to be considered and reviewed to achieve a bright future. All these tasks are to be carried amid the vacuum of power and administration from one hand, and the attempts of all the parties and segments to fill the vacuum and to control as much power as they can from the other hand.

Every one is asking for his maximum demands. Why not? The devil is done. The devil who used to reject any demand rather than his own demands and wild desires. But, can the Iraqis understand that the future of Iraq cant fulfill the maximum demands of every one. Can they understand there should be common demands for all?

Isnt the Democratic Secular Non-central Iraq that recognizes and guaranties the rights of all his inhabitants and recognizes and guaranties the rights of Iraqi ethnic communities and religions equally the common demand of Iraqis?

The clear fact is that the dozens of thousands of refugees who fled the big Iraqi cities, particularly Baghdad and Kirkuk, seeking security and survival in the plain of Nineveh, in AlQush, Telkaif, Sharafiya, Batnaya, etc, or in their villages in Northern Iraq in the region of Dohuk started gradually their return to their houses and normal life in the post war era.

The return movement started, but there are still a significant number of families who hadnt return so far. The reasons are different, most of them because the lack of security in their hometowns (The widows with orphans who have no adult man in family will be the last to return after the security is established).

Other refugees who are sheltered by their relatives in their villages seem to be not in hurry to return with the lack of security and public services and life basic needs such as electricity, water, etc.

The lack of these basics and the high temperature of Baghdad increase the fears of diseases.Any way, in many cases there are families who lack the financial resources to pay for the transportation costs which became much expensive because of the high prices of benzin.

In many cases that we learnt or been informed, CAPNI covered the transportation costs of the families to help them return home.Briefly to say, the number of displaced people and their needs are reducing gradually and we will keep them as one of the priorities for the short coming time of two or three weeks.

Their basic needs in this time are medical care and basic food basket. Later, by their return they may need the transportation means and/or costs.

The return movement of the displaced people in Iraq implies on the Iraqi refugees in Syria.They started gradually to return to Iraq. Many decided to stay in Syria and wait hoping for migration to the western countries, a hope that have very less chances in the time being.

With the change in Iraq and with the reconstruction of Iraq constitutionally, administratively, politically and economically, the situation of Iraqi refugees became a matter to be reviewed and discussed by the western countries. All the indicators reflect that the Iraqi refugees applications are to be closed and it might be many to be sent back to Iraq; particularly the ones who hadnt get the asylum right so far.

Almost all observers and analysts agree that Iraq 2003 is similar to Iraq post WWI when the modern Iraq state that we know was established.

The similarity is based on the fact that future Iraq is now to be reconstructed constitutionally, administratively and politically.

Post WWI, Iraqi Christian Assyrians were ignored. Iraq was established on Arabic and Islamic principals and definitions. Iraqi constitution and structure was built on the basis of MAJORITY and  MINORITY. Islamic principals were implemented upon non-Islamic native people of Iraq.

Non-Islamic and Non-Arabic components of Iraqi community, namely Christian Assyrians, were ignored and non-mentioned in Iraqi curriculum and media. Normal Muslim and Arabic Iraqi (in general) know nothing about the components of his Iraqi people. He never knows the names of the languages spoken in Iraq (not to say he never understand or read these languages!!!).

The exceptions are very little in mixed cities, like Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, etc. "The situation must be different this time with future Iraq", say all Iraqi Christian Assyrian references and leaders whom I met.Of course I share the same stand with them.They all agree on one common basic principal that the discrimination, un-justification and ignorance must be removed from all Iraqi religions and ethnicities. The human being must be respected for his humanity regardless his religion, ethnicity, denomination and language.But surely there are differences in details.

Many of Christian church leaders have just a religious Christian frame for his demands, e.g. freedom to practice the religion and liturgy, secular state to separate the religion and state, reject of Shariaa to be implemented upon Christians in civic courts (mixed marriage, adoption, etc), etc.

Many others insist Iraqi Christians are not just a religious minority but an ethnicity that have ethnic identity, culture and heritage, some call it Assyrian, others Chaldean, others Syrian, but they all believe to be one nation and these different names refer to that one nation.They admit their people were oppressed not just as religious Christian minority but as ethnicity as well.

In my conversations and interviews with various church leaders and references they reflect clearly their faith as one nation within the different names. They were clear to say the churches have something to say and do regarding the shape of future Iraq in a way that restores and respects the human dignity of their churches believers.

There were more points to discuss with church references such as secularity of Iraq, modification of laws, removal of Arabization and Kurdification policies upon our people in curriculum, media and most importantly on the ground to restore the demographic identity of our towns and villages in plain of Nineveh and Dohuk.

Speaking about the constitutional guarantees of our people rights in legislative, governmental and administrative institutions, we agreed on the top necessity of such guarantees.There were many who were too confident of his parishers qualification that they will have high posts in future Iraq through their capabilities. Personally, I doubt in that. Not because I underestimate the qualifications and capabilities of our people, but because the political structure of future Iraq will not based on having the right person in the right place. At least I am sure this will be the case in the short term era for the political posts which seem to be distributed on ethnic, religious and political parties balances. This must push our people to be united and to struggle for the constitutional guarantees.

The experience of 1991 should be studied and the mistakes of it should not be repeated.As for working frames and mechanisms to achieve our peoples religious and national rights, all of the church leaders, community figures and politicians whom I met agreed on the simple fact that our peoples political parties, civic society institutions and elite people have a great role in this regards.

The task is not limited to the church leaders alone. Many agreed on the opinion of having a common frame work where all political parties are represented besides representatives of our churches and elite and academic people (particularly in the fields of law and education) as well to work as a united and reference body to ask for our Christian Assyrian rights.

All agreed on the great importance of unity in delivering the message to the other side, in this case the Iraqi political powers and institutions and the allied countries.Unfortunately but certainly, the united frame work of many partners needs the good willing of all the partners, while the division and non-cooperation needs just the bad-willing of one partner.

- To Be Continued -