Holy War: Iraq's Persecuted Christians

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Christians today keep a low profile. While most of the anti-Christian violence has been committed by a small group of Islamic extremists, Christians say they are encountering rising anger among their Muslim neighbors. Layla Isitfan says taxi drivers have insulted her when they realized she was Christian, in some cases saying all Christians should be shot and killed. At work, she wears a Muslim head scarf and tells colleagues that she is Muslim. Raja Elias, a Syrian Catholic in Baghdad, says that recently a neighbor began to dump garbage on her front porch. When Elias complained, the neighbor said, "You are a Christian, and I can put it inside your house if I want to."

With so many other problems to contend with, the new Iraqi government hasn't done much to protect Christians. Businesses traditionally owned by Christians, such as liquor stores and beauty salons, have been regularly vandalized by Islamic fundamentalists who some suspect may be loyal to Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Elias, who ran a dental clinic in central Baghdad before the war, recently asked the Health Ministry to reopen it. But she was told to work in Sadr City, the seething Shi'ite slum dominated by al-Sadr's men. So her clinic remains shuttered. "I think they will come for me sooner or later," she says.

For Iraqis like Elias, the best option is to leave. Many Iraqi Christians say their reversal of fortune has been especially disappointing given the backing the Bush Administration receives from evangelical Christians. "Why did the U.S. come here?" asks Mardirosian, the Armenian-Catholic leader. "To protect the Christians or allow others to kill them?" --By Christopher Allbritton/ Baghdad. With reporting by Samantha Appleton/Baghdad