The Real 'New Iraq'

Christians are being targeted in Iraq. It's not because they are one of the dominant groups vying to run the country. They aren't. Their clerics also are not part of Iraq's religious elite, although Christianity has deep roots in that country.

As the New York Times reported this week, since the Bush administration launched the invasion of Iraq 3 1/2 years ago, church bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and threats have become a daily part of Christian life. And the persecution of Christians began even before Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the words of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who had some unkind things to say about Islam. Many churches in Baghdad have been forced to cancel services, the Times reports, and some have not met since.

Why? Because religion is moving front and center in Iraq, and to be a Christian in that Islamic nation has become dangerous.

But it's equally risky to be a Shiite living among Sunnis or a Sunni residing in a province dominated by Shiites. These days, if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, religion can get you kidnapped, tortured and beheaded.

If that isn't enough, toss into this cauldron Americans in military uniform, many in the flower of their youth. Most have no idea why religious extremists are tearing each other apart. Trained to fight wars and combat terrorism, American troops have instead been engaged in sweeps through Baghdad's slums in an effort to uproot religiously chauvinistic death squads hellbent on destroying each other. For rendering that service to the Iraqi people (who should be doing the job themselves), America has been paying a high price in blood and treasure, and with little apparent success.

Instead of the violence being reduced, sectarian bloodshed and attacks in Baghdad have shot up 22 percent in the past three weeks. American military fatalities are occurring at the highest rate in more than a year, reports The Post. And toward what end?

Look at the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq taking shape.

In the eyes of the Bush administration and its foreign policy allies in Washington, Iraqi reconstruction and the march toward democracy are just a matter of time. All that's needed is for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi armed forces to quell the sectarian violence. Put together the right alliances and the problem is solved, they believe. They see the answer to Iraq's problems in political terms.

But there are other aspects of Iraq that bother those of us who aren't as smart as the brilliant Washington thinkers who got us where we are today.

Some of us can't forget the prewar talk about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's partnership with al-Qaeda, and how wrong the foreign policy elite were about that.

Then there was the rosy post-Hussein world portrayed by the Bush administration, in which Iraqis, liberated from the grip of fear and imbued with a deep and abiding respect for human rights and freedom, would be busy building a better future for themselves.

Now let's return to the Christians.