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Months
after lawmakers in the House unanimously passed a resolution promising to help
Iraq's persecuted Christians and other minority communities, members of the
Senate have still not acted on the bill.
In
June, the House passed HR 390, also known as the Iraq and Syria Genocide
Accountability Act, directing the State Department to provide relief to
hundreds of thousands of displaced people, including Christians, Yazidis and
Muslims in war-torn Iraq.
Three
months later, none of the Senate's 100 members has acted, leaving the future of
Iraq's minority faith groups in limbo.
"The
time has now come for the world's greatest deliberative body to act," said
Kenneth Starr, a former U.S. solicitor general and federal judge.
In
March, after the State Department determined that ISIS had committed genocide
against Christians in Syria and Iraq, Starr says the U.S. has still done little
to help those suffering for their faith.
"For
many months, the U.S. government has been idle in the face of this historic
crisis," Starr wrote in a Washington Post editorial. "Except for limited emergency funding from
the government of Hungary, of all places, humanitarian relief has come almost
entirely from private charities in the United States and around the
world."
Shortly
before the U.S invaded Iraq in 2003, there were about 1.4 million Christians
living in Iraq. Now there are only 250,000.
"If
something bold is not done by the United States and the international
community, I believe we will see the end of Christianity in the cradle of
Christendom and a loss of religious and ethnic diversity throughout the
region," said former Rep. Frank Wolf, who served more than three
decades in Congress.
Wolf
warns that ignoring the plight of religious minorities in Iraq could have
regional consequences and cannot continue to go unanswered.
"This
could result is further destabilization across the Middle East such as the
Iranian effort to establish a land bridge to Iraq, Syria and to the
Mediterranean and present a threat to U.S. national security interests,"
said Wolf.
Despite
being driven from Mosul, ISIS is still determined to eliminate Christianity in
Iraq and the broader Middle East.
"Their
goal of eliminating Christians and other minorities from countries like Iraq
remains within reach," said Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus.
Anderson's
group has committed almost $15 million to help Christians in Iraq.
"A
century ago, during and following World War I, our government donated $25
million in aid (in WWI dollars) working with Church groups and individuals to
assist the Christian minority that had been targeted for genocide in Armenia,
Mesopotamia (Iraq), Persia (Iran), etc.," Anderson wrote in an opinion
piece for The Hill.
"Americans
a century ago understood that those targeted for genocide by the Ottomans
deserved some priority in American aid. We understood the same about the Jewish
community targeted by the Nazis. We understood the principle again in
Darfur," he added.
"Why
are things different with ISIS?" Anderson asks. "The Christian,
Yazidi and Shi'ite communities of Iraq and Syria have faced an evil every bit
as hateful and genocidal as these previous episodes."
Congressman
Chris Smith has seen first-hand the devastating consequences of ISIS' reign of
terror.
"ISIS
murders, tortures and enslaves religious and ethnic minorities as part of its
ideology and recruitment," says Smith, a U.S. Representative for New Jersey's
4th Congressional District.
For
decades, Smith has been a consistent voice on behalf of persecuted religious
groups around the world.
"Even
if ISIS is defeated militarily in Iraq, if it succeeds in purging religious and
ethnic minorities from their homelands, terrorist radicalization, recruiting
and violence will be fed for generations," Smith warned.
"Aiding
these genocide survivors is an essential element of countering this
threat," he added.
Smith
has made several trips to Iraq visiting with ISIS victims.
"When
I met with surviving Christian families in Erbil, they told me suffering had
strengthened their faith and they still believed the United States would not
abandon them," Smith said.
"They
need our help now. Will we give it?"
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