142-630: The Christians of Iraq are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. The vast majority of Iraqi Christians are indigenous Eastern Aramaic -speaking ethnic Assyrians who descend from ancient Assyria , and follow the Syriac Christian tradition. Some are also known by the name of their religious denomination as well as their ethnic identity, such as Chaldo-Assyrians , Chaldean Catholics or Syriacs (see Terms for Syriac Christians ). Non-Assyrian Iraqi Christians are largely Arab Christians and Armenians , and
284-456: A sectarian civil war between Iraq's Shia majority and Sunni minority, and contributed to a lengthy insurgency. In response, the US deployed an additional 170,000 troops during the 2007 troop surge , which helped stabilize parts of the country. In 2008, President Bush agreed to withdraw all US combat troops, a process completed in 2011 under President Barack Obama . The primary justifications for
426-677: A "local official language" if the majority of the region or province's residents agree to this in a general referendum. Some have also complained that adults have to join the KDP party in the KDP-majority areas of Iraqi Kurdistan in order to be granted employment and that KDP representatives are allowed to settle in Assyrian villages. Some interviewed Christian IDPs had told that the Arabs, Kurds and Islamists are fully aware that Assyrians have no means of protection in
568-593: A 2012 Pew Research Center survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for Christian population growth . A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity . Christianity
710-509: A Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad during Sunday evening Mass, on 31 October 2010 killing more than 60 and wounding 78 Iraqi Christians. In 2011, Sunni extremists assassinated a Christian randomly using sniper rifles. Two months before the incident, 2 Christians had been shot for unknown reasons in Baghdad and 2 other Christians had been shot by a Sunni jihadist in Mosul. On 30 May 2011, a Christian man
852-460: A campaign of looting against Assyrian settlements. The Assyrians fled to Simele, where they were also persecuted. According to some studies, there were many accounts by witnesses of numerous atrocities perpetrated by Arabs and Kurds on Assyrian women. In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians. They were tolerated under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein , who even made one of them, Tariq Aziz , his deputy. As of 21 June 2007,
994-408: A derisive element in the term Christian to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians , had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames. However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in
1136-524: A militant known as Abdallah al-Iraqi had been sent to Iraq several times between 1997 and 2000 for help in acquiring poisons and gasses. Abdallah al-Iraqi characterized the relationship he forged with Iraqi officials as successful." As a follow-up to Powell's presentation, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy , Australia, Denmark , Japan , and Spain proposed a resolution authorizing
1278-493: A million deaths , including more than 100,000 civilians. Many deaths occurred during the insurgency and subsequent civil war. The conflict had lasting geopolitical effects, contributing to the emergence of the 2013–2017 War in Iraq , which caused over 155,000 deaths and displaced millions of Iraqis. The war severely damaged the US' international reputation, and Bush's popularity declined sharply. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair 's support for
1420-719: A policy of containment . This policy involved numerous economic sanctions by the UN Security Council ; the enforcement of Iraqi no-fly zones declared by the US and the UK to protect the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and Shias in the south from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government, and ongoing inspections to ensure Iraq's compliance with United Nations resolutions concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction . The inspections were carried out by
1562-452: A political context, is Ṣalībī ( صليبي ' Crusader ' ) from ṣalīb ( صليب ' cross ' ), which refers to Crusaders and may have negative connotations. However, Ṣalībī is a modern term; historically, Muslim writers described European Christian Crusaders as al-Faranj or Alfranj ( الفرنج ) and Firinjīyah ( الفرنجيّة ) in Arabic. This word comes from the name of
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#17331046677531704-2710: A report commissioned by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to investigate global persecution of Christians found religious persecution has increased, and is highest in the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, North Korea, and Latin America, among others, and that it is global and not limited to Islamic states. This investigation found that approximately 80% of persecuted believers worldwide are Christians. Etymology Iraq War Invasion (2003) [REDACTED] Republic of Iraq Coalition forces (2003) 309,000–584,799 [REDACTED] United States : 192,000–466,985 personnel [REDACTED] United Kingdom : 45,000 [REDACTED] Australia : 2,000 [REDACTED] Poland : 194 [REDACTED] Peshmerga : 70,000 [REDACTED] Coalition forces (2004–09) 176,000 at peak [REDACTED] United States Forces – Iraq (2010–11) 112,000 at activation Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate) Iraqi Security Forces 805,269 [REDACTED] Iraqi Armed Forces : 375,000 [REDACTED] Special Iraqi Republican Guard : 12,000 [REDACTED] Iraqi Republican Guard : 75,000 [REDACTED] Fedayeen Saddam : 30,000 [REDACTED] Sunni Insurgents ≈70,000 (2007) Mahdi Army ≈60,000 (2007) Iraqi Security Forces (post-Saddam) Killed : 17,690 Wounded : 40,000+ Coalition forces Killed : 4,825 (4,507 US, 179 UK, 139 other) Missing/captured (US): 17 (9 died in captivity, 8 rescued) Wounded : 32,776+ (32,292 US, 315 UK, 210+ other ) Injured/diseases/other medical* : 51,139 (47,541 US, 3,598 UK) Contractors Killed : 3,650 Wounded & injured : 43,880 Awakening Councils Killed : 1,002+ Wounded : 500+ (2007), 828 (2008) Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–45,000 Insurgents (post-Saddam) Killed : 26,544+ killed by Coalition and ISF forces (2003–11), excludes inter-insurgent fighting and noncombat losses (4,000 foreign fighters killed by Sep. 2006, all causes) Detainees : 60,000 (US and Iraqi-held, peak in 2007) 12,000 (Iraqi-held, in 2010 only) 119,752 insurgents arrested (2003–2007), of this about 1/3 were imprisoned for longer than four years Documented deaths from violence : Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded and 12,438 new deaths added from
1846-492: A review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. In 2017, Open Doors , a human rights NGO , estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution", with North Korea considered the most hazardous nation for Christians. In 2019,
1988-468: A rich and vital contribution to Christian history, and after Israel , Iraq has the most biblical history of any other country in the world. The patriarch Abraham was from Ur , in southern Iraq, modern day Nasiriya, and Rebecca was from northwestern Iraq, in Assyria . Additionally, Daniel lived in Iraq most of his life. The prophet Ezekiel was from southern Iraq and his shrine is located there. Shrines of
2130-452: A series of car bomb attacks took place during the Sunday evening Mass in churches of two Iraqi cities, Baghdad and Mosul, killing and wounding a large number of Christians. Jordanian-Iraqi Sunni Arab Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was blamed for the attacks. In 2006, an Orthodox priest, Boulos Iskander, was snatched off the streets of Sunni city of Mosul by a Sunni group that demanded a ransom. His body
2272-525: A third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world. Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church , with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians. Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World , where 70% are Christians. According to
2414-411: A unique significance. The term Christian used as an adjective is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches , or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in
2556-720: A unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed ) to establish a set of basic Christian assumptions which include belief in theism , the historicity of Jesus , the Incarnation , salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah
2698-514: A university degree in institutions of higher education (67%), followed by the Christians of Israel (63%), and the Christians of Georgia (57%). According to the study, Christians in North America , Europe , Middle East , North Africa and Asia Pacific regions are highly educated since many of the world's universities were built by the historic Christian denominations , in addition to
2840-621: A very small minority of Kurdish , Shabaks and Iraqi Turkmen Christians. Most present-day Iraqi Christians are ethnically, linguistically, historically and genetically distinct from Kurds, Arabs, Iranians, Turks and Turkmens (as well as from fellow Syriac Christians in Western Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and South Western Turkey). Regardless of religious affiliation ( Assyrian Church of the East , Chaldean Catholic Church , Syriac Orthodox Church , Syriac Catholic Church , Assyrian Pentecostal Church , etc.)
2982-614: Is Iraqi oil ," and questioning if Bush deliberately undermined the U.N. "because the secretary-general of the United Nations [was] a black man". In February 2003, the US Army's top general, Eric Shinseki , told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq. Two days later, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the post-war troop commitment would be less than
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#17331046677533124-513: Is generally understood to be derived from Nazarenes , believers of Jesus of Nazareth through Syriac (Aramaic); Masīḥī ( مسيحي ) means followers of the Messiah. Where there is a distinction, Naṣrānī refers to people from a Christian culture and Masīḥī is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Naṣrānī tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners. Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in
3266-515: Is growing in Africa , Asia, Eastern Europe , Latin America , the Muslim world , and Oceania . According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of
3408-622: Is not accepted by Judaism. The term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוֹצְרִי ( Notzri ' Nazarene ' ), a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מְשִׁיחִיִּים ( Yehudim Meshihi'im ' Messianic Jews ' ). In Arabic-speaking cultures , two words are commonly used for Christians: Naṣrānī ( نصراني ), plural Naṣārā ( نصارى )
3550-674: Is particularly sparse for Iraqi nuclear programs." Similarly, the British government found no evidence that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq posed no threat to the West, a conclusion British diplomats shared with the US government. Key US allies in NATO , such as the United Kingdom, agreed with the US actions, while France and Germany were critical of plans to invade Iraq, arguing instead for continued diplomacy and weapons inspections. After considerable debate,
3692-607: Is said to be at around 500,000, according to the EU Research Services on minorities in Iraq , although numbers vary from source to source due to the last Iraqi census having taken place more than 30 years ago. A census is scheduled to take place in 2020 in which the numbers of Christians in Iraq will be clarified. Christianity was brought to Iraq in the 1st century by Thomas the Apostle and Mar Addai ( Addai of Edessa ) and his pupils Aggai and Mari . Thomas and Addai belonged to
3834-453: The 2003 invasion of Iraq , violence against Christians rose, with reports of abduction, torture, bombings, and killings. Some Christians were pressured to convert to Islam under threat of death or expulsion, and women were ordered to wear Islamic dress. In August 2004, International Christian Concern protested an attack by Islamists on Iraqi Christian churches that killed 11 people. In 2006, an Orthodox Christian priest, Boulos Iskander ,
3976-643: The Al-Dora area of the Al-Rashid district . First, a bomb was deonated in the mainly Christian Athorien (Hay Al-Athoriyeen) neighborhood market, killing at least eleven and injuring 40. Then a bomb was detonated outside the St. John's Roman Catholic Church targeting Christmas service worshippers, killing 27 and injuring 56. In 2014, during the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive , the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) ordered all Christians in
4118-693: The Americas , about 26% live in Europe , 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa , about 13% live in Asia and the Pacific , and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa . Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority . About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic , while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of
4260-571: The Arabic letter ن ( nūn ) for Nassarah (an Arabic word that means "Christian") and a declaration that they are the property of the Islamic State. On 18 July, the Jihadists seemed to have changed their minds and announced that all Christians would need to leave or be killed. Most of those who left had their valuable possessions stolen. According to Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako , there were no Christians remaining in Mosul in 2015, for
4402-633: The Early Church Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards. The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus , referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;" Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan ; and Tacitus , writing near the end of the 1st century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero 's scapegoats for
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4544-620: The Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir . The most common Persian word is Masīhī ( مسیحی ), from Arabic . Other words are Nasrānī ( نصرانی ), from Syriac for ' Nazarene ' , and Tarsā ( ترسا ), from the Middle Persian word Tarsāg , also meaning ' Christian ' , derived from tars , meaning ' fear, respect ' . An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage
4686-673: The German Federal Intelligence Service and the British Secret Intelligence Service that the source was untrustworthy, Powell's presentation included information based on the claims of Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball" , an Iraqi emigrant living in Germany who also later admitted that his claims had been false. Powell also claimed that Iraq was covertly harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda networks. Additionally, Powell alleged that al-Qaeda
4828-699: The Great Fire of Rome . Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes . Jesus is named as a Nazarene in Matthew 2:23 , while Paul is said to be Nazarene in Acts 24:5 . The latter verse makes it clear that Nazarene also referred to the name of a sect or heresy, as well as the town called Nazareth. The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus ( Against Marcion 4:8), who records
4970-674: The Greek Septuagint , christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Mašíaḥ , ' messiah '), meaning "[one who is] anointed". In other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as chrétien in French and cristiano in Spanish. The abbreviations Xian and Xtian (and similarly formed other parts of speech) have been used since at least
5112-455: The Iraqi army in the north. The battle against Ansar al-Islam, known as Operation Viking Hammer , led to the death of a substantial number of militants and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat. At 5:34 am Baghdad time on 20 March 2003 (9:34 pm, 19 March EST) the surprise military invasion of Iraq began. There was no declaration of war. The 2003 invasion of Iraq
5254-640: The Islamic State of Iraq , stated that Iraq's indigenous Christians were a "legitimate target." In November, a series of bombings and mortar attacks targeted Christian Assyrian-majority areas of Baghdad. During the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive , the Islamic State issued a decree in July that all Christians in the area of its control must pay a special tax of approximately $ 470 per family, convert to Islam, or die. Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish -controlled regions of Iraq. Christian homes have been painted with
5396-603: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reported that more than 40,000 Christians had moved from Baghdad, Basra and Mosul to the Iraqi Kurdistan cities. The reports also stated that a number of Christians families who are moving to the Iraqi Kurdistan is growing and they were providing support and financial assistance for 11,000 of those families, and some are employed by the KRG. In 2010, Sunni Islamist groups attacked
5538-554: The Second Gulf War , was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition , which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein . The conflict persisted as an insurgency arose against coalition forces and the newly established Iraqi government. US forces were officially withdrawn in 2011. In 2014,
5680-526: The Seljuks invaded Mesopotamia with the support of Kurdish chieftains and tribes. They "destroyed whatever they encountered" and captured and enslaved women . The historian Ibn Khaldun wrote that 'the Kurds spoiled and spread horror everywhere'. In time, Armenia and Assyria became "Kurdistan". The Assyrian Church of the East has its origin in what is now southeastern Turkey and Asoristan (Sasanian Assyria ). By
5822-544: The UK , led by Archbishop Athanasios Dawood , who has called on the government to accept more refugees. Apart from emigration , the Iraqi Christian share of the population is also declining due to lower rates of birth and higher death rates than its Muslim compatriots. Also since the invasion of Iraq, Assyrians and Armenians have been targeted by Islamist extremist organisations. Pope Francis paid Iraq an apostolic visit between
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5964-501: The UNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month. Some of those refugees and IDPs were Christians. A 25 May 2007 article noted that in the previous seven months only 69 people from Iraq had been granted refugee status in the United States . After
6106-621: The United Nations , declared the invasion illegal under international law, as it violated the UN Charter . The 2016 Chilcot Report , a British inquiry, concluded the war was unnecessary, as peaceful alternatives had not been fully explored. In 2005, Iraq held multi-party elections , and Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006, a position he held until 2014. His government's policies alienated Iraq's Sunni minority, exacerbating sectarian tensions. The war led to an estimated 150,000 to over
6248-644: The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). UNSCOM, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency , worked to ensure that Iraq destroyed its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and facilities. In the decade following the Gulf War, the United Nations passed 16 Security Council resolutions calling for the complete elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Member states communicated their frustration over
6390-582: The al-Faw Peninsula to secure the oil fields there and the important ports, supported by warships of the Royal Navy , Polish Navy , and Royal Australian Navy . The United States Marine Corps ' 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit , attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM , attacked the port of Umm Qasr , while the British Army 's 16 Air Assault Brigade secured
6532-483: The education of women , which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities. Christian culture describes the cultural practices common to Christian peoples. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Greco-Roman , Byzantine , Western culture , Middle Eastern , Slavic , Caucasian , and Indian cultures . Since
6674-411: The " Iraq Resolution ", which authorized the President to "use any means necessary" against Iraq. Americans polled in January 2003 widely favored further diplomacy over an invasion. Later that year, however, Americans began to agree with Bush's plan (see popular opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq ). The US government engaged in an elaborate domestic public relations campaign to promote
6816-478: The 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate . Today, Christians are referred to in Standard Japanese as キリスト教徒 ( Kirisuto-kyōto ) or the English-derived term クリスチャン ( kurisuchan ). Korean still uses 기독교도 ( RR : Gidokkyodo ) for ' Christian ' , though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 (RR: Geuriseudo ) now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독 (RR: Gidok ), which refers to Christ himself. In Thailand,
6958-450: The 17th century when Emir Afrasiyab of Basra allowed the Portuguese to build a church outside of the city. During World War I , the Assyrians of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran suffered the Assyrian genocide , which accounted for the deaths of up to 65% of the entire Assyrian population. In the year of Iraq's formal independence, 1933, the Iraqi military carried out large-scale massacres against
7100-494: The 17th century: Oxford English Dictionary shows a 1634 use of Xtianity and Xian is seen in a 1634–38 diary. The word Xmas uses a similar contraction. The first recorded use of the term (or its cognates in other languages) is in the New Testament , in Acts 11 after Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year. The text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" ( Acts 11:26 ). The second mention of
7242-540: The 1987 census numbers. The Ba’athist rule under Saddam Hussein kept anti-Christian violence under control but subjected some to "relocation programmes". Under this regime, the predominantly ethnically and linguistically distinct Assyrian people were pressured to identify as Arabs . The Christian population fell to an estimated 800,000 during the 2003 Iraq War . During the 2013–2017 Iraq War , with ISIS rapidly sweeping through Iraq's western lands , Christian Assyrians and Armenians fled as they feared persecution by
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#17331046677537384-570: The 2003 Iraq War, Iraqi Christians have fled from the country and their population has collapsed under the democratic government. Majority of Christians have either fled to Iraqi Kurdistan or abroad. A population project by the Shlama Foundation has estimated that there are about 150,000 Christian Assyrians remaining in Iraq as of July 2020. This is down from about 1,500,000 in the year 2003. In 2003, Iraqi Christians were primary target of extremist Sunni Islamists. Many kidnapped Christians were forced to leave Christianity or tortured. On August 1, 2004,
7526-407: The 5–8 March 2021, during which he visited the cities Najaf , Baghdad , Ur , Mosul , Qaraqosh and Erbil . From the late 13th century through to the present time, Christian Assyrians have suffered both religious and ethnic persecution, including a number of massacres and genocides. Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz 's death sentence was not signed by the Iraqi president in 2010 because
7668-399: The Assyrians ( Simele massacre ) which had supported the British colonial administration before. In the early 1930s, the Iraqi Arab ministries disseminated leaflets among the Kurds calling them to join them to massacre Assyrians. This call appealed to Islamic convictions and united Arabs and Kurds against the infidel Christians. Shortly before the August 11 Simele massacre in 1933, Kurds began
7810-400: The Assyrians, until the latter began to die out during the 4th century. In the early centuries after the Arab Islamic conquest of the 7th century, Assyria (also known as Athura and Asoristan ) was dissolved by the Arabs as a geopolitical entity, however the indigenous Assyrians (known as Ashuriyun by the Arabs) scholars and doctors played an influential role in Iraq. In the period prior to
7952-404: The Bush administration's national security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. On the day of the attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld asked his aides for: "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam Hussein at the same time. Not only Osama bin Laden ." President Bush spoke with Rumsfeld on 21 November and instructed him to conduct a confidential review of OPLAN 1003 ,
8094-404: The Charter point of view, it was illegal." The first Central Intelligence Agency team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002. This team was composed of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division and was later joined by members of the US military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Together, they prepared for an invasion by conventional forces. These efforts consisted of persuading
8236-464: The Eastern Aramaic speaking Christians of Iraq and its surroundings are one genetically homogeneous people. They identify themselves as being a separate people, of different origins and with a distinct history of their own harking back to ancient Assyria and Mesopotamia (see Assyrian continuity and History of the Assyrians ). Christian Assyrians also have communities in northeastern Syria , southeastern Turkey , and northwestern Iran as well as in
8378-414: The IAEA "found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq"; the IAEA concluded that certain items which could have been used in nuclear enrichment centrifuges, such as aluminum tubes, were in fact intended for other uses. In March 2003, Blix said progress had been made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found. In October 2002, the US Congress passed
8520-775: The Iraq War Logs Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 Iraqi deaths in total Statistical estimates Lancet survey ** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636) Iraq Family Health Survey *** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000) Opinion Research Business ** : (March 2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI: 946,258–1,120,000) PLOS Medicine Study** : (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (60% violent) (95% CI: 48,000–751,000) Invasion (2003) Post-invasion insurgency (2003–2006) Civil war (2006–2008) Insurgency (2008–2011) The Iraq War ( Arabic : حرب العراق , romanized : ḥarb al-ʿirāq ), also referred to as
8662-412: The Iraqi Kurdistan Region use both languages. The Constitution also stipulates that Turkmen and Syriac are official languages in the administrative units where native speakers of these languages comprise a significant proportion of the population (a law has also included the Armenian language alongside Turkmen and Syriac). The Constitution notes that any region or province can adopt an additional language as
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#17331046677538804-466: The Iraqi government became official US foreign policy with the enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act . The act provided $ 97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." This legislation contrasted with the terms set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 , which focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of regime change. One month after
8946-401: The Kurdish tribe of Mokri". According to Aboona, "many regions with numerous Assyrian and Armenian monuments and monasteries became completely populated by the Kurds after Chaldiran ," and Kurdish historians wrote that "the land was cleared at this time, its indigenous inhabitants driven out by force". The Kurdish historian Ali al Qurani affirmed that Sarsing had "been an Assyrian town and that
9088-569: The Kurdistan Regional Government has hindered international aid from reaching Christian Assyrians and at times attempted to prevent Assyrian Aramaic schools. However, the annual report by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) states that the KRG has rebuilt and renovated over 20 Christian churches in the region and reconstructed more than 105 Christian villages. Additionally, several reports have been written about those Christians who do not get "political" representation and therefore do not succeed in expanding their schools, and are shut out from all but
9230-410: The Kurds who settled there were immigrants from Persian Azerbaijan ." Phebe Marr noted that 'in the north too, many of the Kurdish tribes of Persia migrated to Iraq'. British traveler James Rich observed in northern Iraq the "rapid influx of Kurds from Persia... and that their advance never ceased". He noted that "some ten thousand families, comprising seventy thousand souls, were constantly moving across
9372-470: The Russian term крестьяне ( khrest'yane ) acquired the meaning ' peasants of Christian faith ' and later ' peasants ' (the main part of the population of the region), while the term Russian : христиане ( khristiane ) retained its religious meaning and the term Russian : русские ( russkie ) began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced
9514-444: The Senate voted in favor of it. Only one Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee , voted against it. The Senate's lone Independent, Jim Jeffords , voted against it. Retired US Marine, former Navy Secretary and future US senator Jim Webb wrote shortly before the vote, "Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade." In the same period, Pope John Paul II publicly condemned
9656-459: The Shia-majority city of Najaf which housed thousands of Christians in holy Islamic shrines once they fled from ISIS, which sought to exterminate them. A large population have also returned to their homes en masse following the defeat of ISIS and were able to celebrate Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter in safety with the protection of the Assyrian Nineveh Plain Protection Units and its allies. The current number of Christians of Iraq
9798-435: The UK at a Labour Party conference he said: "As a preemptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future... I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are when you set them off, innocent people will die." Of 209 House Democrats in Congress, 126 voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 , although 29 of 50 Democrats in
9940-401: The UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution, UN Security Council Resolution 1441 , which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised "serious consequences" for non-compliance. Security Council members France and Russia made clear that they did not consider these consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government. The US and UK ambassadors to
10082-424: The UN publicly confirmed this reading of the resolution. Resolution 1441 set up inspections by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency . Saddam accepted the resolution on 13 November and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei . As of February 2003,
10224-620: The US became re-engaged in Iraq, leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve , as the conflict evolved into the ongoing insurgency . The Iraq invasion was part of the Bush administration 's broader war on terror , launched in response to the September 11 attacks . In October 2002, the US Congress passed a resolution granting Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. The war began on March 20, 2003, when
10366-492: The US moved towards a more aggressive Iraq policy. The Republican Party 's campaign platform in the 2000 election called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act as "a starting point" in a plan to "remove" Saddam. Little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the September 11 attacks , although plans were drafted and meetings were held from the first days of his administration. Following 9/11,
10508-408: The US, British and other forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional and irregular, asymmetric warfare at the same time, conceding territory when faced with superior conventional forces, largely armored, but launching smaller-scale attacks in the rear using fighters dressed in civilian and paramilitary clothes. Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assaults on
10650-543: The US, joined by the UK , Australia , and Poland , initiated a " shock and awe " bombing campaign. Following the bombings, coalition forces launched a ground invasion, defeating Iraqi forces and toppling the Ba'athist regime. Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003 and executed in 2006. The fall of Saddam's regime created a power vacuum, which, along with the Coalition Provisional Authority 's mismanagement, fueled
10792-516: The United States' knowledge on different aspects of the Iraqi WMD program ranged from essentially zero to about 75%, and that knowledge was particularly weak on aspects of a possible nuclear weapons program: "Our knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely – perhaps 90% – on analysis of imprecise intelligence," they concluded. "Our assessments rely heavily on analytic assumptions and judgment rather than hard evidence. The evidentiary base
10934-691: The United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops , estimated to number upwards of 70,000. According to General Franks, there were eight objectives of the invasion: "First, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to identify, isolate, and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Third, to search for, to capture, and to drive out terrorists from that country. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to
11076-653: The Western world, Christians has had an influence and contributed on various cultures, such as in Africa, the Near East, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Christians have made noted contributions to a range of fields, including philosophy, science and technology , medicine , fine arts and architecture , politics , literatures , music , and business . According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes
11218-670: The ancient city of Mosul. Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they refused they were shot. Ganni was the pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul and a graduate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas , Angelicum in Rome in 2003 with a licentiate in ecumenical theology . Six months later, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho , archbishop of Mosul,
11360-522: The area of its control, where the Iraqi Army collapsed, to pay a special tax of approximately $ 470 per family, convert to Sunni Islam, or die. Many of them took refuge in nearby Kurdish and Shia controlled regions of Iraq. Many Assyrians activists claim they have suffered not only from Arabization , but also Kurdification in Iraqi Kurdistan , mainly in KDP -controlled areas. Assyrian activists have claimed that
11502-504: The border". Southgate also observed the "rapid advance and settlement of the Kurds from Persia into northern Iraq" around that time. Dr. Grant gave an eyewitness account, he stated: "Beth Garrnae (the region of Arbil-Kirkuk) once contained a large population of Nestorian Christians, they are now reduced to a few scattered villages... Within the last six years the Koords of Ravandoos and Amadia have successively swept over it.." A new epoch began in
11644-412: The central Iraqi government. Some cases of illegal land and property seizures of Christian Assyrian lands by KDP members were also claimed. Michael Youash, an Assyrian expert, had stated in his report that the Iraqi Kurdistan government was unable to provide safe haven for all Christians. He explained this by saying that the KDP publicizes that tens of thousands of Christian Assyrian families are coming to
11786-529: The central role of the Western world and Western culture . Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Outside
11928-477: The commanders of several Iraqi military divisions to surrender rather than oppose the invasion, and identifying all the initial leadership targets during very high risk reconnaissance missions. Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan before the invasion and then defeated
12070-515: The country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era . Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano (before the term born again became popular) to differentiate themselves from Catholics ( Katoliko ). The region of modern Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia has a long history of Christianity and Christian communities on its lands. In ancient times, in
12212-424: The end of the 13th century, there were twelve Nestorian dioceses in a strip from Beijing to Samarkand . Northern Iraq remained predominantly Assyrian , Eastern Aramaic speaking and Christian until the destructions of the 14th-century Muslim warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, Timur (Tamerlane) , who conquered Persia , Mesopotamia and Syria ; the civilian population was decimated, and the ancient city of Assur
12354-483: The establishment of Abbasid rule in AD 750, pastoral Kurds moved into upper Mesopotamia from Persian Azerbaijan , taking advantage of an unstable situation. Cities in northern and northeastern Assyria were raided and attacked by the Kurds of Persian Azerbaijan, "who killed, looted, and enslaved the indigenous population", and the Kurds were moving into various regions in east of Assyria . The chronicler Ibn Hawqal spoke about
12496-670: The face of attacks. In 2005, the Department of State's 2005 Human Rights Country Report for Iraq stated in the January elections, there have been reports that many of the mostly non-Muslim residents of the Nineveh Plains were unable to vote and incidents of voter fraud and intimidation occurred during the Iraq War . It was reported that Kurdish security forces also prevented ballot boxes to pass to some Christian villages fearing that they will support
12638-558: The fact that the Bush administration knew that Iraq had no nuclear weapons and had no information about whether Iraq had biological weapons. He began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in his 12 September 2002 address to the UN Security Council . However, a 5 September 2002 report from Major General Glen Shaffer revealed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff 's J2 Intelligence Directorate had concluded that
12780-735: The first centuries after the birth of Christ, when this region was called Scythia, the geographical area of Scythians – Christians already lived there. Later the region saw the first states to adopt Christianity officially – initially Armenia (301 AD) and Georgia (337 AD), later Bulgaria ( c. 864) and Kyivan Rus ( c. 988 AD). In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians ( Russian : христиане, крестьяне ; Ukrainian : християни , romanized : khrystyiany ) and as Russians ( Russian : русские ), Ruthenians ( Old East Slavic : русини, руснаки , romanized: rusyny, rusnaky ), or Ukrainians ( Ukrainian : українці , romanized : ukraintsi ). In time
12922-578: The first time in the nation's history. But after Mosul's liberation in 2017, Christian families began to return. After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies , many Iraqi Christians fled from Baghdad and other areas to the Kurdistan region. Most of them have arrived as internally displaced people . Christians who are too poor or unwilling to leave their ancient homeland have fled mainly to Erbil , particularly to its Christian suburb of Ankawa . 10,000 mainly Assyrian Iraqi Christians live in
13064-472: The global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to representative self-government." The invasion was a quick and decisive operation encountering major resistance, though not what
13206-481: The highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in Germany (13.6), New Zealand (13.5) and Estonia (13.1). Christians were also found to have the second highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million). Between the various Christian communities , Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain
13348-515: The historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic". According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of gender equality in educational attainment, and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the Protestant Reformers in promoting
13490-494: The history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith ( Russian : православная вера , pravoslavnaia vera ) or Russian faith ( Russian : русская вера , russkaia vera ) from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith ( Russian : христианская, крестьянская вера khristianskaia, krestianskaia ). Also in some contexts the term cossack ( Old East Slavic : козак, казак , romanized: kozak, kazak )
13632-662: The history of the Blair government , as the number of government MPs who rebelled against the vote was the greatest since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Three government ministers resigned in protest at the war, John Denham , Lord Hunt of Kings Heath , and the then Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook . In October 2002, former US President Bill Clinton warned about the possible dangers of pre-emptive military action against Iraq. Speaking in
13774-606: The idea that democracy will suddenly blossom is something that I can't share. … Are Americans ready for this?" There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan , the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said of the invasion "...was not in conformity with the UN ;Charter . From our point of view, from
13916-409: The invasion centered around claims Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaeda . However, the 9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that there was no credible evidence linking Saddam to al-Qaeda, and no WMD stockpiles were ever found in Iraq. These false claims faced widespread criticism , in the US and abroad. Kofi Annan , then Secretary-General of
14058-401: The invasion of Iraq with a host of public relations and military moves. In an address to the nation on 17 March 2003, Bush demanded that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay , surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline. The UK House of Commons held a debate on going to war on 18 March 2003 where the government motion was approved 412 to 149 . The vote was a key moment in
14200-526: The larger category as Christian. Most Baptists and fundamentalists ( Christian Fundamentalism ), for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. Linda Woodhead attempts to provide a common belief thread for Christians by noting that "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has
14342-609: The life and teachings of Jesus Christ . Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós ( Χριστός ), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach ( מָשִׁיחַ ) (usually rendered as messiah in English). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has
14484-415: The military intervention. During a private meeting, he also said directly to George W. Bush: "Mr. President, you know my opinion about the war in Iraq. Let's talk about something else. Every violence, against one or a million, is a blasphemy addressed to the image and likeness of God." On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared "we believe that military intervention would be
14626-404: The most basic funding. This has been denied by Kurdish authorities. There are currently 5 Christians seated in the parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan. Assyrians who have arrived as internally displaced persons to the Iraqi Kurdistan have demanded more rights from the KRG and this has led to the serious disputes. In 2014, Assyrians International News Agency stated: Institutions and government agencies in
14768-635: The most common terms are คนคริสต์ ( RTGS : khon khrit ) or ชาวคริสต์ (RTGS: chao khrit ) which literally means ' Christ person/people ' or ' Jesus person/people ' . The Thai word คริสต์ (RTGS: khrit ) is derived from Christ . In the Philippines , the most common terms are Kristiyano (for ' Christian ' ) and {{lang[fil|Kristiyanismo}} (for ' Christianity ' ) in most Philippine languages ; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo (also used in Chavacano ) due to
14910-555: The number of Christians live in Iraqi Kurdistan has declined. It is known that the Iraqi Kurdistan have accepted more than 200,000 Christians refugees and IDPs who had fled from other areas in Iraq between 2012 and 2016. It is also known that security officers and authorities who work for the Barzani tribe and his political party, the KDP, have frequently abused some local Christians and IDPs for not being loyal "enough" to them. There have also been claims levied by Assyrian organizations that
15052-526: The number of troops required to win the war, and that "the idea that it would take several hundred thousand US forces is far from the mark." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Shinseki's estimate was "way off the mark," because other countries would take part in an occupying force. Germany's Foreign Secretary Joschka Fischer , although having been in favor of stationing German troops in Afghanistan , advised Federal Chancellor Schröder not to join
15194-473: The oil fields in southern Iraq. The heavy armor of the US 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved more easterly along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through the eastern marshland. The American 1st Marine Division fought through Nasiriyah in
15336-419: The passage of the Iraq Liberation Act, the US and UK launched a bombardment campaign of Iraq called Operation Desert Fox . The campaign's express rationale was to hamper Saddam Hussein's government's ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, but US intelligence personnel also hoped it would help weaken Saddam's grip on power. Following the election of George W. Bush as president in 2000 ,
15478-699: The past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay by the Portuguese loanword Serani (from Arabic Naṣrānī ), but the term now refers to the modern Kristang creoles of Malaysia . In the Indonesian language , the term Nasrani is also used alongside Kristen . The Chinese word is 基督 徒 ( jīdū tú ), literally ' Christ follower ' . The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督 , which
15620-524: The phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes." While around 331 AD Eusebius records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth , and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes". The Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes , Notzrim , occurs in the Babylonian Talmud , and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices are found across
15762-490: The president "sympathise[d] with Tariq Aziz because he is an Iraqi Christian." This also came after appeals from the Holy See not to carry out the sentence. He died on 5 June 2015 in al-Hussein hospital after suffering from depression, diabetes, heart disease, and ulcers. Iraqi Christians have been victim of executions, forced displacement campaigns, torture, violence and target of Sunni Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. Since
15904-492: The prophet Jonah and Saint George are also located there, and various other biblical prophets and saints are said to have been originally from there as well. Adam and Eve are also widely thought to have hailed from Iraq, as the biblical Garden of Eden is largely attributed to have been located in southern Iraq. Prior to the Gulf War in 1991, Christians numbered one million in Iraq. This may be an undercount by half as seen in
16046-496: The public groundwork for an invasion of Iraq in January 2002 State of the Union address, calling Iraq a member of the Axis of Evil , and saying "The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Bush said this and made many other dire allegations about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction despite
16188-426: The safety of the north (Kurdish areas) from Arab areas, but "hundreds of thousands" of Christians are leaving the country (Iraq) entirely. He claims that this is directly connected to the problems of "illegal land seizures". Christians A Christian ( / ˈ k r ɪ s tʃ ən , - t i ə n / ) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity , a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on
16330-455: The spread of Christianity from the Levant to Europe and North Africa and Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire , Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing Greek East and Latin West . Consequently, different versions of the Christian cultures arose with their own rites and practices, centered around the cities such as Rome ( Western Christianity ) and Carthage , whose communities
16472-455: The state to which the region of Shahrazoor had been reduced, describing it as a “town, which was overpowered by the Kurds, and whose environs as far as Iraq had been enjoying prosperity”. Another contemporary source described the region of Adiabene thus: '[T]he plain of Hadyab was entirely inhabited by the Nestorians but the Kurds have occupied it and depopulated it of its inhabitants'. Later,
16614-494: The term follows in Acts 26 , where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle , "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." ( Acts 26:28 ). The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4 , which exhorts believers: "Yet if [any man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." ( 1 Peter 4:16 ). Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect
16756-399: The terrorist organisation, as they were to ‘execute’ any person who did not believe in their Sunni sect. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to Baghdad , the nation's capital, where they found refuge and adequate housing, some of whom have chosen to make Baghdad their new permanent home following the full defeat of ISIS in Iraq. Thousands have also fled to other parts of southern Iraq, such as
16898-410: The total global wealth. A study done by the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth found that 56.2% of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world were Christians. A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the world after Jews with an average of 9.3 years of schooling, and
17040-470: The twelve Apostles. Iraq's Eastern Aramaic -speaking Assyrian communities are believed to be among the oldest in the world. The Assyrian people adopted Christianity in the 1st century and Assyria in northern Iraq became the centre of Eastern Rite Christianity and Syriac literature from the 1st century until the Middle Ages. Christianity initially lived alongside the ancient Mesopotamian religion among
17182-435: The use of force in Iraq, but NATO members like Canada , France, and Germany, together with Russia, strongly urged continued diplomacy. Facing a losing vote as well as a likely veto from France and Russia, the US, the UK, Poland, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution. In March 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, Spain, Denmark, and Italy began preparing for
17324-514: The war diminished his standing, contributing to his resignation in 2007. Strong international opposition to the Saddam Hussein regime began following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The international community condemned the invasion, and in 1991 a military coalition led by the United States launched the Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait . Following the Gulf War, the US and its allies tried to keep Saddam Hussein in check with
17466-440: The war in Iraq. Fischer famously confronted United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the 39th Munich Security Conference in 2003 on the secretary's purported evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction : "Excuse me, I am not convinced!" Fischer also cautioned the United States against assuming that democracy would easily take root post-invasion; "You're going to have to occupy Iraq for years and years,
17608-448: The war plan for invading Iraq. Rumsfeld met with General Tommy Franks , the commander of US Central Command , on 27 November to go over the plans. A record of the meeting includes the question "How start?", listing multiple possible justifications for a US–Iraq War. The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been refuted, as there was no cooperation between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda . President Bush began laying
17750-548: The war to its citizens. Americans overwhelmingly believed Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction: 85% said so, even though the inspectors had not uncovered those weapons. By February 2003, 64% of Americans supported taking military action to remove Saddam from power. On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN to present evidence that Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. However, despite warnings from
17892-555: The wider worldwide Assyrian diaspora . Syriac Christianity was first established in Mesopotamia, and certain subsets of that tradition (namely the Church of the East and its successor churches) were established in northern and central-southern Iraq, and would eventually spread to becoming one of the most popular Christian churches in the Middle East and Fertile Crescent Region, and would spread as far as India and China . Iraq plays
18034-444: The world among those who call themselves Christian. Denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of "Christianity". For example, Timothy Beal notes the disparity of beliefs among those who identify as Christians in the United States as follows: Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within
18176-766: The world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East , North Africa, East Asia , and South Asia . The Greek word Χριστιανός ( Christianos ), meaning ' follower of Christ ' , comes from Χριστός ( Christos ), meaning ' anointed one ', with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership. In
18318-430: The worst solution". Meanwhile, anti-war groups across the world organized public protests. According to French academic Dominique Reynié , between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the war in Iraq, with demonstrations on 15 February 2003 being the largest. Nelson Mandela voiced his opposition in late January, stating "All that (Mr. Bush) wants
18460-470: The years that Iraq was impeding the work of the special commission and failing to take seriously its disarmament obligations. Iraqi officials harassed the inspectors and obstructed their work, and in August 1998, the Iraqi government suspended cooperation with the inspectors completely, alleging that the inspectors were spying for the US. The spying allegations were later substantiated. In October 1998, removing
18602-516: Was felle ( فەڵە ), coming from the root word meaning ' to be saved, attain salvation ' . The Syriac term Nasrani ( ' Nazarene ' ) has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala , India. In northern India and Pakistan , Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī ( Hindi : ईसाई , Urdu : عیسائی ). Masīhī ( Hindi : मसीही , Urdu : مسیحی ) is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well. In
18744-628: Was attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction from Iraq: " Al-Qaida continues to have a deep interest in acquiring weapons of mass destruction . As with the story of Zarqawi and his network, I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons to al-Qaida. Fortunately, this operative is now detained and he has told his story. ... The support that this detainee describes included Iraq offering chemical or biological weapons training for two al-Qaida associates beginning in December 2000. He says that
18886-578: Was beheaded and mutilated despite payment of a ransom, and in 2008, the Assyrian clergyman Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Mosul was killed after being abducted. In January 2008, bombs exploded outside nine churches. In 2007, Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed in
19028-553: Was beheaded by a Sunni man in Mosul. On 2 August 2011, a Catholic church was bombed by Sunni extremists in Turkmen area of Kirkuk , wounding more than 23 Christians. On 15 August 2011, a church was bombed by al-Qaeda in Kirkuk center. On November 24, 2013, in Mosul, a Christian journalist was gunned down in a targeted attack. On 25 December, 2013, in Baghdad, Sunni extremists detonated two bombs targeting Christians observing Christmas in
19170-571: Was called Western or Latin Christendom , and Constantinople ( Eastern Christianity ), Antioch ( Syriac Christianity ), Kerala ( Indian Christianity ) and Alexandria , among others, whose communities were called Eastern or Oriental Christendom. The Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization . From the 11th to 13th centuries, Latin Christendom rose to
19312-752: Was finally abandoned by the Assyrians after a 4000-year history. Timur had 70,000 Christian Assyrians beheaded in Tikrit , and 90,000 more in Baghdad . Timur rewarded the Kurds for their support by "settling them in the devastated regions, which until then had been inhabited by the followers of the Church of the East ." In the 16th century, the Ottomans reinforced their eastern frontier with what they considered loyal Sunni Kurd tribes. They settled Kurdish tribes in these regions and in 1583, Sultan Murad III "gave huge provinces to
19454-488: Was found buried near Mosul . He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed. In 2010, reports emerged in Mosul of people being stopped in the streets, asked for their identity cards, and shot if they had a first or last name indicating Assyrian or Christian origin. On 31 October 2010, 58 people, including 41 hostages and priests, were killed after an attack on an Assyrian Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad. A group affiliated to Al-Qaeda ,
19596-569: Was later abbreviated as 基督 . The term is Kî-tuk in the southern Hakka dialect ; the two characters are pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese. In Vietnam, the same two characters read Cơ đốc , and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo . In Japan, the term kirishitan (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹 , 切支丹 , and in modern Japanese histories as キリシタン ), from Portuguese cristão , referred to Roman Catholics in
19738-510: Was later found, the priest's arms and legs had also been cut off. In 2007, there were reports of a push to drive Christians out of the historically Christian suburb of Dora in southern Baghdad, with some Muslim Arabs accusing the Christians of being allies of the Americans. A total number of 239 similar cases were registered by police between 2007 and 2009. In 2008, a priest named Ragheed Ganni ,
19880-544: Was led by US Army General Tommy Franks , under the code-name Operation Iraqi Freedom , the UK code-name Operation Telic , and the Australian code-name Operation Falconer . Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other governments, the " Coalition of the Willing ", participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special forces, with 248,000 soldiers from
20022-424: Was shot dead in his church along with three of his companions. At the same year, there were reports that Christian students are harassed. In 2008, the charity Barnabas conducted research into 250 Iraqi Christian IDPs who had fled to the north of the country (Iraqi Kurdistan) to seek refugee status and found nearly half had witnessed attacks on churches or Christians, or been personally targeted by violence. In 2009,
20164-543: Was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language. Nominally "Christian" societies made "Christian" a default label for citizenship or for "people like us". In this context, religious or ethnic minorities can use "Christians" or "you Christians" loosely as a shorthand term for mainstream members of society who do not belong to their group – even in a thoroughly secular (though formerly Christian) society. As of 2020, Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents. The faith represents about
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