The invasion of 2003 and the dismantling of the Iraqi state and its institutions dealt a severe blow to Iraqi Christians. The political regime the US installed atop the rubble of the state it dismantled complicated already existing tensions among various groups. The most significant factor is the discursive transformation of ethnic and religious identities into political ones and institutionalizing them as such by constructing a quota-based political system in which sect and ethnicity are the only circulating currency. It forced most Iraqis to fall back to their primordial identities. Thus Christians became Christians first and foremost, as did other groups. When we were filming the documentary About Baghdad in July of 2003, I met a bookseller at the famous al-Mutanabbi Street in old Baghdad. He spoke admiringly of Gramsci and Marx, but then asked us if we would visit and film the headquarters of their new “Christian Chaldean Party.” I expressed my surprise that a Marxist-sounding intellectual would found such a blatantly ethno-sectarian party. “What can we do? That’s the only way to get into the new system and be represented. There is no other way,” he said. More viscerally, the dismantling of the police and army and the institutionalization of militia culture left the great majority of Iraqis defenseless. In the mayhem and chaos that followed and led to the civil war, Christians, without a militia of their own or a party representing them, were even more vulnerable targets for kidnapping and murder. The lack of security and safety and the chaos unleashed the violence of various terrorist groups that targeted churches and priests. Thousands of Christians were displaced within Baghdad and many thousands sought refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan, especially during and after the civil war and the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad’s neighborhoods. Christians, including clergymen, are still being attacked and murdered in Mosul and elsewhere, prompting demonstrations in Baghdad and Mosul demanding justice and an inquiry.

In the 1950’s, it was estimated that Iraq’s Christians were 6% of the population. The tumultuous years of dictatorship, wars and sanctions drove many abroad, bringing their percentage down to 3% (750,000) on the eve of the 2003 invasion. Now their numbers have dwindled even further. It was not my choice to be born into an Iraqi Christian family, but even as a secular atheist, I must say that it is sad to have to contemplate the notion of a day when Iraqi Christians could become a relic of the past in Iraq. Throughout the 20th century no church was ever attacked in Baghdad. It was inconceivable that members of a congregation would be held hostage and executed on a Sunday while praying or celebrating. The Iraqi regime called its operation to storm the Sayyidat al-Najat church and “save” the hostages “Tahrir” (liberation). I couldn’t help but think of the notion of “lethal liberation” carried out in 2003 and still ongoing.