AUGUST 2023

CULTURE & HISTORY
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Mar Louis Raphaël Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, in the library of
the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on Feb. 18, 2022.
Cardinal Sako Stands Against
Conquest and Confiscation
BY ADHID MIRI, PHD
In geography books, there are references
to historical events which
have changed the borders of certain
countries. In history books, there
are chapters in which reference is
made to geographical conditions at a
particular time. History and geography
are not independent. In fact, one
could say that history is written on the
pages of geography, and those who
control the geography of an area write
their own history.
The Iraq of the past, heralded for
the coexistence of its people within
their geographic and ethnic components
and classifications, no longer
exists. After the 2003 US invasion of
Iraq, the nation was transformed into
armed groups in the form of militias
that stripped the country of their attachment
to ancestral geography and
planned to change history.
Iran-backed Shiite militias have
taken steps to shrink the size of the
Christian, Mandean, and Yazidi communities
in Iraq by seizing their properties,
homes, and businesses, gradually
pushing them out of the country.
Numerous abductions, killings, kidnappings,
extortion, robbery, and sexual
assaults have occurred against the
minority population in recent years.
Militias have also seized large areas
of land belonging to Christians, especially
in the Nineveh Plain. At least
20,000 acres of farmland have been
burned and the militias have carried
out 75 attacks on places of worship,
with no fewer than nine instances of
them using a church as a military base.
Since 2014, confiscating and seizing
of property has become increasingly
prevalent in Iraq, with thousands of
homes and properties being sold without
their owners’ knowledge. Armed militias
have undertaken these land-grabs,
seizing property in Baghdad, Basra,
Kirkuk, the Nineveh Province, and Kurdistan
Region, supported by Islamist parties
that have been at the helm of power
since 2003, in coordination with several
public land registry officials.
They have basically stolen agricultural
land and manufacturing facilities,
taken over homes, buildings,
commercial properties, small businesses,
restaurants, and stores. Several
culprits and forces are involved. The
Sunni-backed Islamic State and Shiitebacked
Iran are competing for control
PHOTO BY CNS/VATICAN MEDIA
in a politically unstable region. Moreover,
Turkey is also fighting a proxy
war in northern Iraq and has bombed
several towns on the Nineveh Plain to
clear the border areas.
To suggest that only ISIS Sunni Jihadists
have contributed to the persecution
of Christians in the Middle East
is simplistic and ignores the influence
of Iran-backed militias in countries
like Iraq. These militias are especially
prevalent in northern Iraq and Nineveh
Province. They are squeezing non-Muslims
out of the country, taking advantage
of local political instability to gain
a foothold in war-torn regions and control
the geography of the region.
This is a classic Iranian scheme of
deception designed to confiscate and
control the land that stretches from
the western Iranian border near Diyallah
to Damascus, Syria, and beyond to
Hizballah, Lebanon via the Christian
Nineveh Plain. Iran’s plans are to build
railway systems and highways to connect
to the Mediterranean. The Christian
and Yazidi towns are in their way.
Iranian interferences cast a dark
shadow over Iraq today. After taking
control of all aspects of life including
the sUpreme control of the Shia
and Sunni endowments offices, Iran
turned its attention to subjugate the
Christian religious authorities, confiscate,
and control their properties using
pro-Iranian agents and parties.
After experiencing violence, persecution,
displacement, confiscation of
their properties in the recent past, new
clouds are gathering over the future
of Christians in Iraq, with the government
decree revocation that threatens
the highest Christian authority in the
land, the Chaldean Patriarch, Cardinal
Louis Raphael Sako.
Forgery and Fraud
Forgery, theft, confiscation of homes,
properties, assets, extortion, and intimidation
of minorities by the militia’s
secret arms has become widespread
in Iraq to the extent that the
judicial authorities are unable to stop
it. Corruption is rampant and concealing
capital is a common practice. Buying
and selling real estate, converting
cash to real estate, establishing fake
companies, and putting money in
foreign banks are all ways for owners
of illicit money to hide their primary
sources of ill-gotten income.
22 CHALDEAN NEWS AUGUST 2023