Criminal
03-21-2003, 10:07 PM
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-12-19-iraq-christians-usat_x.htm
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2002/12/20-christians.jpg
Iraqi Christians fear invasion backlash
By Vivienne Walt, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — Saddam Hussein's visage stares down at customers from a wall above shelves of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Russian vodka in Yonan Ibrahim's liquor store. The Saddam calendar, showing the Iraqi president in a Tyrolean-style hat and firing a carbine in the air, doesn't just keep track of the date. It lets shoppers know that this Christian shop owner is a patriot.
Iraqis light candles during special prayers at Saint Joseph's Chaldean Church in Baghdad last December 18.
By Suhaib Salem, Reuters
During the 23 years of Saddam's rule, Ibrahim's fealty has served him and hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi Christians well. But as a U.S.-led war against Iraq looks increasingly likely, Ibrahim believes the Christians' luck might finally be running out, along with their leader's.
"Until now this has been a very good place to be a Christian," says Ibrahim, 50, a soft-spoken man with thick spectacles and a natty business suit.
His father opened the liquor store decades ago on Baghdad's Aqaba Square. "The government likes us because we don't cheat or lie."
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2002/12/20-christians.jpg
Iraqi Christians fear invasion backlash
By Vivienne Walt, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — Saddam Hussein's visage stares down at customers from a wall above shelves of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Russian vodka in Yonan Ibrahim's liquor store. The Saddam calendar, showing the Iraqi president in a Tyrolean-style hat and firing a carbine in the air, doesn't just keep track of the date. It lets shoppers know that this Christian shop owner is a patriot.
Iraqis light candles during special prayers at Saint Joseph's Chaldean Church in Baghdad last December 18.
By Suhaib Salem, Reuters
During the 23 years of Saddam's rule, Ibrahim's fealty has served him and hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi Christians well. But as a U.S.-led war against Iraq looks increasingly likely, Ibrahim believes the Christians' luck might finally be running out, along with their leader's.
"Until now this has been a very good place to be a Christian," says Ibrahim, 50, a soft-spoken man with thick spectacles and a natty business suit.
His father opened the liquor store decades ago on Baghdad's Aqaba Square. "The government likes us because we don't cheat or lie."