In 1838 white settlers who came to America from other places drove the Cherokee Nation over 1,000 miles from southeast of the country to Oklahoma and took possession of the land that legally belonged to the natives, and did not care a bit about the misery and death that caused the natives, thousands of the natives either died or were shot on the way for no real reason by this barbaric act.

The offspring of the same people are in Iraq today and encouraging the Kurds and others to apply these tactics to the Assyrian people. It worked then and it is working today in Iraq. The only difference is that to the Assyrians are driven many miles further from their land into foreign lands.

Just the other day I was listening to president Bush’s speech about the new Iraqi constitution that is being signed by the Iraqie people, and he was bragging about Muslim people of Iraq, namely the shies, the sounnis, and the Kurds, are practicing their democratic freedom to sign the constitution or not; like these were the only people in Iraq. He did not once mention the Assyrians or Christians, like they don’t even exist. The majority of the Assyrians in the United States, voted for President Bush thinking that he will help us, but it is obvious that the same blood runs through President Bush’s veins as did the white settlers.

The only thing Mr. Bush is intrested and cares about is Iraq's oil and if a couple of million people, namely the Assyrians, are eliminated in the process, so what. The British have tought him to keep the area Islamic and the oil will flow your way much easier.

And while all of this is going, the Assyrian people keep turning the other cheek, for how much longer we can live with this behavior?

When are we going to realize that if we want anything we have to do it ourselves and not depend on others. The west needs Iraq to be another Islamic state, the new constitution dictates the Islamic laws. I can not see how the Assyrians fit in this picture; we need to protect ourselves by exhibiting some kind of self-determination. We have been divided by other forces and divided we will be conquered, we need to unite under one name: Assyrians. That is the only way.

There is no choice in Islam. There are no freedoms. The doctrine is "submission". The Qur’an orders Muslims to submit and obey, where there is no democracy. Therefore where there is Islam, there will be no democracy.

Assyria For Assyrians

Simone Nouri
Maryland

I am an Assyrian who didn’t have the privilege to be born in Assyria, but I was born in an Assyrian home not too far from Assyria. I am proud of my heritage, and as far as I can trace back my ancestors, all were Assyrian, so I will die an Assyrian.

I have come to realize that there will be no Assyria in my lifetime or ever. This is a result of us constantly following the same pitiful ways and us being grateful for those who try to keep us happy with so called “new strategies,” that our nation is all too familiar with. With the rise of the Iraqi crisis, this was supposed to be our golden opportunity to ask for a small piece of land, that belongs to us in the first place, where we can live in peace and without fear of being massacred again. It is amazing that everywhere you dig in what is now going to be Kurdistan, you find the bones of our ancestors, yet we have no claim to any part of it.

I have to thank our leaders, political organizations, and the churches for being fast asleep and not ready for this day, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Not only did we not get what the rest of Iraq got, but also now we have Chaldo-Ashour as our new name. The reason for this was that there were not enough people, so we had to modify our name to show that we have a larger population than we really are. While we are at it, why not change our name to Shiite-Ashour or Turkoman-Ashur, that is an even bigger number. Just look around at the small Gulf States that the west has created, their overall population is nowhere near that of the Assyrians. So what do numbers have to do with this situation, is this some new politics or a new game for the unfortunate Assyrians. The right of self-determination of indigenous people is a pillar of international law. As the indigenous people of Iraq we should impose our rights under these laws.

A nations name is not clothing that you can change for every new occasion. Assyria is sacred to us Assyrians. God has given us this and even he himself cannot change it. Who has given you the power to play with our name and language? The Iraqi people know who the Assyrian are and so does the rest of the world; we are the only ones that are confused.

Every time some one from outside Iraq criticizes these so called leaders in Iraq, their answer is “why don’t you come in here and work”, “we are in the war zone”, “we know what we are doing.” These are the same people who are not shy to ask for financial support, so if they want our support then we must make our voices heard too.

Taking into consideration the direction which Iraq is taking, if we as a nation do not stand our ground and demand our rights as a nation, we will be assimilated into Iraqi Christians and finally into Islam. The west is taking the same approach in Iraq as they do with Afghanistan, Iran, and any other Islamic state. In the Middle East they care less for the Assyrians and Christians, the west is only interested in their benefits in that region. The British know the mentality of the people in the that area and have been doing business there for a century. Just read the new Iraqi constitution, if it is supposed to be a democracy, why would an Islamic clause be included? The British fooled us before and it worked, so now they are doing it again. We cannot count on anybody but ourselves and I hope that our Martyrs' blood hunts down those who stand in our way.

Long live Assyria and the Assyrian people