Iraqi Christians Disenfranchised

Although the world body is well aware of the Hussein regime's oppression of the Kurdish minority in the north of Iraq, few indeed are the reports in the media to be found about the persecuted Christian minorities. In particular, the Assyrian Christians - resident in Iraq for millenia - have been victims of the Kurdish campaign in the north for an ethnic homeland, Kurdistan. Besides numerous accounts of violence, Assyrians were disenfranchised in the recent election. Polling stations packed with willing voters never received their designated ballots -- because the Kurdish authorites kept them locked away.