Iraqi Christians Fearful of Backlash

Christians in Iraq are afraid they will be blamed by radical Muslims for any attack by the international coalition led by the US and Britain on Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a report by the Reuters news service.

"Who can predict what will happen if the genie gets out of the bottle?" Father Youssef Tuma told Reuters. "Prayers are all we have left. In the event of an aggression by the West, we pray the other party does not take it out on us or look at Christians of the East as the cause," he said. Christian leaders in Iraq, an officially secular country which has tolerated a variety of religious groups, said they have seen an increase in anti-Christian sentiment, mainly from Sunni Wahhabis, followers of a very strict form of Islam popular in Saudi Arabia.

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