History Book: The massacre in Iraq

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Monday, October 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: And I’m Jenny Rough. Up next, the WORLD History Book. One of the deadliest modern attacks, against Iraqi Christians happened fifteen years ago this week. WORLD’s Paul Butler has the story.

PAUL BUTLER: October 31st, 2010. Dusk settles over Baghdad. Inside the Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral evening Mass is underway. About 120 Christians sit on the simple wooden pews of the Syrian Catholic church known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Meanwhile, militants detonate a car bomb outside the nearby Iraqi stock exchange. Terrorists armed with suicide vests and grenades attack the exchange itself, injuring two guards. It is a calculated diversion to draw Iraqi security forces away from the real target: the cathedral.

Soon after the blast, a handful of militants linked to Al-Qaida climb over the courtyard wall and storm the church. Deacon Louis Clements was inside. Audio here from EWTN.

DEACON LOUIS CLEMENTS: He says their intention was evil. It was to kill. They considered everyone in the church an infidel deserving of death.

Terrorists throw several grenades and spray the crowd inside with gunfire. They approach the priest at the altar, tell him to lie down, and then shoot him in front of the congregation.

The militants then take the survivors hostage. During a short phone call they demand that Iraqi authorities release all al-Qaida-linked prisoners—beginning with two women in Egypt—wives of Coptic priests. The terrorists claim the women converted to Islam and are being held against their will in monasteries.

The terrorists speak to an Egyptian television station and even issue a message directed to the Vatican. The threat is short and direct: “You have to pressure them to release our sisters, otherwise death will reach you all.”

Hostages are afraid to make a sound, fearing the militants will kill them if they do. Deacon Louis Clements once again:

DEACON LOUIS CLEMENTS: We stayed here for four hours in terror and fear. We had surrendered to fate.

Officials begin negotiating with the terrorists, but conversations break down. The militants threaten to blow themselves up if Iraqi security or US forces storm the building.

After dark, the police decide to enter the church anyway. The lights go out as the security forces rush in. The terrorists began shooting the hostages. A massive blast erupts as a militant near the altar detonates a suicide vest.

As security forces gain entry, a gunman downstairs kills about 30 hostages there. The siege ends shortly after 10:00 pm. Survivors are evacuated out through rubble and carnage.

SOUND: [SECURITY FORCES TRANSPORTING SURVIVORS OUT]

The massacre leaves at least 58 people dead and 78 wounded. Casualties include two priests, many women and children, 12 policemen, and five bystanders.

Raad Bashar lives near the church and speaks with the Associated Press after the standoff ends.

RAAD BASHAR: It's a terrible day. Every day it gets worse…I want to leave Iraq. This country's worth nothing. All it's given us was suffering, murder and violence.

International response is swift. Pope Benedict denounces the assault as “ferocious.” Italy airlifts 26 of the wounded to Rome for treatment. France grants asylum to 150 Iraqi Christians, including some of the injured.

In Bagdad, the tragedy prompts outrage. Thousands of Christians and Muslims take to the streets in northern Iraq, condemning the violence.

PROTESTER: We don't want discrimination among Christians, Muslims and Kurds. All of us are fraternal minorities. We don't want discrimination among sects.

The church reopens but many talk about leaving. Like this man who lost a son and grandson in the attack.

BAGDAD RESIDENT: We don’t want to leave because we’ve watered this country's soil with our blood for thousands of years. This is a Christian civilization with Christian history. What's happened has made us hate the country which doesn't protect us and our children.

Two months after the massacre, the church cancels its Christmas Eve service, as do most other Christian churches in Bagdad. More than a thousand Christians flee to the Kurdish north.

AP NEWS: Thousands of Christians have already fled their homes in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul in recent months as a direct result of the renewed violence

15 years later, the specter of terror still affects the Christian community here. Christians continue to face discrimination and violence. Reports of harassment and intimidation are common. The Christian population in Iraq was estimated at 1.5 million before 2003. Only about 150,000 remain.

SOUND: [SAYIDAT AL-NEJAT CATHEDRAL SERVICE]

The Cathedral has been restored. Wood panelling now covers the inside pillars and walls…and the bullet holes beneath. The updated sanctuary is airy and awash in beautiful light. A rich carpet covers the once blood stained floor. But a red marble line runs from the altar to the cathedral steps: partly a nod to the attack, but also a reminder that it is only the blood of Christ that brings hope and salvation to the world outside.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Paul Butler with additional reporting from Mary Muncy.

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