Nina Shea at NRO on Iraq and religious freedom.

Iraq’s government has not been notably effective in protecting anyone, and its stance toward the Christians and other small minorities has been abysmal. The Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was quoted earlier this year urging kidnappers to target Christian women instead of Muslims. After addressing the tragic abduction of his own sister, Thayseer, the Speaker was reported saying: “Why kidnap this Muslim woman; instead of Thayseer, why not kidnap Margaret or Jean?” The latter are Christian names — implying that it would have been better for a Christian woman to have been kidnapped, raped, and killed.

The United States has a great moral responsibility to address the plight of the most vulnerable of Iraq’s religious groups. Even from the “realist” foreign-policy perspective, it would serve American interests. Last spring, one Iraqi government official — a Muslim — urged me, “Speak up for the Christians — they have needed skills and they bring moderation. Iraq needs them.”

Specific policy actions are required to help them. But these policies should differ from the efforts we once took to rescue another religious minority, Soviet Jewry — because most of Iraq’s Christians, Yizidis, and Mandeans do not want to leave Iraq, their ancestral home.

We must ensure that they receive an equitable share of U.S. reconstruction aid. We also need to provide assistance to the internally displaced, support their constitutional right to their own administrative department, ensure that their areas have local police forces, and take other actions developed by the Iraqi advocacy groups and religious-policy experts to increase the security of these minorities within Iraq. For the most desperate individuals, we must offer resettlement here in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of their relatives (largely refugees from persecutions in earlier periods) and co-religionists are eager to assist them.

Time is running out. Without a new commitment of U.S. help, this may be the last Christmas in Iraq.