Excerpt from document
(C) SUMMARY: Despite a recent up-tick in violence against
Christians living in Ninewa over the past two months, a new
report by an Iraqi NGO indicates that the number of Iraqi
Christians killed has dropped by 82 percent since 2007. In
addition, top officials at the non-Muslim Endowment report
greater intelligence-sharing and coordination with the MOI,
and have confirmed that 500 Christians have been officially
hired by the MOI to serve in the Facility Protection Service
(FPS) to guard Christian places of worship in Baghdad.

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2020
TAGS: KIRF, PTER, PHUM, IZ
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE AGAINST IRAQI CHRISTIANS DROPS
DRAMATICALLY IN 2009

REF: A. 09 BAGHDAD 2473
B. BAGHDAD 19

Classified By: Political Counselor Yuri Kim for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.

1. (C) SUMMARY: Despite a recent up-tick in violence against
Christians living in Ninewa over the past two months, a new
report by an Iraqi NGO indicates that the number of Iraqi
Christians killed has dropped by 82 percent since 2007. In
addition, top officials at the non-Muslim Endowment report
greater intelligence-sharing and coordination with the MOI,
and have confirmed that 500 Christians have been officially
hired by the MOI to serve in the Facility Protection Service
(FPS) to guard Christian places of worship in Baghdad.
Nevertheless, the security of Iraq's Christian community
remains fragile, as evidenced by a recent spate of murders
and bombings targeting the community in Ninewa. Iraqi
Security Forces (ISF) have responded to the recent attacks by
increasing security in Christian areas of Mosul. END SUMMARY.

--------------------------------------------- --------
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS SINCE 2003 BY THE NUMBERS
--------------------------------------------- --------

2. (SBU) A recent report issued by the Hammurabi Human Rights
Organization (HHRO), an Iraqi NGO headed by prominent Iraqi
Christian activist William Warda that has tracked violence
against Iraq's Christian community since 2003, indicates a
substantial decline in the number of murders and kidnappings
of Iraqi Christians in 2009 as compared to previous years.
According to HHRO's overall figures, a total of 722 Iraqi
Christians have been killed since 2003, including 537 who
were targeted for sectarian reasons and 126 killed in
terrorist attacks intended to kill civilians writ large. Not
surprisingly, the vast majority of the violence took place in
Baghdad (52 percent) and Ninewa (29 percent) where Iraq's
largest Christian communities are located. Breaking down the
violence by year, the report identifies 74 Christians killed
in 2003, 211 in 2004, 98 in 2005, 79 in 2006, 156 in 2007, 75
in 2008, and 28 in 2009. The report shows similar declines
in kidnappings since 2007, with 12 Iraqi Christians reported
kidnapped in 2009 as compared to 25 in 2008, and 87 in 2007.
In other words, according to the HHRO study, killings of
Iraqi Christians have dropped by 82 percent and kidnappings
by 86 percent over the past two years, an indication that
Iraq's Christian community has benefited from the overall
security gains achieved in Iraq during the same time period.
The overall fatality figure in Iraq due to sectarian and
criminal violence for 2009 was 3,119 persons killed according
to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count organization which
tracks open source media (www.icasualties.com).

--------------------------------------------- -----
MOI AND CHRISTIAN ENDOWMENT STRENGTHEN COOPERATION
--------------------------------------------- -----

3. (C) After a series of coordinated attacks against six
Christian churches in July 2009 that left four dead and 20
injured, the GOI, in response to a request from the
non-Muslim Endowment, moved to hire an additional 500
Christians into the MOI's Facility Protection Service (FPS)
as well as to assign security details to protect Iraq's most
prominent Christian leaders (reftel A). On December 15, the
Director of the Christian Endowment, Ra'ad Shammaa, told
Poloff that the MOI had passed along threat intelligence to
the Endowment regarding impending attacks on Christian
churches and had increased security as a result. (NOTE:
There were in fact two attacks in the vicinity of churches in
Ninewa subsequent to this conversation, one on December 15
QNinewa subsequent to this conversation, one on December 15
that resulted in five deaths and one on December 23 that
resulted in two dead, although none of those killed were from
the Christian community. END NOTE.). On January 13, the
Director of the umbrella non-Muslim Endowment, Abdullah
al-Naufali, told Poloff that the new guards had been
officially added to the MOI payroll as of early December and
were able to provide security at churches throughout Baghdad
for the Christmas holidays.

--------------------------------------------- -
VIOLENCE IN NINEWA ON RISE, BUT ISF RESPONDING
--------------------------------------------- -

4. (S/NF) While expressing satisfaction with the situation in
Baghdad, Naufali commented that Arab-Kurd tensions in Ninewa
had impeded the GOI's plan to hire more Christians, leaving
the overall number of Christians in the Ninewa-based ISF at
400. Asked whether the Endowment would seek to repair
churches damaged in recent bombings in Mosul, Naufali said
the security situation remained too tenuous to begin any
reconstruction projects. Indeed, in addition to the
bombings, the murder of seven Iraqi Christians (and one other

attempted murder) between December 9 and January 18 is an
indication of the fragility of the security situation facing
the Christian community in Ninewa (reftel B). (NOTE:
According to a USF-I Joint Intelligence Operations Center
assessment, the recent up-tick in violence against Christians
in Ninewa has been perpetrated by al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as
an attempt to increase sectarian violence in the area and
generate funds from extortion to finance other terrorist
operations. Many of the Christian victims were businessmen
killed in their stores. END NOTE). The PM's Advisor for
Christian Affairs, Georges Bakoos, conceded to Poloff on
February 2 that the ISF had still not established effective
control in Mosul and that this was allowing AQI to target the
Christian community there.

5. (S) In response to the spate of attacks on Iraqi
Christians, Ninewa Governor Atheel al-Najafi promised
additional security measures (reftel B). On January 18,
Ninewa Operations Command (NOC) Commander Major General
Hassan Karim Khudayir ordered additional security measures
for Christian communities and churches, including more
patrols and vehicle searches. The same day, in a
conversation with USD-N Deputy CG, NOC Deputy Commander Major
General Abdul Raheem said he did not want the Christians of
Mosul to be forced to leave the city and that while AQI
targeted the entire population, the minority communities must
be especially protected.

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POLITICAL LEADERS CONDEMN THE VIOLENCE
--------------------------------------

6. (SBU) On January 20 according to media reports, DPM Rafi'e
al-Issawi met with a delegation of Christian leaders and
stressed the need to stand against terrorist forces that were
trying to undermine Iraqi unity. On January 21, Ninewa
Governor Nujafi, Deputy Governor Faysal al-Yawer and members
of the Ninewa PC held a meeting with a group of Christian and
Muslim clergy as well as tribal sheiks to discuss the ongoing
violence. Afterwards, the participants issued a joint
statement condemning the violence and calling for peaceful
coexistence between Christians and Muslims.

7. (C) COMMENT: Violence against Iraqi Christians and Iraq's
other minority communities remains a serious concern, as
evidenced by AQI's targeted campaign of violence over the
past two months, which represent a nasty spike on an
otherwise relatively positive trendline. Nevertheless, the
large reductions in violence against Iraqi Christians as
documented by the HHRO over the past two years represent
solid evidence that the overall improvement in Iraq's
security situation has also benefited the Christian
community. The fact that Christian leaders report that the
MOI is sharing threat intelligence with them and that ISF
commanders in Ninewa are taking steps to prevent additional
attacks are other encouraging signs. The recent addition of
500 Christian FPS personnel to the MOI should help to further
solidify security gains in Baghdad. Further improvements in
overall security in Ninewa may be forthcoming with
theimplementation of the Combined Security Mechanism, which
entails the establishment of joint ISF-Peshmerga checkpoints
and security patrols. END COMMENT.
HILL