28 CHALDEAN NEWS
28 CHALDEAN NEWS MAY 2008
spreading the word Groups lobby Washington to help refugees BY JOYCE WISWELL Congressman Joe Knollenberg and CASCA’s Jackie Bejan at the inaugural reception for the new Caucus on Religious Minorities. The Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Council of America (CASCA) celebrated an historic occasion on April 15 — the inaugural reception of the House Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East. The bipartisan organization is dedicated to serving as a central location for information on religious minorities in the Middle East, including Christians. Among its duties is monitoring how U.S. foreign policy can protect minorities who are facing discrimination and violence. Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA and Congress’s only Assyrian member) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) are chairing the new caucus. Other members include Representatives Joe Knollenberg, Howard Berman, Ray LaHood, Joseph R. Pitts and Dave Weldon. CASCA participated in a briefing for caucus members on April 18, sharing results of a recent fact-finding mission to Iraq by several community members in March. Julet Yousef, a Chaldean mother of three, shared her horrifying story of rape and torture by fundamentalists who only let her go when she promised to convert to Islam. More than a dozen humanitarian groups, including CASCA and the Chaldean Federation of America (CFA) used the April visit of Pope Benedict to converge on Washington, D.C., to get the word out on the suffering of Iraq’s Christians and other minorities. The goal was to strengthen humanitarian assistance to the region; increase support for reconciliation, recovery and community-based development in Iraq; and improve U.S. admissions and resettlement of especially vulnerable refugees. The week also included an all-day Iraq Forum at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies and numerous meetings with congressional leaders and members of the State Department and Department of Defense. CFA Executive Director Joe Kassab delivered a prayer in Aramaic at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, attended by President George Bush, on April 18. CASCA Executive Director Jackie Bejan said the Washington week was the result of months of work. “It was gratifying but also frustrating for us,” she said. “We are struggling with the lack of a firm policy in dealing with the crisis facing our people and other defenseless minorities in Iraq. We think we made a big impact.” She added, “We wanted to register our stats – 40 bombed churches; 12 members of the clergy kidnapped or killed; and a long list of lay people, ordinary Christians who have been brutally tortured, threatened, kidnapped, raped or killed.” WASHINGTON continued on page 53 MAY 2008 CHALDEAN NEWS 29
