"Concern" for the fate of the Christian minority and the other non-Islamic minorities living in Iraq has been voiced by the democratic nominee to the next US presidential election, Barack Obama, in a letter to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. With reference to the decision taken by the Iraqi Parliament to repeal art. 50 of the electoral law of the provincial councils about the representation of Iraqi minorities within such councils, the senator points out that the "Chaldeian Catholic, Syro-Orthodox, Assyrian, Armenian, Protestant minorities as well as the Yezidi and Mandean ones, have paid a high price for the Iraqi conflict" and "keep suffering a high number of abuses and threats. Add to this the problem of being represented in the country’s institutions as well, now". Hence four questions for Rice, asking her for "a prompt reply": "what progress has been made to guarantee religious freedom and human rights to these communities in the last year? What pressure has the US State Department put on the Iraqi government so that Christians and non-Muslims could be protected? What progress has been made by the US in the area of asylum for the Iraqi refugees who are persecuted, and what steps are being taken to give these minorities a fair representation within the government institutions?"
