Iraq's Garden of Eden :Mesopotamian Marshlands

Iraq's Marshes

• Saddam Hussein drained the unique wetlands of southern Iraq as a punishment to the region's Marsh Arabs who had backed an uprising.

Shiite Muslim pilgrimages

14 Dec 2014: Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims attend the Arbaeen religious festival marking the 40th day after Ashura, commemorating the 7th century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein, at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, 80km south of Baghdad.

Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala

How religious and military divides shape the Middle East

How 1,400-year-old feud between Shia and Sunni Muslims flared into life with the fall of dictators like Gaddafi and Saddam... and threatens to swallow Iraq.

• Sunni and Shia factions have been warring since 632AD disagreement over successor to prophet Muhammad 
• State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) advance on Baghdad, where flailing prime minister Nouri al-Maliki - who is Shia - begged his parliament to declare a state of emergency.
• ISIS militants - who are Sunni - have been stampeding through majority-Shia Iraq
• Already, ISIS has effectively established its own nation state - or Islamic caliphate - which spreads across the north of Syria and Iraq, taking no heed of the border between the countries.

10/14/14 update:

Thousands of Christians flee central Iraq after attacks

Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled their homes to semi-autonomous Kurdish areas and neighbouring countries since a Catholic church in Baghdad was attacked six weeks ago, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.

Some 1,000 Christian families, roughly 6,000 people, have arrived in the northern Kurdish areas from Baghdad, Mosul and Nineveh, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. Several thousand have crossed into Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
Many spoke of receiving threats or leaving out of fear. Fifty-two hostages and police were killed when Iraqi forces tried to free more than 100 Catholics taken hostage during Sunday mass on Oct. 31.
"Since the awful Baghdad church attack and subsequent targeted attacks, the Christian communities in Baghdad and Mosul have started a slow but steady exodus," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing.
She said that thousands of people had fled to neighbouring countries but that only several hundred had so far registered as refugees. Churches and aid groups have told the UNHCR to expect more to flee in coming weeks, she said.
Iraq's Christians once numbered 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 30 million and there are now estimated to be about 850,000, or about 3 per cent of the population.

Fresh Wave of Attacks Target Christians in Baghdad

Iraq expert James Denselow of King's College London emphasizes Iraq's Christian community has been decimated since the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country. Edward Yeranian | Cairo10 November 2010 Photo: AP People gather at the scene of a bomb attack in Baghdad, 10 Nov 2010 A series of bombings targeting Iraqi Christians left several people dead and dozens wounded, less than two weeks after a failed hostage-taking at a Baghdad church left dozens of casualties. Fear and confusion gripped many Christians in the Iraqi capital after another series of attacks aimed at the Christian community.  Baghdad police reports spoke of at least 11 separate explosions in three mostly Christian areas of Baghdad. Iraq expert James Denselow of King's College London emphasizes Iraq's Christian community has been decimated since the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country. "There are estimates that some 60 percent of the million-strong population [of Christians] have either left the country or been killed," he said. "What has happened in the last month is a significant uptick in targeted violence against Christian communities in Iraq, and it is accompanied by messages from what remains of al-Qaida in Iraq that they are specifically targeting the Christian community. [Christians] are without militia protection, they are without political representation in what is anyway a rather grid-locked parliament, and thus they are incredibly vulnerable." Denselow says he thinks the current spiral of violence against Iraqi Christians will increase their exodus from the country. Iraqi satellite TV stations showed chunks of concrete from homes and buildings that were shattered by the blasts.  There were scenes of twisted metal, broken glass and bloodstained streets, as ambulances took victims to hospitals and survivors sifted through rubble. There were also images of Christian families lingering amid the shattered walls and splintered furniture of their homes, unsure of what to do.  One teenage boy explains what he saw. He says he was standing around a specific area when suddenly there was an explosion.  He adds a fire broke out after the blast, but that it was put out as people took cover. More than 50 Christian church-goers died in a brutal siege of a Catholic church less than two weeks ago.  That event still has many Baghdad Christians trembling with fear and agonizing over what to do.  Iraqi Christian leaders appear divided, with some urging their followers to remain in the country and others recommending they leave. Many observers say that the eight-month political power vacuum in the country has added to the mounting violence against Christians and others and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at his political opponents, signaling a political deal is still no closer. He says that real partners in governing must shoulder responsibility incumbent on them, and not become conduits for terrorists, Baathists and other gangs out to wreak havoc and destruction. U.S. State Department Spokesman P. J. Crowley indicated Tuesday the United States has not had any "specific requests for asylum," by Iraqi Christians in the aftermath of recent violence.  But he added 53,000 Iraqi refugees have settled in America since 2007 and that a program is in place to help resettle more if the need arises.

Baghdad - attack on the Our Lady of Salvation church

Residents hold up the pictures of victims killed in an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation church, during a funeral at St. Joseph Chaldean church in Baghdad November 2, 2010. Fifty-two hostages and police were killed when an attempt by Iraqi security forces to free more than 100 Catholics held in the Our Lady of Salvation church by al Qaeda-linked gunmen turned into a bloodbath, officials said on Monday.