"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me" (Jonah 1.2)

This news from Iraq is not likely to enervate the Republican base. Amidst all the intra-Islamic violence and terror the impact on the Christian community has gone largely underreported. Prior to the US invasion around 4% of the population was Christian. Post the invasion the UNHCR reports that 44% of Iraqis applying for asylum in Syria are Christian. It is likely that half the Christian population has already left the country.

(Nineveh, the home of much of the Christian community, is the city to which Jonah was sent after having been swallowed (and regurgitated) by the whale or the great fish depending on which version of the "true story" you subscribe to.)

The Guardian story quotes Mikha'il, a Christian: "The process started before the war but it has accelerated. In the schools the children now say that a Christian is a kaffir, that he is different from the Muslims. And that means he can be treated differently. In 20 years there will be no more Christians in Iraq."

I think Mikha'il is wrong. In 20 years there will probably still be American troops in Iraq. Only the Iraqi Christians will have had to leave.