(AINA) -- In an intensified campaign to present the U.S. case against the government of Iraq, President George W. Bush addressed the American public as well as the international community on October 7, 2002. Speaking from Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Bush carefully outlined the reasons for the need to disarm and replace the government of Iraq including the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, the threat to regional peace and stability, as well as the ongoing oppression of the Iraqi people. President Bush clearly distinguished between the people and government of Iraq, and reiterated that the U.S. supported the Iraqi people's desire to end the tyranny they have endured. In a historic and highly symbolic gesture, the U.S. President also specifically referred to Assyrians (including Chaldeans and Syriacs) in his address stating that with the liberation of Iraq "The oppression of Kurds, Assyrians, Turkomans, Shi'a, Sunnis and others will be lifted. The long captivity of Iraq will end, and an era of new hope will begin." (transcript of speech)

Assyrians hailed the unprecedented recognition of Assyrians by the President as a paradigm shift in the Iraqi political equation, an acknowledgement that Assyrians are an essential component of the Iraqi political landscape. Notwithstanding the official Iraqi governmental position of denying Assyrian existence and referring to Assyrians simply as Christian Arabs, Assyrians had not fared better in their dealings with the ostensibly democratic Iraqi opposition. Since the Gulf War, an iron curtain had been drawn by certain elements within the Iraqi opposition preventing official Assyrian organizations from political participation. Insiders within the Iraqi opposition from different Iraqi communities have recently openly confirmed what Assyrians have long known that the major impediment to Assyrian inclusion at the political organizational level has come from the Behdanani tribal leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in northern Iraq.

The KDP has routinely and steadfastly refused to allow Assyrian political organizational participation in order to thwart any possible political competition in their bid to fully cleanse and occupy the historically Assyrian provinces in northern Iraq. When otherwise compelled, the KDP has on occasion presented their own handpicked individuals to represent their "Christian Kurdish" minority- individuals without formal political standing in their own community. Other opposition groups, such as the Iraqi National Congress, which have seen their own political fortunes wane because they have not been fairly representative, have likewise refused Assyrian inclusion reportedly at the insistence of the KDP.

The Assyrian response to Iraqi opposition intransigence has come in the form of aggressive, proactive Assyrian lobbying by the Assyrian American League (AAL) and political engagement by the Assyrian Coalition. Founded in 2002, AAL's primary objective has been to professionally lobby in Washington on behalf of the Assyrian case with the political backing of the Assyrian Coalition -- a grouping of the major Assyrian political organizations. To date, the AAL and the Coalition have promoted an impressive campaign focusing on raising awareness of Assyrian issues in Congress, the U.S. State Department, and now, as of the October 7 speech, the White House as well.

In a statement from the AAL, Dr. Ronald Michael noted "The president rightly recognized the major ethnic groups of Iraq, including we Assyrians, and noted their common suffering under the current Iraqi regime. The Assyrian American League has worked hard for this recognition of Assyrians in Iraq. Congressman Flanagan, our representative in Washington, D.C. has worked tirelessly with the House of Representatives and the Senate in general, and Chairman Henry Hyde in particlualr, to convey the importance of our inclusion and recognition to the State Department and the White House. This had recently culminated in our inclusion in opposition talks in New York and Secretary Marc Grossman's promise that we would continue to be included in future meetings and deliberations. The president's including us as a distinct, persecuted ethnic and religious minority in Iraq is a milestone for our grassroots lobbying effort. We are indebted to The Congress, State Department, and President of The United States of America for bringing our dreams of a dignified, safe and secure life in Iraq closer to fruition."

Opposition to the exclusion of Assyrians by the KDP and by extension, the INC, has been raised from within the Iraqi opposition as well. Most sympathetic to Assyrian political participation have been the Iraqi National Accord (INA) and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). In an earlier September 2, 2002 letter to Mr. Thomas Warrick of the U.S. State Department, Dr. Ayad Allawi of the INA asserted "We have noticed that some significant Iraqi political groups have not been represented in the above sessions, such as Iraqi Assyrians and the Turkman Front. We would very much appreciate if you could consult with relevant Iraqi groups on future issues to insure proper representation when such important issues are to be discussed." Turkman political organizations facing political stonewalling and exclusion similar to that of the Assyrians by the Behdanani tribes of the KDP have found common cause with Assyrians as both groups have vowed to support each other's political inclusion.

For over a decade now, Assyrians have bitterly complained that the KDP has shown no interest in building democracy, safeguarding human rights or respecting pluralism. Instead, the tribal Barzani leaders have busied themselves building a paramilitary occupying force determined to expropriate Assyrian lands, assassinate Assyrian leaders, and otherwise silence Assyrian political aspirations. As one Assyrian political analyst noted "Apparently, the Behdanani Kurdish tribes had hoped to emulate Saddam in forming their own tyrannical state complete with their own subjugated and persecuted (Assyrian) minority." Then, he added, "Apparently that won't be happening anytime soon."