Patriarch of the Chaldean-Assyrian Church, Mar Raphael I Bidawid was in Rome last week when the US launched air strikes on Iraq.  His Beatitude, the leader of more than 800,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, called the attack "immoral, planned by moralists who have no morals."  The Patriarch charged that President Clinton had ordered the strikes in order to forestall Congressional efforts to impeach him, and said it was paradoxical that in a public effort to justify the military strikes, Clinton-- who has been charged with perjury himself-- accused Saddam of lying to international inspectors. The Patriarch also renewed his call for an end to the international embargo on Iraq, saying that it has caused widespread poverty, disease, and death. The following interview, which was done shortly after the Patriarch had heard the first reports of civilian casualties in and around Baghdad, was conducted by Vatican's Fides news agency:

Q: Your Beatitude, were you surprised by the strike?

A: It was not a surprise, knowing the United States and the intentions of Clinton. He wanted the missile strike to avoid impeachment and he ordered it two days before the start of Ramadan and nine before Christmas. It is paradoxical that Clinton, about to be impeached for lying about Monica-gate, should bomb Saddam-- accusing him, as he did in the speech last night, of "lying not once but many times."

Q: Do you think the strike is legitimate?

A: The pretext is specious. For eight years they have been searching for weapons, accomplishing nothing except to humiliate the people and starve them by the embargo. Since 1991, poverty has killed more than 1 million children who lack food and basic necessary medicines. The embargo continues to cause the death of about 20,000 children every month, in homes and in hospitals which lack everything. The people are more and more impoverished, the currency has devaluated more than 5000 percent, unemployment is enormous and the cost of living is rocketing.

And then who would have sold these weapons to the Iraqi government, if not the West? Richard Butler’s decision suddenly to withdraw the UN inspectors without telling the UN points to a pre- meditated plan. Butler is an American agent. He obeys the orders of the White House, not the UN.

Q: Is the only motivation for the strike to avoid impeachment?

A: No. The United States want peace between Israel and Palestine, and they know that the only country threatening Israel is Iraq.  So Clinton thinks he will save himself by obtaining success in foreign policy and pacifying Palestine: this means he must neutralize Iraq. The strike can be explained also after Clinton’s recent visit of scarce success to Israel and the autonomous territories.

Q: What do you think will happen next?

A: If the American goal is to eliminate Saddam, install a new government and then lift the embargo, Clinton cannot imagine this will be achieved with missiles. Without an army fighting house-to- house and a blood bath they will never eliminate Saddam. I don't think they are moving in this direction. Unfortunately this attack shows the divisions among the Arab countries, they follow their own interests and obey the will of the strongest. If the Arab countries moved together the USA would not have dared to
make this attack.

Published with permission from Catholic World News, Copyright 1998 Domus Enterprises

(ZNAF:  Vatican)  Pope John Paul II expressed solidarity with the Iraqi people on Sunday following four straight nights of air strikes by US and British forces.  The pontiff said war could never resolve problems.
"The climate of Christmas adds to the sense of suffering which the population of Iraq has undergone in recent days," he said.  "I say once again, war has never been, or ever will be, an appropriate way to resolve problems between nations," he said.  "More than ever, the Iraqi people should be central to the
thoughts of those in Iraq and elsewhere who wish to resolve this crisis," he said. The pontiff expressed bitterness at the failure of international law and organizations charged with upholding international law to
resolve the crisis peacefully.

Washington and London said their military action, which punished Baghdad for its failure to comply fully with UN arms inspectors, was now over but warned they would use force again if Iraq tried to rebuild its weapons of mass destruction.

On the last Sunday before Christmas, as the United States and Britain declared an end to four days of
bombing, Iraq's estimated 750,000 Christians gathered to pray the uneasy peace would last. "Every day we've been praying for the war to stop. Now we are praying to thank God for stopping the bombs," said Bassil Marrogi, priest at the Sacred Heart church in the Al-Wadha area of the Iraqi capital. "Now we can get on with the preparations for our Christmas party," he said, surrounded by Virgin Mary statues and
Christmas cards.  "We can't buy much, the embargo makes everything so expensive.  But there'll be sweets and oranges for the children, and instead of giving presents to each other we'll just visit other families," Marrogi said.  He said the church, one of about 30 in Baghdad, had a  congregation of some 450 people of all ages -- an enviable strength for many of his Western counterparts. The building itself is small and crumbling in places.

To one side sat a shrine holding a statue of the Virgin Mary, a kneeling St. Bernadette, and, somewhat bizarrely, a cactus. On the other, a battered tin bowl, its insides covered in the wax drippings of votive candles.  In the neighboring area of Al-Karrada, the church of Joseph and Mary was preparing for evening service. Two old women were already there in the back pews, praying.  The spartan inside was lined with ceiling fans and a row of chandeliers. A sign at the entrance said: "President Saddam Hussein ordered this church built in 1994."

"We were praying this morning for peace to hold, for the people hurt in the attacks and for these terrible sanctions to be lifted," said Fares Sami, a businessman who had come to pray.  "I will ask God to bring peace and love. Everyone wants peace, not bombs," he said, as the church's bells began to ring.

Pope John Paul II wants to visit Iraq to mark the millennium in 2000.  Meanwhile, the leader of the Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, described the US-British bombardment of Iraq as "inevitable" and disagreed with the World Council of  Churches, which condemned the attack as a "profoundly cynical act".  He said those who believed the action was wrong "haven't produced the satisfactory solution", or alternative to the situation. "The sad necessity, it seemed to me, was it was inevitable that this military action was going to take place because Saddam Hussein is capable of producing chemical weapons of mass destruction," he said.  "I don't know what alternative the allies had, but I think what we now need to do is to look forward. What we must try to do is to help the suffering Iraqi people."

(ZNAI:  Northern Iraq)  According to Bahra, a magazine of the Assyrian Democratic Movement or Zowaa, on 9 December 1998 the Assyrians of Ankawa and Shaqlawa in northern Iraq mourned the
death of Nasreen Hana Shaba and her daughter, Larsa.  Both were killed in a car bomb explosion. The bomb was planted by unknown assailants in the home of Mr. Najat Toma, located in the district of Terawa in Arbil.  The bomb was triggered when the victims opened opened the door to the home of Mr.
Toma.  Bahra reports that the victims' family has no affiliations with the political organizations in northern Iraq.

(ZNAF:  Damascus)  Archaeologists have discovered an ancient city complete with a citadel and palace under present-day Suwayda in Syria. Soada-Dionysias is located some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of
Damascus and at the end of the Hellenistic period was an important economic and political center. Its original citadel was built on a volcanic outcrop that dominates the site. Other massive ruins suggest a palace. Intact storage jars were found in a room now underground which served as a warehouse. The rooms date to the Bronze and Iron Ages, and were certainly in use around the end of the second and the
beginning of the first century BC.  On the western edge of the town the French and Syrian  archaeologists discovered a necropolis with burial mounds from the same period.  The town later developed eastwards, where the remains of a huge pre-Roman temple have been found.  A town theater was discovered to be at least as big as the one in Bosra, one of Syria's main tourist attractions, that was built in the second
century AD.  The archaeologists also found the remains of the municipal assembly hall, with Greek letters still marking the seats.  Other finds include colonnaded streets, a large square, houses  and a Christian church with five aisles, from the fifth or sixth century.

"I would like to wish the Editor and the Staff of Zenda a very Merry Christmas and a most joyous New Year.  Keep up the good work and may 1999 bring happiness and prosperity to you all."

Ramin Daniels
San Jose, California

David Sarkis
N/A

Sharokina Mirza
Miami, Florida

Try this one:  AssyrianMusic.com

Nadia Shaol Rosskothen
Boston, Massachussettes

    BRIKH BETH YALDEH DMORAN
    NEXT YEAR IN ASSYRIA

Yours in the service of Christ and the Assyrian Nation."

Dr. George Habash
United Kingdom

Adrin Takhsh
Berlin, Germany

Raman Michael
Chicago, Illinois

Ms. Irene (Auraham) Kliszus' article appeared in the December 14th issue of Zenda Magazine.  Mr. and Mrs. Kliszus have done extensive research on their backgrounds and the lives of the Assyrians in the United States and have graciously shared some of their research findings with our staff.

Mr. Raman Michael is a regular contributor to Zenda Magazine (see this week's article on the Murder of the Assyrian Mother and Daughter in Northern Iraq), an accomplished artist, and an active member of the Assyrian community of Chicago.

Zenda Magazine prides itself in objectively chronicling the conscientiousness of every segment of the global Assyrian nation.  It strives to accurately capture the essence of the multi-colored and multi-ethnic Assyrian communities from Far East to Ireland, Uruguay to Scandinavia.  Zenda publishes every letter, article, message, and comment it receives with minor grammatical editing.  We at Zenda believe that our highest function is to present the facts, thoughts, and the dreams of readers, like Mrs. Kliszus and Mr. Michael,  without any bias and prejudice.  The isolationists and the self-righteous guardians of a patriarchal, self-centered, and intolerant segment of the Assyrian society, hence we feel, ought to search for hyperlinks to sites other than ours to satisfy their tyrannical subjectivism to patronize the free-thinkers among us.

I picked up few local monthly Assyrian newspapers and skim over them, trying to pick out the interesting and important information, and found most of the time, the Assyrian newspapers contain news from abroad, or history, and hardly any news "locally".  The Assyrian community in Ontario is estimated over twenty five thousand Assyrians (25,000), with over thirty (30) community organizations, at least five (5) political parties, six (6) different Assyrian church denominations, and over three hundred Assyrian businesses (300), etc., and yet no local news to report!  It seems Assyrians are invisible in Ontario to the
eyes of the publishers.

What would be most interesting about reading a local monthly Assyrian newspapers is reading what has happened locally, and the activities as well as various elements surrounding the advancement of the Assyrian culture in Canada.  Unfortunately, most editors of the Assyrian monthly publications are weak, and have nothing to write about local events, news, or outcry, etc. Why?

To understand the reason behind some of their serious mistakes, we must understand at least the reasons for having a newspaper.  I have briefly summarized a few important points about a 'good newspaper', taken from the book titled Mass Media and You by Austin Repath.  He writes that a good newspaper:

*will report important events occurring at home and abroad.
*report accurately and objectively.  A newspaper should not report only on side of a story: it should give the whole story.
*attempt to explain why an event happened, and what its effects will be.  In other words, it will interpret the news.
*should be an influence for social improvement, both locally and world wide.  It should campaign for local projects.  It should raise such a cry over injustice, or falsehood that the guilty
party would be exposed.
*be a "clearinghouse": a medium for bringing together the consumer and goods for sale, the job-seeker and jobs vacant, the playgoer and the play.  As such, a newspaper performs a vital function in the community."  And-
*For specific information, the newspaper readers turns to the regular columnists.  One will comment on politics, another on business, another on sports, another on travel, another on entertainment, and so on.
These people specialize in one field, and it is through them that the newspaper try to cater to the special interests of their readers.

In order to succeed in developing your business with a no previous background, knowledge or experience, a person should seek information needed.   Today, most local libraries have many excellent books, video
tapes, regard the meaning of a newspaper, as well other important books related marketing, psychology (cooperation, public relation), etc.  The Assyrian community today looks forward to read local Assyrian news, and the Assyrian monthly newspaper publishers should bring local news and information related solely to the Assyrian community in order for the Assyrian newspapers to succeed, and to be the witness of Assyrian history for the future.

Ashur Simon Malek,
Hamilton, Ontario

Introduction to Modern Assyrian I

Students in this class will learn the alphabet and the vowel system of the Modern Assyrian language.  Students will acquire basic literacy skills in Modern Assyrian and their vocabulary will improve.  Prior knowledge of the Assyrian language is not a requirement.  The class is suitable for those who speak but do not read and write in Assyrian or for those who want to learn to speak Assyrian.

Reference Text: "Assyrian Language Book I" by Zaia Kanoon
Day:                  Wednesdays
Time:                 7:00-9:00 PM
Location:            North Park University
                          Magneson Building, Room 2
                          3225 West Foster
                         Chicago, Illinois
Tuition:              $70 ($50.00 for students)
Starting Date:      January 13, 1999
Ending Date:     March 31, 1999

Modern Assyrian II

This class will provide students the opportunity to improve their reading and writing skills of the Modern Assyrian Language.  Students will also be introduced to some elementary topics of Modern Assyrian grammar.  Some knowledge of Assyrian reading and writing, or completion of the Modern Assyrian class is a prerequisite for taking this class.

Reference Text: "Assyrian Language Book II" by Zaia Kanoon
Day:                  Saturdays
Time:                 3:00-5:00 PM
Location:            North Park University
                          Magneson Building, Room 2
                          3225 West Foster
                         Chicago, Illinois
Tuition:              $70 ($50.00 for students)
Starting Date:      January 16, 1999
Ending Date:       April 3, 1999

For more information or to register contact the Assyrian Academic Society's Education Committee:

or call (773) 461-6633,  email:  staff@aas.net

AAC = Ancient Assyrian Church of the East
ACE = Assyrian Church of the East
CCC = Chaldean Catholic Church
MCC= Maronite Catholic Church
MOC = Malankara Orthodox Church
SCC = Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch
SKC = Syrian Knanaya Church
SOC = Syrian Orthodox Church

BC (2000)

Around this time the bi-monthly ritual of kispum or offering of food and/or libation to the deceased began in Bet-Nahrain (Mesopotamia).  When Ashurbanipal campaigned against Elam he destroyed the graves of the kings of Susa and carried off their bones to Nineveh.  "I inflicted restlessness on their ghosts," he remarked."  He continues: "I deprived them of funerary offerings (kipsum) and pourers of water.  When the Chaldean king, Merodach-Baladan, was being pursued by Sennacherib of Assyria, he exhumed the bones of his ancestors to take them with him so that their graves would not be defiled by the Assyrian attackers.

Mesopotamian Civilization, Potts

The repatriation of the Assyrians of Hakkari region in Turkey and Urmia in Iran was begun.  In 1920, the two Assyrian tribes of Tiyari and Tkhuma returned to Hakkari on their own initiative and occupied an area where the Turks had yet not established their authority.

The Assyrian Tragedy,  Annemasse

King Tukulti-Ninurta of Assyria decides to spare the lives of the Babylonian merchants who were spying in Assyria out of respect for international custom.  The Assyrian king then prays to Shamash, god of justice, and states that he has been faithful to the treaty.  He then sends a message to Kashtiliash to remind him of the long history of relations between their kingdoms in Bet-Nahrain and charges him with violation of the treaty.  The Babylonian king refuses to yield and prefers a direct confrontation.  The Assyrian king challenges him to a battle, but the Babylonian monarch stalls, hoping for a change of fortune:

Attack me, then, like a brave man,
fight the battle that you strive so hard to attain.
Show your weapon, find release in the battle
that your fondest hopes burned for.
Tukulti-Ninurta, your army should stand fast
until the appointed time of Shamash arrives.
This is the day your people's blood will soak the
pastures and meadows,
And like a thunderstorm, I will make the leveling flood
pass over your camp.

The Assyrian king attacks Babylon.

Behind the gods, his allies, the king at the head of the army
sets to battle,
he let fly an arrow, the fierce, overwhelming,
crushing weapon of Ashur, he felled one slain.
The warriors of Ashur cried, "To battle!"
as they went to face death.

The Assyrians capture the defiant king and plunder Babylon.

December 26, 1924:  dies in Worcester, Massachusetts, Dr. Abraham Yousef, an Assyrian social and political activist who had proudly served in the United States Army in the First World War.

According to al-Deyar, a Lebanese Newspaper, a new organization in Lebanon has been established to initiate projects to preserve and teach Syriac language.  The Council for the Syriac Language is headed by Dr. Immad Chamoun Ph.D., a political and religious sociologist at Rabieh University.  The goals of the Council are the following:

• Making an accurate census of all the Syriac manuscripts scattered around the world
• Conduct research on the development of Syriac language
• Standardization of the Syriac language
• Development of a curriculum for teaching Syriac
• Preparation of the Syriac language instructors

Some members of the Council include:  Bishop Polus Mattar, Bishop George Saliba, Bishop Yusef Tumas, Bishop Narsai de Baz, Bishop Antum Hayek, and Reverend Dr. Salim Sahyuni.

We Stand Corrected!  In our December 7th Interview with George Aryo we identified Mr. Musa Caklo as a representative of the Revolutionary Patriotic Organization of Bethnahrin.  Mr. Caklo is a member of the Assyrian Association of Gutersloh in Germany and was elected as a member of the Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile's first election.

ZENDA Magazine is published every Monday. Views expressed in ZENDA do not necessarily represent those of the ZENDA editors, or any of our associated staff.  This publication reserves the right, at its sole discretion, not to publish comments or articles previously printed in or submitted to other journals. ZENDA   reserves the right to publish and republish your submission in any form or medium. All letters and messages  require the name(s) of sender and/or author. All messages published in the SURFS UP! section must be in 500 words or less and bear the name of the author(s). Distribution of material featured in ZENDA is not restricted, but permission from ZENDA is required.  This service is meant for the exchange of information, analyses and news. To subscribe, send e-mail to: zenda@ix.netcom.com.

The Directory of ZENDA News Sources
ZNAA (Assyrian Academic Society-Chicago)
ZNAD (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
ZNAF (Agence France-Presse)
ZNAH (Al-Ahram Newspaper, London)
ZNAL (Al-Hayat, London)
ZNAI  (Assyrian International News Agency)
ZNAK (American Kurdish
ZNAM (Archeology Magazine)
ZNAP (Associated Press International)
ZNBN (Bet-Nahrain Inc/ KBSV-TV "AssyriaVision")
ZNCN (ClariNews)
ZNIF (Iraq Foundation)
ZNDA (Zenda: zenda@ix.netcom.com)
ZNIN (Iraqi National Congress)
ZNLT (Los Angeles Times)
ZNMN (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNMW (Mideast Newswire)
ZNNQ (Nabu Quarterly)
ZNNV (Nineveh Magazine)
ZNNY:  New York Times
ZNPR:  Palestinian Review
ZNQA (Qala Atouraya- Moscow)
ZNRU (Reuters)
ZNSH (Shotapouta Newsletter)
ZNSJ (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNSM (Shufimafi Lebanese News)
ZNSO (Syrian Orthodox News "SOCNews")
ZNTM (Time Magazine)
ZNUP (United Press International)
ZNUS (US News & World Report)
ZNCW:  Catholic World News