End of an auld sang

"at least half of these Christians - around 350,000 people - have fled Bush's new Iraq and its violence, mass abductions and economic meltdown...The Christian community in Iraq [was] one of the oldest in the world.

...Almost everywhere [across the Middle East] the Christians are leaving, as ill-judged Anglo-American adventures, intended to suppress terrorism, actually have the reverse effect and steadily radicalise the entire region".

William Dalrymple, arguing that Syria"the final place of refuge for Christians in the Middle East is under threat."