It was when a gang held Maryam up at gunpoint, tore the crucifix from her neck, and shot dead her driver that she knew she had to leave Baghdad. She would decide she could never go back after her best friend, a doctor, gave it a try: six months later, she was dragged off the street near the hospital where she and Maryam had worked, bundled into a car, raped, and murdered.
The pair were both members of Baghdad's dwindling Christian population. Even in the darkest days of Saddam Hussein's rule, it was a thriving community. Now it is half gone, driven out by the casual lawlessness of the streets. Although the gangs are sometimes loyal to the government and the Americans, and sometimes to their enemies, they are unwavering in their determination to show their strength, by whatever means necessary. Minorities make an easy target.
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