Jean Benjamin Sleiman, of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, is the Latin-rite Catholic archbishop of Baghdad. As of last year, there were approximately 11 priests serving 2,500 Catholics in 3 parishes in Baghdad. There are other Catholics in Iraq. The Eastern Catholic Churchs are in communion with the Roman Church. They are the Armenian-rite, Syrian-rite, and the Chaldean-rite. The latter is the largest, with over 600,000 members in Iraq. Or at least, there were before the war.
Sleiman has in the past said that the first casualty in Baghdad was a young Chaldean Catholic. His basic stance has been that the American occupying force does not understand the political situation. I can see his point.
In order to be legitimate, a government must have "authenticity," a degree of ownership by the people. This is not to say that we should devolve into democracy for the masses. I believe in separation of church and state in America. I'm not convinced that secular government is authentic everywhere. This ain't going anywhere until we can find an Islam we can live with.
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