Selling Christmas trees dangerous in Iraq Christians among the most targeted people in the city

"Celebration doesn’t always mean making a show. The celebration is inside the heart," he said, placing a hand on his chest. "Jesus is here inside the heart of the human being."

The Washington Post

...Last Monday, a week before Christmas, Dawoud was the only tree vendor on his street, which in times past had become Christmas tree row in early December. His colleagues were too afraid to join him. "They said, 'You go check it out first. You’re an old man,"’ he said. With a black-checkered kaffiyeh wrapped around his head, he placed five tall, anemic-looking trees against a wall and waited for people to show up. Few did. With his one good eye, he scanned every car that drove by. He called his presence on the street a "fidai" — a suicide mission — and broke into a hearty laugh. "Why should I be scared?" he asked. "The old men, they don’t care like the young people." Dawoud is a Muslim, but he has lived among Christians in the mixed Karrada district for years. "We are brothers," he said, expressing a tolerance that is increasingly rare in Baghdad. For centuries, including under the rule of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s Christian minority coexisted with Muslims. Saddam’s deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, was a Christian, one of an estimated 600,000 to 1 million people of the faith living in the country before the U.S.-led invasion overthrew Saddam in 2003...

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