ate the U.N. has cited for years. The actual percentage of Christian refugees is likely far greater. In a reference to the fate of Iraq &rsquo;s <span id="lw_1299260289_8">Jewish population</span>, which stands at eight souls, down from a third of Baghdad &rsquo;s population in the 1940s, the <em>Times</em> reports:</p>
<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exactly what happened to the Jews,&rdquo; said Nassir Sharhoom, 47, who fled last month to the Kurdish capital, Erbil, with his family from Dora, a once mixed neighborhood in Baghdad . &ldquo;They want us all to go.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
The obliteration from Iraq of its ancient Christian presence &mdash; and with it the reality of religious freedom and pluralism &mdash; is an <span id="lw_1299260289_9">unintended consequence</span> of the U.S. invasion but has never been factored in as a U.S. strategic concern. There is no Obama policy, not even a safe-haven or refugee policy, designed specifically to help Iraq &rsquo;s Christians as they confront religious cleansing.</p>
<p>
&mdash; <em>Nina Shea</em><em>is director of the Hudson Institute&rsquo;s Center on Religious Freedom</em></p>