Maliki Wants E.U. To Stop "Encouraging Iraqi Christians To Emigrate"

For some bizarre reason the Iraqi Prime Minister wants the few Christians that still reside in that country to stay put, so he is appealing to the European Union (EU) to encourage Christians to do just that. Apparently he blames the EU for the mass exodus, not the fact that they are major targets of Muslim extremists and might be better off elsewhere.

Nouri al-Maliki was at the Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad to celebrate the re-opening of the church that was bombed on October 31, 2010, killing 58 or so congregants and wounding 100 or so.

“I urge the EU countries to refrain from encouraging Iraqi Christians to emigrate…we lived side by side in harmony and enjoyed good relations without any conflicts.”

It's nice that unlike many other Muslim majority countries Iraq allows churches, but he's obviously in major denial about the lack of harmony in his country. If the Muslims can't even get along in the land of Baghdad, and his police force can't stem the sectarian violence that occurs all too frequently, how does he expect the Christians to fare well.

He has even written to the Pope to help keep his Christians, and apparently received a positive response.

“I have asked Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican to issue a statement urging Christians to remain in Iraq, so the East will not be emptied from Christians just as the West is not emptied from Muslims.”

Good luck trying to persuade other countries  to respect their religious minorities so that the East isn't "emptied from Christians."  And maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for Christians and followers of other tolerant religions to live exclusively in the West, while non-secular West-hating Muslims remain in their Shariah-compliant lands.