THE MANDAEANS now have some allies in the U.S. Congress, which is good news:

U.S. House members seek help for a religious minority in Iraq
By CHRIS NEWMARKER
Associated Press Writer

March 14, 2007, 4:44 PM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. -- The plight of Mandaeans _ an endangered religious minority in Iraq _ has drawn the attention of five members of Congress who want the Bush administration to do more to help them.

In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the four Republicans and one Democrat call for appropriate resettlement programs for Mandaean refugees that have fled to Jordan, Syria, Yemen and Indonesia, where community members say there is still persecution.

The five U.S. House members _ Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Michael E. Capuano, D-Mass., and Marilyn N. Musgrave, R-Colo. _ also want a refugee resettlement program in the U.S. to be expanded to include Mandaeans.

The letter, dated Tuesday, was initially released Wednesday by the New Jersey-based Mandaean Society of America.

Mandaeanism, which treats John the Baptist as a great teacher, has survived for two millennia, but the war in its major homeland of Iraq now threatens its existence.

Many have fled amid targeted killings, rapes, forced conversions, and property confiscation by Islamic extremists, according to the Mandaean Society of America.

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