Mel Gibson movie "The Passion"

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhi Dan,

Iraq is made up of many different ethnic and religious groups. Many of them are from Babylonian and Assyrian descent, even though they consider themselves to be "Arabs" - which some are, of course. There are real Arab tribes there - but for the most part the Arabic-speaking Muslims of Iraq are actually not Arabs.....Arabs are from Arabia. They are merely Arabic speakers and had converted to Islam back when Islamic forces swept Mesopotamia.

Of course, this doesn't include the non-Semitic groups within Iraq like the Kurds and Turcomans.

The Christians of Iraq still maintain their ancient identity (Assyrian) and they speak their native Aramaic at home and with each other at church, etc. But they also learn Arabic because it is the official language of the country.