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                   Iraq's Only Yazidi Lawmaker Seeks US Help

   by Elizabeth Arrott

   Islamic state militants declare most people in their path infidels, but
   seem to reserve a special wrath for those of the Yazidi faith.

   In their advance across Iraq, IS fighters have summarily shot and
   killed Yazidi men, kidnapped women and girls, and boasted of selling
   them as slaves. Recent IS guidelines detail the types of sexual and
   other assault that slaves may be subjected to.

   Yazidis are ethnic Kurds whose ancient, monotheistic religion has links
   to Zoroastrianism.

   Vian Dakhil is trying desperately to enlist more help for the
   endangered minority. The sole Yazidi member of Iraq's parliament,
   Dakhil is in Washington this week talking to lawmakers and
   administration officials about what she calls "the most critical crisis
   facing our people in our long and painful history."

   She wants immediate help for what she says are up to 3000 people held
   hostage, for the hundreds of families still trapped by militants on
   Mount Sinjar, and for the nearly half million Yazidis who have taken
   refuge in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan with not enough food or proper
   shelter, she says, to get them through the winter.

   She tells VOA's Kurdish service about her meetings with Washington
   officials:  "All of them agree with me that it's a bad situation."

   The U.S. has stepped up before. The plight of Yazidis trapped by IS
   fighters in August led to a U.S.-led rescue mission.  Dakhil bears the
   scars of those efforts; she walks with a crutch after being injured in
   a helicopter crash on Mount Sinjar.

   Dakhil wants weapons sent to help the small number of fighters who
   remain on Mount Sinjar, who, along with Kurdish Peshmerga forces, are
   locked in a stand-off with IS militants.

   Yazidis have suffered repeated bouts of discrimination over the
   centuries, in particular by Arab Muslims who misunderstand their faith.

   Faith, Dakhil argues, hinders Yazidis on the current international
   front as well.  She told lawmakers Christians in Iraq have a powerful
   lobby and support from European nations and the Vatican.

   "We do not have advocates," she said.

   But the plight of Yazidi women and girls has caught the world's
   attention. Dakhil wants the compassion translated into action to free
   them.  Reminded that the U.S. has ruled out placing troops in combat
   positions in Iraq, Dakhil tells VOA she can't suggest what should be
   done. But with an outsized faith in American capabilities, she insists
   "the U.S. military can do this."

   For her own part, she will continue to advocate on the Yazidis' behalf
   however she can. Her first order of business on returning to Iraq, she
   says, is to start setting up rehabilitation programs for the few Yazidi
   women and girls who have managed to escape from Islamic State slavery.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iraq-only-yazidi-lawmaker-seeks-us-he
   lp/2555460.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iraq-only-yazidi-lawmaker-seeks-us-help/2555460.html