Prime Minister John Howard has denied that he was making a threat to pull out Australian troops if the Iraqi government didn't make progress on two key issues, as the plight of Iraqi Christians was mentioned in a forum addressed to Australian Christians.
In the letter, which was sent last week, the PM demanded that the Iraqi government speed up the sharing of the oil wealth among the people as well as resolving the political differences among the fracture coalition government, reported the Australian.
However, Mr Howard - speaking to reporters in Sydney on Saturday – said it was just a 'friend' urging that more progress should be made, reported AAP.
As the Iraqi government tries to impose stability to the country and restoring safety to its people, Christians in Australia are particularly concern about the Christian minority in Iraq, known as Assyrian Christian.
In the 6th National Forum of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), all members agreed to: "Pray for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq … (and) to do whatever is in their power to urge the Australian Government and other governments to assist refugees, particularly Christians who have been singled out for persecution in the Middle East, by providing financial assistance and granting humanitarian and other visas."
The General Secretary of the NCCA, Reverend John Henderson, has called on Australians to address the 'humanitarian crisis' in Iraqi, saying the country was 'haemorrhaging.'
"As both a coalition member and an influential member of the international community, Australia must do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and its neighbouring countries," said Reverend Henderson.
"Iraq is haemorrhaging. We must recognise that there is a grave and escalating humanitarian crisis to be addressed. Not since 1948 has the Middle East seen so many people forced to flee their homes."
The plight of Christian refugees in Iraqi was also mentioned by Kevin Rudd, the Opposition Leader in the Christian forum held on Thursday, who said he would assist them fleeing the country by initiating a multilateral conference on how to deal with the needs of refugee communities in Syria, Jordan and beyond.
Jim Wallace, the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), applauded Mr Rudd's refugee commitment saying it would be good if this initiative was extended to other Christian minorities who were suffering severe persecution in a range of countries.
"We welcome this commitment to family impact statements and also to assisting Christians being persecuted in Iraq. There are many Christian minorities experiencing severe persecution in a range of countries and it would be good to see this approach also extended to other areas of the world," Mr Wallace said.
Over 500,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the 2006 Samarra bombings with some 2-3,000 Iraqis leaving every day; with at least 2 million internally displaced Iraqis and another 2 million Iraqi refugees that have fled to neighbouring states, reported the NCCA.