With Saddam's Capture, "Fear Has Ended" in Iraq

Zenit News Agency ^ | DEC. 15, 2003 | N/A

[ArrogantBustard]

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Code: ZE03121507

Date: 2003-12-15

With Saddam's Capture, "Fear Has Ended" in Iraq

Chaldean Bishops Voice Hopes for Country's Future

BAGHDAD, Iraq, DEC. 15, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The Iraqi population was surprised and relieved to learn about the capture of Saddam Hussein, say the country's two Chaldean Catholic bishops.

"At last fear is removed -- all the weight we carried on our backs, all the dead and the killings," as well as the "suspicion that there still were spies, that Saddam would reappear," said Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of the Diocese of Amadiyah, according to AsiaNews.it.

With the arrest of the former Iraqi leader, "fear has ended," Bishop Al-Qas said. "The snake's head has been crushed and the regime has really ended. … For us in Iraq, the period of reconstruction really begins."

Under the dictatorial regime of Saddam, the "Church and people have suffered together," Bishop Al-Qas explained. We "have all been persecuted: Christians, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Syro-Chaldeans. All the people have suffered very much. Now, all of them hope for a more secure and stable future."

"As bishop, I say that it is just that [Saddam] should be prosecuted by an Iraqi court," without forgetting "that he always has a dignity that must be respected," the prelate added.

"But it is necessary that he confess his crimes, the millions of people he has killed or ordered to be killed," he added. "Christian forgiveness also implies confession and expiation."

For his part, Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told Vatican Radio that the arrest of the former Iraqi dictator had "been a surprise for all."

His capture "is good news for all the Iraqi people," he said. "It was said and it was feared that many terrorist actions came" from Saddam, a "person thirsty for power."

"There are many terrorist sources; there is not just one source," hence the need for "cooperation among all to bring back peace and tranquility" to Iraq, beginning by "guarding the borders" given the possible "infiltration of terrorists," Bishop Warduni said.

"I think that in Iraq there are many intelligent people, also political, and undoubtedly personalities will arise capable of directing the country without taking recourse to a dictatorship," the bishop said.

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[ArrogantBustard]

Watch the western presstitutes ignore this.

[ArrogantBustard]

Ping

The western press quotes Abp Martino's drivel, but ignores the Catholics who are actually in Iraq.

[In God I trust]

You know the press will ignore these types of stories. That is why I always mass email these stories to those on my contact list. Some who receive my email will forward to their contact list and so on. It's up to the folks in this country to keep the truth flowing out there, because the lame-stream media just won't do it. I ask everyone to please make sure you take stories like this and pass it on to as many as you can. The truth must live!

[CharlotteVRWC]

I hope he sent a copy of this letter to the Pope.

[BagCamAddict]

"The snake's head has been crushed..."

This makes it clear that the al Qaeda threat tapes that mention cutting off the head of the snake are referring to Bush.

[Bubba_Leroy]

"Fear Has Ended" in Iraq

Yeah, but it's skyrocketing over at DU.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Did anyone hear about some high school kid that has been arrested for making a death threat to the President?

I just heard it on Fox several minutes ago.

Almost immediately, I thought about DU and the propaganda they are spewing. This is just where some ignorant kook like that is going to spring out of~!

[proud American in Canada]

"who receive my email will forward to their contact list and so on. It's up to the folks in this country to keep the truth flowing out there, because the lame-stream media just won't do it. I ask everyone to please make sure you take stories like this and pass it on to as many as you can. The truth must live!"

Great idea. I'm sending it out now.

[Aquinasfan]

The western press quotes Abp Martino's drivel, but ignores the Catholics who are actually in Iraq.

Of course. And few of us would know it without FR.

[general_re]

Thx for posting this.

[oyez]

DU has gone absolutely nuts. All that paranoia is being spread by Howard the Insinuator, Hippy Hillery and Madeline Albright. This insanity is now the engine of the Democrats. Incredible. This is the kind of lodgic that brought Hitler to power.

[Gritty]

...insanity is now the engine of the Democrats

That deserves repeating.

[oyez]

That deserves repeating

insanity is now the engine of the Democrats.

I haven't heard any thing said by that party that was backed by logic and reason in months

[McGavin999]

My favoite "pundit" was the Shiite cleric who was on FOX the other day. He couldn't stop smiling! After the segment was over he said "Merry Christmas to all". It was the most hopeful thing I've ever seen.

[ArrogantBustard]

I missed that ... was he talking about the capture of saddam? If Shiite Clerics (even some of them) see it as a Good Thing, there's indeed hope for Iraq's future.

[McGavin999]

This was an Iraqi cleric from Detroit, he's an exile. He had just returned from a trip to Iraq. He is not at all the exception. There are two schools of Shiite thought, one that clerics should be the ultimate power (as those in Iran believe) and those who believe that politics will corrupt the cleric as the great Ayatollah Al Sistani (in Iraq) believes. Actually, you can tell quite a bit just by looking at their faces.

This man is an absolute delight and I hope he makes many trips back to Iraq. His people need him.