ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN LEADER CALLS FOR MORE PROTECTION (from Muslim violence) FOR HIS PEOPLE

Assist News ^ | October 18, 2004 | Dan Wooding

[miltonim]

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net
Monday, October 18, 2004

ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN LEADER CALLS FOR MORE PROTECTION FOR HIS PEOPLE – BEFORE THEY LEAVE IN EVEN LARGER NUMBERS
Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad also says that the recent church bombings were clearly designed to frighten Christians

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

BAGHDAD, IRAQ  (ANS) -- The bombing of five more churches in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, October 16, has prompted an Assyrian Christian leader to ask for more protection for his people – before they leave in even larger numbers. (Pictured: Iraqis gather to inspect the damage in one of the five bombed churches).

The Rev. Ken Joseph Jr., director of the Assyrian Christian Assistance Center in Baghdad, said, “We demand immediate action on this and call upon all freedom loving peoples worldwide to demand their governments immediately provide all assistance so these urgent needs can be implemented before it is too late and the indigenous people of Iraq the Assyrian Christians are forced to leave.

Five Christian Churches were bombed in the 4AM Sunday morning attack. They were: The Mar Yussef (St. Joseph), Mar Toma (St. Thomas) Mar Yacob (St. Jacob), Mar Gewargis (St. George) and Mar Roum (St. Roum) and each of the churches, which were attended by many Assyrian Christians, sustained damage.

According to a message sent to the ASSIST News Service (ANS) by Joseph, this second major attack this year, following a previous attack on seven Assyrian Churches in August, “is sending shockwaves throughout the Assyrian Christian Community worldwide.”

Assyrian Christian leaders have just completed a series of meetings with the State Department in Washington and Congressional leaders and two separate meetings with the Iraqi Government, World Bank and UN demanding the “Five R’s” for the Assyrian Christian Community in Iraq.

They include:

• Reconstruction of 292 destroyed Assyrian Christian Villages
• Resettlement of nearly 100,000 Assyrian Christians driven out of their land by Saddam Hussein
• Registration for voting purposes of the community
• A Regional Security system
• A Regional Administrative Region under article 53 of the Constitution

A spokesman said, “What has encouraged the community in the series of meetings has been support from all parties including the Iraqi Government, US Government and others for an Autonomous area as guaranteed in the Constitution for the Assyrian Christians.”

According to the message from Baghdad, Dr. Aiham Alsmmarae, Minister of Electricity speaking at the Iraqi Donors Conference in Tokyo, Japan, echoing other Iraqi Government officials from the Prime Minister on down said, “The Assyrian Christians are the original people of Iraq…they have every right to have a protected homeland and we will do all we can to help them.”

According to Pascale Warda, the Iraqi Minister of Migration, and an Assyrian Christian herself, approximately 40,000 Assyrian Christians have streamed out of the country following the first bombing and this could be as high as nearly 90,000 according to some estimates.

As the members of the community pick up the pieces of the aftermath of this newest wave of bombings they must face the question of whether to stay or leave.

In a generation the Christian population of the Middle East has gone from nearly 20% to a low of under 2% with the figures reversing themselves in the United States for example where 78% of Americans of Middle Eastern background are not Moslem but in fact Christians.

“CLEARLY DESIGNED TO FRIGHTEN CHRISTIANS”

Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad said the recent church bombings were clearly designed to frighten Christians. The important thing was that no one was killed or injured, he told the Italian-based Catholic news agency, Asianews.

"These are inhuman acts. In the name of Iraqi Christians I ask everyone to pray that God may enlighten the minds of the people who are carrying them out," the patriarch said.

He noted that the homes of many Iraqi Muslims were also being attacked. It is a problem shared by all those working for peace, he said.

Patriarch Delly said only prayer would stop these kinds of attacks.

"May the Lord touch the minds of these people, who do not love Iraq," he said.

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Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). Wooding is the co-host of the weekly radio show, "Window on the World" and was, for ten years a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.

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[miltonim]

Muhammad-inspired persecution of Christians, Jews and all non-Muslims continues...

[freedom44]

Great post. Prayers for the Assyrians. in the United States for example where 78% of Americans of Middle Eastern background are not Moslem but in fact Christians.

Some of the radicals on FR need to re-read that line many times.

[freedom44]

Are you posting this because you actually care about fellow Christians or because you want death to all Muslims?

[Cronos]

Ping to the point you raise
78% of Americans of Middle Eastern background are not Moslem but in fact Christians

[Alouette]

Some churches still have their panties in a twist because naughty Jewish deliquent spat on an archbishop.

I ask all FReepers to pray for the safety of my son in the IDF, who is on duty in the Jordan Valley.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

[Robert Drobot]

Interesting information. Your source?

[Cronos]

Not mine -- freedom44's. While I have no facts on the exact number (I'm sure he has), I do agree that the majority of Middle Easterners in the US are Christians -- escaping persecution

[Cronos]

Some churches still have their panties in a twist because naughty Jewish deliquent spat on an archbishop.

Well, we don't have our 'panties in a twist'. We just don't expect our Jewish friends to act that way -- you may say it's nothing compared to what the Assyrian and Chaldean Christians experience. That is true, but the aggressors are the Muslimes. We EXPECT the Muslimes to do such things. We don't expect Israelis to do. It's like when there is a feud between two clans -- you expect the opposing clan to do evil but you don't expect your brother to slap you on your head.