Now All That is Gone”: The Vanishing Christian Communities of Iraq and Syria

Catholic World Report ^ | 10/5/16 | K.V. Turley

[marshmallow]

An interview with the filmmakers behind “Our Last Stand,” a new documentary about the on-going genocide perpetrated against Middle Eastern Christians

A young boy, 10 years old or so, faces the camera.

Like many young boys, he is happy to be interviewed.

This is war-torn Iraq, however, so he tells of the day ISIS came to his village. He starts to recount, horror after horror, what took place. It is hard to accept that one so young has already seen so much evil. Gradually, his retelling of what happened slows and he breaks down. It is hard to watch as the tears flow down his cheeks. He tries to stem them, brushing them away…but to no avail. His grief is too great. He is now talking to himself as much as to the camera. He talks of when he used to go to school, ride his bicycle and play soccer with his friends—he stops. Again, he looks at the camera, finishing with the words: “Now all that is gone…”

This is just one of the harrowing testimonies in the new documentary Our Last Stand. The award-winning film tells the story of what is left of the ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria. ISIS, along with other Islamic extremists, is destroying the lives and the lands of Christians who have for centuries lived in peace with their more numerous Muslim neighbors. In this latest genocide, no one came to the aid of the Christians. They looked to the West, but no avail.

I recently spoke with the filmmakers, Jordan Allott and Helma Adde, after a screening of Our Last Stand.

CWR: What was the genesis of Our Last Stand?

Jordan Allott: For a number of years, I had been traveling in the Middle East doing work (shooting video, writing, taking......

[dp0622]

and yet this mother ####er would win again if he ran.

All that matters is women empowerment, gay empowerment, black empowerment, muslim empowerment.

Oh, and war with Russia. dumb ####s.

[BenLurkin]

[Alberta's Child]

Forget about Obama. This is the legacy of GEORGE W. BUSH.

[dp0622]

AMEN to that. But 10k troops in Iraq would have resulted in the savings of HUNDREDS of thousands of lives.

And with the right president, those 10k would have struck FEAR into the countries around it. And once they fear you, they will respect you.

We’ve lost all that.

[Sontagged]

Exactly. The Bush legacy at work - and the real purpose behind the Bush Clinton alliance.

Unipartiers are antiChrist by nature.

[SkyDancer]

What 0bama was hoping for.

[Alberta's Child]

Christians in Iraq would have been better off if Saddam Hussein was still in power. Lots of us knew this back in 2003, but nobody wanted to listen.

[ConorMacNessa]

This is a troubling fact that Bush has never been called to answer for. It seems that regardless of who occupies the White House, Christians in the Middle East are systematically "cleansed" from the population.

"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!"

[dp0622]

I DIDN’T KNOW.

BUSH AND CHENEY KNEW!!!! They didn’t give a ####.

Needed that big ole diversion from Saudi Arabia.

ALL the Bushes are voting for clinton. cheney is voting for trump, but he was the smart guy in the 2 man operation and i am verty disappointed in him

Christians were safer in Syria and Libya too.

[Karl Spooner]

[Rebel2016]

Bush jr., stupid enough to start the damned Iraqi war at prod of evil neocons and opened the pandora box.

[dp0622]

Hey, you’re quite a jerk for calling me willfully ignorant.

How the #### would I know what’s going on internally in IRaq?

And insulting so many FReepers.

I’m saddened that you’re a jerk.

I respected and liked your posts.

Now dont bother me again.

[Alberta's Child]

I still respect and I still like your posts, but on this point you were simply ill-informed. It was no secret back then what the Iraqi Christian leadership was saying.

I do apologize, though, for saying that you were willfully ignorant about it. I am going to see about deleting that post.

I faced plenty of wrath back then from Freepers who drank the Bush Kool-Aid over Iraq. I'm probably one of the few survivors here who wasn't banned, so I hope you can understand my anger.

[dp0622]

Dont delete the post. What are you nuts? :)

You should know my Italian temper flares and then goes down as quickly as it went up.

:)

[dp0622]

And honestly, I wasn’t willfully ignorant. I dont remember reading that AT ALL.

I KNEW something was wrong but got caught up in the mob mentality. Wont happen ever again.

I stared at deficit under a Republican PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS and then I knew something was rotten.

It was the Bushes and the elitists that Trump has exposed.

[Alberta's Child]

I have to delete it. I don’t want my mother to see it. LOL.

[dp0622]

ROFL!!!!!!

[Alberta's Child]

I think a lot of Freepers who drank the Bush Kool-Aid finally had their eyes opened when all those neo-con globalists from the Bush administration began crawling out from under their rocks to support Hillary Clinton.