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It certainly appeared to have been a premeditated, pre-planned disruption of a routine flight, perhaps designed to test responses or as a larger plot to intimidate and thereby garner privileges or concessions. It’s not likely that the six despicable individuals involved all just happened to find each other as members of the same Arab soccer team, although they certainly do deserve each other’s company. A Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Chicago was rerouted to Amarillo late Monday, with six passengers removed and subsequently arrested on charges of “interference with a flight crew and abetting.” FBI special agent T....

A tomb had been desecrated and statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated at the St Addai Chaldean Catholic churchThere were gasps, followed by tears at a small church in northern Iraq as a group of Christians returned to their parish Sunday to find that everything had been destroyed, including the statue of the Virgin Mary, which ISIS militants had decapitated before they left. A confessional had been turned into a closet, a tomb had been desecrated, red prayer benches were burned. As Fr Thabet Habib recited prayers at the St Addai Chaldean Catholic Church, the sound of broken glass...

Detained for 6 months while criminal illegals allowed to stay. More than half of the 27 Iraqi Christians the Obama administration has been holding for the past six months at an ICE detention center in Otay Mesa, California, are set to be deported in coming weeks. ... Iraq is home to one of the most ancient Christian communities, evangelized by the Apostle Thomas not long after the time of Jesus. ... Many of Iraq’s historic churches, some dating back to the second and third century after Christ, have been destroyed or converted to mosques. Others sit empty. ... Thousands of...

A Canadian Jewish businessman has spearheaded efforts to rescue Iraqi Yazidi and Christian girls from slavery after the girls were captured by ISIS troops, using money donated privately by business contacts. The businessman has cited Oskar Schindler, who rescued Jewish children from the holocaust, as his inspiration. Last summer the world looked on in horror as ISIS swept through north Iraq, home to Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, and Yazidis. Hundreds of thousands fled before them, but thousands more starved to death in the desert, or were captured by Islamic forces. Girls in particular were bartered for in the markets, standing...

ISLAM arose with remarkable speed and mystery. Patricia Crone’s well-stocked mind, clear prose and unflinching intellectual honesty were devoted to explaining why. She had little time for Islam’s own accounts of its origins: “debris” as far as historians were concerned, and hopelessly inconsistent. Far better, she reckoned, to fill the gap with contemporary sources and knowledge of other cultures, from messianic Maoris to Icelanders. That required both personal and intellectual bravery. The central beliefs of Islam, such as the way the Koran took shape, the life of Muhammad and Islam’s relations with other religions, are sensitive subjects. Outside scrutiny can...

Catholics in Iraq are 'challenging' the Islamic State not with weapons or violence but through education and teaching, thanks to the contribution and support of Australian Catholic University. This October courses will begin at the Catholic University of Erbil, which was desired by the Chaldean Church in Iraq as a concrete way to aid the Christian youth in the Middle East. In recent days, Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil for Chaldeans met with representatives of Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Archbishop Denis James Hart of Melbourne in order to better...

Islamic State fighters seized control of Iraq's biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns on Sunday after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping through the region in June. Capture of the Mosul Dam after an offensive of barely 24 hours could give the Sunni militants the ability to flood major Iraqi cities or withhold water from farms, sharply raising the stakes in their bid to topple Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.

IRBIL, Iraq -- A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month. Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they...

The Kurdish region of Iraq and Turkey, border Iran, and Syria. Kurds have a well developed, effective government, parliament and security force. The region has had nearly total independence since Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. // Snipp // Largely corrupted remnants of U.S.-trained Iraqi Army, crumbled under the Saudi-wahhabi push East. Peshmerga recovered strategic northern positions, including suburbs of now, wahhab dominated City Mosul. //Snipp// Many Kurdish Iraqi leaders believe ever blossoming federal cronyism, and recently demonstrated national defense atrophy, lay bare a chronic Humpty Dumptyism. The Nation may best function as a Republic. “I don’t think Iraq...

Kurdistan has declared a safe-haven for Christian refugees, as Islamist militants extinguish the Christian presence in Iraq’s second city, Mosul. According to news reports, every Christian has finally been driven out of the city. Displaced Christians have expressed anger towards the international community for failing to protect them or offer asylum. One priest, who cannot be named, told religious liberty organisation, Release International, that he was furious that Britain ‘offered visas to terrorists’ but refused to grant them to Iraqi Christians. The priest was also dismayed that British jihadis were among the IS fighters. ‘There is no hope, no future....

'Arab Spring': The chilly cruel winter reality of Arab racism and Islamic bigotry Not that ethnic racism and religious bigotry weren't rampant before the so-called "Arab spring" sprung about. But the intolerance tide seems to be only worsening, and without an Arab dictator to "hold" various factions together, vulnerability expand, risks rise. --- RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY: As the D.B. puts it: "Violence Against Egypt's Copts in an Intolerant Arab Spring.. The elephant in the room of the Arab Spring is now the mistreatment of minority communities—Christians and others—across the Arab world." FPM asks: Hillary Clinton Promises to Save Egypt's Christians? ......

For the last 10 days, Christians throughout Iraq have been holding meetings to decide whether to stay and risk being killed or flee into exile and an uncertain future. Most Iraqi Christians have Assyrian, Chaldaean and Babylonian backgrounds, peoples who have lived in "the Land of the Two Rivers" for more than 3,000 years and thus must feel at home. If many of them don't, it is because their community has become the latest target for terrorists dreaming of the "religious cleansing" of Iraq. This year, more than 180 Christians have been killed, either by snipers or in suicide attacks...

Iraq Christians face 'bleak future' Story Highlights: · Iraq's Christians face killings, intimidation; many have fled to other countries · Community has decreased from 1.4 million in 2003 to half that · One expert sees diversity decreasing, fears Muslim extremist majority in Iraq · Christians in Iraq face "horrible situation," says U.S. congresswoman By Joe Sterling CNN (CNN) -- It's a bittersweet Christmas season for Joseph Kassab, who grew up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime and now lives in Detroit, Michigan. Tempering the season's joy is his concern for fellow Iraqi Christians, who have endured killings, displacement and...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that by elevating the patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans to the rank of cardinal he wished to express his spiritual closeness and affection for Iraqis.By inducting Emmanuel III Delly into the College of Cardinals, "I intend to express in a concrete way my spiritual closeness and my affection for these people," the pope said at a Vatican ceremony creating 23 new cardinals."I think now with affection of communities entrusted to your care and, especially, to those most tried by suffering, challenges and difficulties of various kinds," he said."Among them, how...

Rome, 21 June last. «In this hour of authentic martyrdom for the name of Christ». With these words Pope Benedict XVI indicated the measure of his total participation in the tragic fate of the Iraqi people and Christians. He had before him, at the assembly of the ROACO (the Reunion of the Works for Aid to the Eastern Churches), the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans Emmanuel III Delly, in Rome, after having presided over the last Synod of the Chaldean bishops. The audience had understood that the judgment of the Pope on the Iraqi tragedy was equivalent to full...

The killers of Fr. Ragheed and the three deacons wanted their conversion to IslamNew details emerge surrounding the assassination of the Chaldean priest and his three friends in Mosul. Sunni Islam's highest authority in Iraq condemns the attacks against the Christians and lays "all blame at the door of the Government and occupying forces." The Iraqi Ambassador to the Holy See on the Nineveh Plain project "we work to build greater unity, not barriers".Mosul (AsiaNews) – Before opening fire on Fr. Raghhed Gani and his three deacons, the killers demanded their conversion to Islam. These emerging details of the murder...

Two Michigan men spied for the Iraqi government before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country, federal authorities said Tuesday. A grand jury indictment accuses Najib Shemami, 58, of Sterling Heights, of four espionage-related charges between March 2002 and early 2003, according to a statement by the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI. A criminal complaint filed against Ghazi Al-Awadi, 78, of Dearborn, claims he told the Iraqi intelligence in 1997 that he killed his son-in-law because the man belonged to an anti-Saddam Hussein political party. Both men were arrested Tuesday. Shemami and Al-Awadi are charged with conspiring to act...

The Sabian Mandaeans - one of the oldest religious groups in the world - are facing extinction, according to its leaders. They claim that Islamic extremists in Iraq are trying to wipe them out through forced conversions, rape and murder. The Mandaeans are pacifists, followers of Adam, Noah and John the Baptist. They have lived in what is now Iraq since before Islam and Christianity. More than 80% have been forced to flee the country and now live as refugees in Syria and Jordan. Even there they do not feel safe - but they say western governments are unwilling to...

(AINA) -- The Assyrian Universal Alliance issued the following statement yesterday on the lockout of Assyrian voters in north Iraq. AUA appeals to World Governments to restore voting rights to Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs and Yazidis The Assyrian Universal Alliance on behalf of its officers, Executive Board and Affiliates throughout the world has taken a very strong position condemning the denial of Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriac and other minorities of the right to vote in the Iraqi General Election where 275 members are to be elected to the National Parliament and election of Officers to the district councils in the 18 provinces...

The escalation of terrorism against religious places of worship, holy sites and believers in Iraq is causing non-Muslim minorities to flee in ever increasing numbers, threatening their survival, says an independent panel in a letter to President Bush. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, created by Congress to advise the president and secretary of state, said it has urgently requested a meeting with Bush to discuss the "dire" situation.