Posted on 01/08/2005 4:12:06 PM PST by blam
Christians flee genocide as fear sweeps Iraq
By Jack Fairweather at St Matthew's Monastery near Mosul
(Filed: 08/01/2005)
One of the most ancient monasteries in the world, St Matthew's, stands on a barren mountainside in northern Iraq, its last inhabitant a crusty old Syrian Orthodox priest. Nestled between sandstone crags with views of the hills around ancient Nineveh, now called Mosul, it looks like the final redoubt of the Christian world.
Seven thousand monks used to worship here; now there is just one, Father Ada Qadr al-Kars.
St Matthew's Syrian Orthodox Monastery was founded in the fourth century AD
This thinning of the ranks has taken centuries, he said, but in the valleys Iraq's Christian community, targeted with especial ferocity by Islamic extremists for the past year, is disappearing rapidly.
Churches have been bombed, priests kidnapped and Christian neighbourhoods subjected to random shootings, the terrorists' revenge for the community's shared religion with the "Christian" invaders.
According to Church leaders, some 300,000 Christians - roughly a quarter of the population - have fled their homes since the US-led invasion.
It is too early to speak of a humanitarian crisis, with many from the community, one of Iraq's more affluent, able to leave the country in civilised fashion or find shelter in the Kurdish-controlled north. But in the minds of Church leaders there is little doubt as to the nature of the exodus.
"It's genocide. You can see it with your own eyes," said Bishop Putres Harbori, head of the Christian community in Dohuk, near the Turkish border, where 350 families have found sanctuary.
Many fear that Iraq's ancient Christian community is leaving for ever, some nostalgic for better times under Saddam Hussein. Life was good when the Ba'athists were in charge, said Paula Sliwa, 71, one of 60,000 Christians to flee Mosul in recent months.
He belongs to the Assyrian Church, one of several sects in the city tracing their history to Job preaching to the ungodly. He, his wife and five children used to live with 100 other families near the Shaleeka Cunta church on the western bank of the Euphrates.
Iraq's small Christian community has a history of collaboration with the powers-that-be in Baghdad, first with the British in the 1920s, then with Saddam's regime, which boasted the Christian Tariq Aziz as one of its most powerful leaders. Christians often worked in the luxury business, selling alcohol and running beauty parlours.
"I have a large house and two cars," said Mr Sliwa, formerly a well paid government official. "We never had any trouble." But the Christian community in Mosul has been shaken by a wave of vicious attacks, including five car bombs detonated outside churches, killing more than 20, in one month.
Anti-Christian graffiti was daubed on church walls and inflammatory CDs sold in the market. Regular gun attacks began in Christian areas of the city, with several priests kidnapped and told that, as Christians, they were on the side of the American invaders.
"We were used to living in hell," said Mr Sliwa. Then a neighbour told him that his two sons had been killed by the latest attack. "My son's car was 300 metres away. They were slumped in their seats, covered in blood," he said. "The terrorists had shot at any car in the neighbourhood, knowing they would kill Christians."
Mr Sliwa and the rest of his family fled to Angkawr, one of a number of Christian communities in the Kurdish-protected north. That evening his house in Mosul was broken into and ransacked.
Stories like his are common in Angkawr, where 150 families shelter from the oppression and fear that forced them to flee homes in Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.
They say a new breed of al-Qa'eda-inspired terrorists, rather than the former Ba'athists, are behind the attacks. Iraqi police are powerless to protect the community, say families, and US forces rarely intervene, not wanting to be seen to be siding with Christians and thereby exposing the troops to more violence.
For their part, Christian leaders in Iraq oscillate between calling the attacks "ethnic cleansing" and stressing that Christians are suffering along with others in Iraq.
Angkawr, a town of 35,000 people, is defended by guards and concrete barriers. Residents, along with the refugees, want to leave the country as fast as possible, with Syria, Jordan, Europe and America the popular destinations.
Saed Alexis, a local business leader, said: "There is not a person who wouldn't leave Iraq if they could. In five years there will be no one left."
Funny how they werent fleeing just a week ago.....
and they certianly ARE NOT fleeing in Baghdad....
The Telegraph is a funny paper. Sometimes they come up with some great articles and scoops, but other times they come up with bizarre articles that seem completely made up on the spot (not saying this is one of them, just making an observation). Anyone else notice this? It's completely hit and miss.
In the same vein, there are "terrorist media" in the west that want to derail elections, want to prevent Success, and prevent any accomplishments attributed to Bush, while there are at least some in the western media that want a stable and free Iraq, as well as many true freedom lovers in the West.
This type of editorializing baloney is why NOTHING written by the Telegraph is believable.
I read about this in the WSJ months ago. Both the WSJ and the Telegraph are very supportive of the Iraq war.
I fear that this persecution is all too true.
Gee, I thought there were no Christians in Iraq... that's why there was a big hubbub about bringing the Gospel there....
If this story is true, the US should offer to evacuate any Christians who want to leave and let them into the US. Of course I don't guess it would be practical to try and determine who was Christian - could turn into an easy way for terrorists to get inside. But if it is true, it saddens me to think our troops don't feel they can do anything for fear of inciting more hatred.
Europe? Why are they going to Europe? It's just a matter of time before the genocide begins there also.
"BAGHDAD / NAJAF (ANS) -- Tens of thousands of Christians have fled Iraq where fierce battles raged Tuesday August 17, between American forces and the Mahdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a government official confirmed. (Pictured: From left, President Ghazi al-Yawer, PM Iyad Allawi, Deputy PM Barham Saleh, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, former member of the governing council. Source: Voice of America). "
Just let me tell you guys this. I didnt see it. I was there ok?
I don't tend to trust Human things without seeing it myself....especially in Iraq....
Gee, I thought there were no Christians in Iraq... that's why there was a big hubbub about bringing the Gospel there....One problem since the start has been our ignorance of Iraq. Yes, there are Christians there, and have been since the first century AD. Saddam Hussain was a terrible dictator, but he was an "equal opportunity" dictator... if anything, he had an "affirmative action" program for Christians. Saddam maintained power mostly by keeping the various tribal and religious factions out of government... which let the Christians thrive in that society. Why do you think the Pope was particularly upset with our excuses for this invasion? The man's job is to defend his people, after all... and a lot of Catholics (including Nestorian, Assyrian and Maronite Catholics), as well as other Christians looked to the Pope as the only support they'd have without Saddam. If we were going after dictators who supress religion, we'd be going after Saudi Arabia and China, not Iraq.
I knew this was going to happen.
More "class stuggle" stuff from the UK scandal mongers. These gossipy Brits love a juicy pot boiler.
Why bother commenting on this smelly mess?
Good- give all the Christians time to get out, then send ONE plane.
Possibly for reasons similar to why Medieval nobles would put Jews into many court positions: you don't want to hand power over to anybody who could have ambitions for the top job. A Christian COULD NOT become ruler of a Muslim country, so they would not be a worry to Saddam
Somehow, unless it IS the islamo-fascists targeting non-islamo-fascists (which I doubt), I don't think this is a religious thing.
How's about a collaboration thing?
Or a manufactured "news" thing?
Out of "Ur of the Chaldees" he came, at the command of God, and with his family and flocks he wandered into the Land of Canaan. We call him Abraham, father of nations, for it is he who begot two of the nations of the Middle East, namely the Israelites, later called Jews, and the Ishmaelites, also called Arabs.
In the first century AD St. Thomas the Apostle brought the Gospel of Christ to Mesopotamia. He was assisted by St. Addai who preached from 37 to 65 AD. After the latter's martyrdom, his work was carried on by his disciples, St. Aggai (65 - 87 AD) and St. Mari (88-121 AD). The Church of the East, also called the East Syriac Church, because it lay east of the Roman Empire, grew rapidly in the following centuries, spreading the faith to Persia, China and India. The competition between the Byzantine Empire and Persia caused the Church of the East to sever its ties to the Patriarchate of Antioch in 424 AD. At that time the Nestorian heresy (1) was raging throughout the Middle East. The Church of the East eventually succumbed to this heresy in large part due to its aversion to the influence of the Church of Constantinople. In rejecting the orthodox resolutions of the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Church of the East separated itself from the Universal Church and was thereafter known as the Nestorian Church.
In 634 Arabs bearing the religion of Muhammad appeared in Mesopotamia and brought the entire region under the heel of Islam where it remains today. In the early centuries of Islamic rule, the Church of the East continued to prosper. Thereafter, under growing Islamic persecution and repression the Church declined. In the 16th century portions of the Church of the East sought relief by establishing relations with the Church of Rome. Thereafter, those Christians in union with Rome were known as Chaldeans whereas the remaining Christians were called Assyrians.
The Christian minorities in Iraq today are among the oldest in Christendom. They make up about 6% of the population numbering fewer than one million out of a population of 17 million.
CHALDEAN CHURCH AL TAHERA IN MOSUL
Photo taken early 2004
This church was blown up by Muslims, early in December.
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Western Europe had it's chance to stand up against militant islam in Kosovo, instead the west aligned itself with militant islamic terrorists, and bombed Christians.
Western Europe is reaping what is has sown.
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