Catholic Archbishop Kidnapped in Iraq

AP ^ | 1/17/05 | BASSEM MROUE

[ASA Vet]

Looks like our invasion, by letting the lid off the Islamic cauldron,
may have made things worse for Christians in Iraq than even under Saddam.

Or more likely they now have the freedom to flee that didn't exist under Sodamn Insane.

[stop_fascism]

You might be right. Personally, I belong to the Urban II / Torquemada wing of the church.

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

And Prayer Ping! Please pray for this Archbishop!

[Salvation]

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

Community and individuality are not opposites. People cannot survive on their own. When the odds are stacked against you, you must rally with the oppressed and hated.

When a growing oppressive regime is taking hold, you must act, otherwise you will soon face your enemy alone and hopeless.

Strength of community is a strength as much as individualism, as long you are willing to face weaknesses in your own community. Ignoring slacking values will mean that you will be rallied against by those you oppress.

Niemöller affirms we must rally against unhealthy organized regimes. We must also stay vigilant with those that appear to be good natured, as all organisation attracts corruption. Niemöller also warns us that if it is you who are corrupt, then you will face a stronger combined force of foe!
Vexen Crabtree

[Salvation]

Additional details here -- Gunmen Kidnap Catholic Archbishop in Iraq

[MKM1960]

I would be in that wing myself if I was still there.

[Smartass]

Other then hate, there is no excuse, or reason to kidnap
an Archbishop of the Catholic Church.

We pray for his immediate release...unharmed!

[26lemoncharlie]

Well, now we are learning first hand one of the reasons the Japanese Emmigrants were placed the camps during WWII.

The Second reason you see in the streets of New Jersey, and the Christians demanding revenge for the murders of their fellow Christians.

When the Christian Soldiers arise to demand justice, Justice will prevail!

The Borders must be Controlled, the Emmigration Laws must be enforced, illegals deported, if this murder and mayhem continues by the Muslims in America, Christians will protect themselves and their families. Should the Muslims be placed in Internment Camps or Deported?? I pray neither will be necessary.

[gaspar]

Certain elements in the Roman Curia have not been neutral at all. Rather, they have been vocally anti-American. This kidnapping was meant to provide the Vatican anti-war types more fodder to bash the USA.

[Peach]

Saddam was a vicious thug -- but one target of his viciousness was the Islamic radicals who have now been let loose to wreck havoc.

Proving once again that churchillbuff doesn't know much about Iraq. Saddam was one of the biggest supporter of terrorism and terrorists in the world. He certainly didn't target the jihadists...he funded them.

[Jaded]

I fail to see how members of TROP kidnapping an Archibishop would give the curia ammo for Bush-bashing. I guess it would depend on what they are breathing.

[TexKat]

Bump

[samadams2000]

I need an ediation..Whats the meaning?

[bonfire]

Prayers for this Priest.

[sono]

In hoc signo vinces: In this sign thou shalt conquer. (The motto is said to have been adopted by Constantine after his vision of a cross in the heavens just before his decisive battle with Maxentius, A.D. 312.)

http://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/I/inhocsignovinces.html

[TexKat]

An undated picture taken from the site of the Archdioceses of Syriac Catholic shows Archbishop Basile George Casmusa.Gunmen kidnapped a Catholic archbishop in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul Monday in what the Vatican condemned as a 'terrorist act' as persistent violence dogged the run-up to landmark January 30 elections.(AFP/HO)

Catholic archbishop abducted in Iraq as deadly unrest dogs poll run-up

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Gunmen kidnapped a Catholic archbishop in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul in what the Vatican condemned as a "terrorist act" as persistent violence dogged the run-up to landmark January 30 elections.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said his US-backed interim government was "prepared for the worst" as insurgent attacks killed dozens of people in the space of 48 hours.

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, leader of Mosul's Syrian Catholic community, was seized by gunmen at around 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) as he was about to get into his car, local priest Father Faraj told AFP.

The kidnappers then tossed him into the trunk of their vehicle before speeding away, said the priest, who follows the rival Chaldean rite.

The Chaldean patriarch in Baghdad, Emmanuel Delly, said Casmoussa "was abducted outside his home as he was returning from a pastoral visit in the diocese of Mosul".

"He was abducted and taken off in a car. We don't know who took him, nor the reason why," Delly told the missionary news agency Misna by telephone.

"We gave the news to the Vatican and now we are doing everything possible to trace him and we hope we can save him."

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said the Holy See "condemns in the firmest manner this terrorist act and demands that Monsignor Casmoussa be rapidly returned safe and well to his ministry".

The motive of the abuction was not immediately clear but it came amid mounting sectarian violence in the run-up to this month's election. The home of the Chaldean patriarch was attacked late last year prompting condemnation from Pope John Paul II.

In Baghdad, a spokesman for one of the main Christian political parties suggested the abduction might be an attempt to intimidate the community into staying at home on polling day.

"It could be an attack on Christians who are willing to participate in the elections," said Assyrian Democratic Movement spokesman William Warda.

Iraq's fledgling security forces, which are to take the lead role on polling day, took the brunt of a flurry of attacks around Iraq on Monday.

North of Baghdad, some 20 rebels ambushed an army checkpoint near Baquba, sprayed gunfire and lobbed rocket-propelled grenades, killing seven soldiers and a security guard, army officers told AFP.

A soldier was knelt in morning prayer in a tiny sentry post when insurgents came up from behind and decapitated him. Another three were burnt to death in a vehicle, the officers said.

The killings came after the Iraqi army arrested around 60 people in sweeps in the town of Bohrouz, south of Baquba, where the insurgency has popular support, said local resident Akeel Mateb.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group of Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet.

In another attack, seven policemen were killed and 15 wounded in a suicide bombing outside a police station in Baiji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery, a senior police officer said.

In the village of Al-Dawr, just outside Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown of Tikrit, one officer was killed and another wounded, police said.

In Al-Shurqat, south of Mosul, one policeman was killed and two wounded in another attack on a police station, while the body of a second officer was found riddled with bullets on a roadside.

Amid the violence, the deputy prime minister acknowledged that polling day was likely to be mired in violence but argued an "imperfect" poll was better than none at all.

"I hope elections will go smoothly but we are prepared for the worst," Saleh told AFP.

The top US commander in Iraq, General George W. Casey, gave a similarly gloomy prognosis, saying that election day violence was unavoidable despite the coalition's best efforts.

With much riding on their performance, Iraqi security forces went on the offensive, killing 35 rebels and arresting 64 in the space of 48 hours in the formerly rebel-held city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, the government said.

In Fallujah's province of Al-Anbar, the US Marines early Tuesday announced the death of two soldiers after earlier reporting US casualties in a suicide car bombing in the city of Ramadi.

Two beheaded corpses of Iraqi soldiers were also found in the city, security sources said.

In Mosul, the US military said it had killed seven insurgents in the space of 24 hours.

Outside Iraq, members of the country's huge emigre community began registering for this month's election in 14 countries around the globe in what organisers hailed as one of the largest operations of its kind.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

"The Holy See deplores in the firmest way such a terrorist act," a Vatican statement said, asking that he be freed immediately.

pffftttt!

Or WHAT?

[Ciexyz]

Prayers offered for the safety of the Iraqi Christians.

[TexKat]

Looks as though the kidnappers were just out for the ransom money, just a common criminal, and not those evil, evil butcher demons.

The Iraqi Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Basile Georges Casmoussa, talks with friends after being freed by kidnappers in Mosul January 18, 2005. Casmoussa was seized at gunpoint on Monday in what the Vatican called an act of terrorism, but was freed by his captors Tuesday, members of his congregation said. (Namir Noor-Eldeen/Reuters)

Kidnapped Iraq Bishop Freed, Says No Ransom Paid

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Iraqi Catholic archbishop of Mosul who was kidnapped at gunpoint Monday was freed Tuesday and said no ransom had been paid.

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, said he hoped his ordeal would not be seen as an attack on the Church in the predominantly Muslim nation.

The Vatican, which had condemned the abduction as an "act of terrorism," welcomed his release and said Pope John Paul "thanked God for the happy ending."

Casmoussa told Vatican Radio he had been treated well during his one day in captivity.

"As soon as they found out I was a bishop, their attitude changed ... I think that my abduction was a coincidence. In recent times, there have been numerous kidnappings around here," Casmoussa said.

"Based on the conversations I had with them (the kidnappers), it didn't appear to me that they wanted to strike at the Church as such."

Misna, a Rome-based Catholic missionary news agency with extensive contacts in the developing world, earlier reported the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $200,000.

The Vatican, which Monday night demanded the immediate release of the archbishop, confirmed no ransom had been paid.

Casmoussa was kidnapped by gunmen in two cars in the northern al-Majmoua al-Thaqafiya district of Iraq's third largest city Tuesday afternoon while he was on his way to visit some families in his congregation.

Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman, said the kidnapping had "prompted great surprise" because Casmoussa was "very much loved" by both the Christian and Muslim community.

Casmoussa was believed to have been the highest ranking Catholic prelate to be abducted in Iraq, where the local church has been the target of a bombing campaign aimed at intimidating the tiny Christian minority.

ANCIENT CHURCHES

Most of Iraq's Christians, who make up some 3 percent of the 25 million population, belong to the early Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic churches. The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

While Christians had little political power under Saddam Hussein, they were free to worship and did not feel threatened by sectarian violence.

But Iraq's 650,000 or so Christians have been trickling out of their ancient homeland since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as insurgents step up attacks against both Muslim and Christian holy places in an apparent bid to inflame sectarian tension.

On Aug. 1 five churches in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul were bombed in coordinated attacks that killed 12 people. Five Baghdad churches were bombed on the Oct. 16 start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Eight were killed in two church bombings on Nov. 8.

Midnight Mass was canceled last Christmas, as several cities were under curfew and Iraq's Christian religious leaders feared renewed attacks.

Last month the Vatican's foreign minister warned that anti-Christian feeling was spreading in Iraq and other Muslim countries because of the war on terrorism.

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's second-ranking diplomat, said anti-Christian feeling existed where political strategies of Western countries were believed to be driven by Christianity.

[reagandemocrat]

Wow...Terrific news....