Posted on 12/24/2006 7:18:42 AM PST by OrthodoxPresbyterian
Christians thrown to the lions in Iraq
By JOHN GLEESON
December 21, 06
While Canada's self-appointed guardians of Christmas dig up new evidence of persecution -- a tree moved down the hall, a greeting without "merry" dutifully attached -- real persecution against Christians is going on daily and is being largely ignored.
Nowhere is the situation as grave as in Iraq.
Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, Iraq's one million Assyrian Christians -- the oldest sect in Christendom -- have been the target of a campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing at the hands of Islamic extremists and Kurdish nationalists. Tens of thousands have fled the country for Syria, Jordan or Turkey.
This year has been the worst since the invasion. Church bombings, car bombings, kidnappings and killings have become commonplace.
In August, 13 Assyrian women in Baghdad were kidnapped and murdered. In October, a 14-year-old boy in Albasra was crucified and stabbed in the stomach in mockery of the death of Christ. Another 14-year-old boy in Baquba was decapitated in his workplace by veiled Muslims chanting "Allahu, Akbar! Allahu, Akbar!" Also that month, a priest was kidnapped, tortured and beheaded, supposedly over the Pope's comments critical of Islam.
Indeed, in the wake of Benedict XVI's September speech, extremists threatened to kill all Christians in Iraq unless the Pope apologized.
Except for a few Christian relief agencies and the Assyrians' own news service, the bloodletting has been virtually unreported -- lost in the sea of carnage that is today's Iraq.
Assyrians themselves are calling on the western world to create a "safe zone" for Christians on the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq (the Canadian-based Council of Assyrian Research and Development has posted a petition at www.cardonline.org). The European Parliament passed a resolution to that effect in April, but so far nothing has been done.
Meanwhile, Christmas has understandably gone underground in Iraq.
Due to "the grave security situation in the country," Iraq's Chaldean patriarch Emmanuel Delly has "appealed on safety grounds to Christians ... to refrain from any public celebrations for Christmas."
Christians hide in their homes and pray in secret. Priests are afraid to appear in public in their clerical robes, lest they be indiscriminately attacked. Schoolgirls have been warned by Muslim extremists to wear the hijab, and boys to dress in a "sombre manner," or face the consequences under sharia law.
Truly a sad fate for a Christian community that traces its foundation back to 33 AD and St. Thomas and where most of the people still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Apostles.
It's ironic, but not really surprising, that the American-led occupation under President George W. Bush would usher in an era of atrocities against Iraq's Christian minority. They were an easy revenge target for the majority Muslims, who have only been emboldened by the U.S. government's apparent disregard for the Assyrians' plight.
With more important geopolitical alliances to forge with the warring Muslim factions and the Kurds, you could say the Americans have thrown the Christians to the lions.
And remember, the same calamity could befall Pakistan's three million Christians, already a persecuted minority, if things were to get really ugly in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Persecution? We don't know the half of it.
http://winnipegsun.com
And yet, Bush is in a hurry to give the Iraqi government autonomy? If the goal was to change Iraq after taking over, then, unless God works a miracle, it will fail, utterly and miserably.
Maybe those tens of thousands should stand up and fight instead of fleeing. That's a large number.
Pres Bush:
Wage war Mr. President. Announce this morning that you have ordered the generals to do whatever it takes to win.
Give the talking shows something to REALLY discuss.
We must always remember to pray for the elect living under oppression.
Merry Christmas to you and Mrs O.P.
Such is the way with the Muslim's. There will never be peace until Islam is crushed. Send them to the land of 72 old hags.
Exactly.
The US Government is now spending Hundreds of Billions of dollars -- and thousands of GI lives -- to prop up a "Post-War Iraqi Government" which is dominated by the SCIRI Party and the Al-Dawa Party, the same nice people who brought you the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and the 1982 Mass-Murder of 240 Marines in Lebanon! Our wonderful new "Allies" in the War on Terror, I guess.
Why are we supporting these madmen??
Good reminder of what real persecution is. I'll have to say some prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ over in Iraq.
If you're outnumbered at least 25-to-1 by crazy Moslems with AK-47s, maybe you kinda want to get your wife and kids out of harms way.
I know, as a husband and (step)father, I would at least give it some thought. You know, rather than go out in a "blaze of glory" while my wife gets kipnapped into rape-slavery and my 10-year-old stepson gets his throat slashed open from ear to ear.
Just a thought. But I guess it's easy to be "brave", when we're way over here.
Our brothers and sisters are in a tight spot in Iraq no doubt about it.
They may either have to take up the sword and defend their homes and families, or they may have to go into external exile, the Islamacists will not relent in their persecution of our fellow Christian family members.
That Byzantine emperor was very correct, Islam brought nothing new into the world, just violence death and oppression.
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey - were once Christian lands.
Even Saudi had a Christian population at the time of Mohammed.
If you have any doubt about the intent of Islam - look - see - understand - what is happening is no isolated event.
It's a trend becoming a tidal wave....seeping onto our shores, into our cities, on our streets, schools, prisons, academia.....
Look at the Christian population in Iraq - Turkey - Lebanon - Saudi - Syria - Europe - and see our future.
That's why Darfur doesn't upset me. I don't view Muslims killing other Muslims as necessarily a bad thing.
Rick Warren is the biggest con man since Mohammad.
How ironic is it that Christians in Iraq were better off under Saddam Hussein than they are under this "free, democratic" government?!
I'm under no delusions, mind you, that "President Kerry" would have been anything but worse.
But I think that one retains the right of criticism even when the opposition is worse.
At this point (unless the Libertarians run a Pro-Lifer, in which case I'll always give them a fair shake), I'm tempted to support the "Draft Tancredo" campaign for President in 2008. At least there's a US Congressman who takes into account the religious nature of the global conflict: Either knock off the Terrorism, or we Bomb Mecca.
WHAT?!??!?!
America is not responsible for the behavior of these backward idiots.
We need an end to political correctness, and a beginning of a new crusade.
Correct URL
Mea maxima culpa
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