Chaldean archbishop kidnapped in Iraq found dead: church

Yahoo News ^ | March 13, 2008

[NYer]

A Chaldean Catholic archbishop kidnapped last month in northern Iraq has been found dead, the information service of the Italian Catholic Church said Thursday.

The body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the archbishop of Mosul, was found near the northern city, the Church said, quoting the auxiliary archbishop of Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni.

"We recovered his body near Mosul," Warduni said, according to the Church's news agency SIR. "The kidnappers had buried him."

Rahho was kidnapped on February 29 in Mosul after a deadly shootout in which three of his companions were killed.

Iraqi forces in Mosul had fanned out to search for Rahho, whose abduction was branded as "atrocious" by Pope Benedict XVI.

Rahho was the latest in a long line of Chaldean clerics to be abducted in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003. Two priests were kidnapped in the city in October, and last June a priest and three deacons were attacked in front of their church.

Iraq's Christians, with the Chaldean sect by far the largest community, were said to number as many as 800,000 before the 2003 invasion.

Associated with the "Crusader" invaders and regarded as well-off, they are now victims of sectarian cleansing, killings and kidnappings at the hands of both Sunni and Shiite Islamists, as well as criminal gangs.

[trisham]

Unless you're over there, or have been over there, show some respect.

[farmer18th]

Unless you're over there, or have been over there, show some respect.

Pardon me, but cut the crap. Sean Penn was "over there." Does he deserve respect? If someone like Allegra accuses me of "broad brush hate," simply for pointing out that ISLAM IS WHAT GOT THIS CHALDEAN KILLED, I'm going to fire back.

[trisham]

Using Sean Penn as a basis for comparison to prove a point is pretty low.

Perhaps you might explain what you mean by this: someone like Allegra

Is there some wrongheaded assumption that we know and agree with what is implied? I can assure you that, based on your previous posts, that is not the case.

[farmer18th]

Allegra's quotes stand for themselves. Claiming to be "really there" around Iraqis who are "really" angry about the acts of terror just doesn't have a great deal of credibility when those of us who identify Islam as the real problem are called "broad brush haters," as though that were somehow the end of the dialogue.

Would someone please name ANY Islamic nation IN HISTORY that has EVER respected the rights of the minority, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly? The only thing close to any of that are Muslim nations ruled by a thug who is willing to stand up to his own religious leaders. If merely pointing out the historic realities can be dismissed as hate-speech then there is no room for the dialectic at all.

[Fox_Mulder77]

“That being said, most of the Iraqis hate all of that extremist stuff”

Most Muslims SAY they hate extremist stuff, but they aren’t willing, as a group, to put their money where their mouth is.

[cake_crumb]

"Yes, those and then there are the armchair generals and the Code Pink types we have skulking around among us."

Lots of them.

[trisham]

Allegra's quotes stand for themselves. Claiming to be "really there" around Iraqis who are "really" angry about the acts of terror just doesn't have a great deal of credibility when those of us who identify Islam as the real problem are called "broad brush haters," as though that were somehow the end of the dialogue.

*****************

Are you accusing Allegra of lying?

[cake_crumb]

Allegra WORKS there. Every damned day. Sean Penn VISITED there. There IS a difference. And there you sit at your keyboard in THIS country, telling someone LIVING in Irag they don’t know anything about IRAQIS.

[farmer18th]

Are you accusing Allegra of lying?

No. I'm saying that a person standing over a sewer who claims it doesn't stink is not the person I would go to for advice on much of anything.

[steve8714]

Our leaders don’t have faith in our Constitution or they would have force-fed a dup on the Iraqis, instead of the Parliamentary Euro-gov they gave them. Thanks, Paul.

[LikeLight]

If as Catholic I commit suicide BOMBING in a MOSQUE AM I SINNING?

Maybe I'm missing something, but yes, I would say you are sinning if you do that.

[farmer18th]

THIS country, telling someone LIVING in Irag they don’t know anything about IRAQIS.

It just MIGHT have something to do with an American soldier who couldn't hear me on the phone the other day--because an Iraqi Muslim tried to blow him up.

[trisham]

That's your choice. However, disparaging someone who is brave enough to be in Iraq working for our country, is something else entirely. It is my opinion that you owe her an apology.

[dennisw]

Effin filth
Waste a few Mosques starting with the most fundamentalists. All this shit is authored by the preachers of Jihad.

[LordBridey]

Would someone please name ANY Islamic nation IN HISTORY that has EVER respected the rights of the minority, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly?

Moorish Spain comes to mind. One also wonders how Christian minorities, such as the Copts, Maronites, Chaldeans, et. al. have managed to exist for millenia in Islamic countries if your thesis were accurate. Isn't there a Jewish community in present day Iran?

[dennisw]

You know that even though you’re over there and know a lot more about it than almost anybody on FR, you’re not going to convince a fair number of Freepers? I’m constantly amazed at the posters who are absolutely convinced that every Muslim in the world is a radical and is under orders to slaughter all non-Muslims.

But the "nice" Muslims don't have the guts to get rid of the extremists. In fact they half believe the extremists even when their family members get killed by them

Because Muhammad was as murderous as today's Jihadists.
All Muslims are told Muhammad lead the perfect life and must be emulated

Islam's central problem is their "prophet" was a psycho killer and mass murderer.
It's very hard to create distance from this fact though Muslims achieve some success. But they never fully buy their own "nice" version of Islam and allow themselves to be bullied and ruled by the Jihadists. Just like most of Afghanistan has reverted back to fundamentalist rule

[Mrs. Don-o]

FTA: "Rahho was the latest in a long line of Chaldean clerics to be abducted in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003."

The article doesn't bother to say that there were Chaldean Christians in what is now Iraq 500 years before the birth of Mohammad. There is no reason at all to associate them with "Crusaders" or "The West" --- as if that would make any difference.

Besides, because of murders, massacres, and terror-driven emigration, the Chaldean Catholic Church is now so tiny that "a long line of Chaldean clerics abducted" means that their pastors have essentially been wiped out.

Dear God. Their blood cries out to heaven...

[Traianus]

If as Catholic I commit suicide BOMBING in a MOSQUE AM I SINNING?
Maybe I’m missing something, but yes, I would say you are sinning if you do that.

SO WHY THEIR CLERICS DON’T SAY SO TO ALL THE MUZZIES??????!!!!!?????
WHY THEY DO NOT SAY SIMPLY :

USING-RELIGION-AS-A-WEAPON-IS-A-BLASPHEMY. PERIOD
WHO-SO-EVER-DOES-IT-GO-TO-HELL-FOR-ETERNITY. PERIOD

[LexBaird]

Jihad is crusade.

No, it isn't. Jihad is specifically Muslim holy war. Crusade is generally Christian holy war, and specifically a war to restore Christian control of the Holy Lands. The base word is "crux": cross.

The difference being that Christianity hasn't pursued a real fighting crusade since 1292, whereas Islam is pursuing one today.

[farmer18th]

Interesting you mention Copts. Do you even know what it’s like to be Coptic in Egypt? Is “Civil Liberties in Moorish Spain” a multi-volume set?