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Little sense of rebirth this Easter for Iraq's Christians
Agence France-Presse (AFP) ^ | 4-17-03 | Jean-Claude Crapon

Posted on 04/17/2003 1:53:13 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

BAGHDAD, April 17 (AFP) - Tareq Aziz, a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and now one of the world's most wanted men, is not expected to make it to Easter Day mass at Baghdad's Church of the Virgin Mary this year.

With Easter weekend services beginning Thursday, Father Boutros Haddad in the Al-Karrada parish of the capital indicated that the country's most prominent Christian would be missed on Sunday.

"(Aziz) did not come to mass often, but his wife and his son were here every Sunday," Haddad told AFP in fluent French, learned at the seminary in Mosul in northern Iraq before he studied philosophy and theology in Rome.

"But he would have been here for Easter," he said.

Haddad, a Chaldean Catholic, was careful to note that Christians, belonging to several Eastern churches with an established history in the country, had a protected place at the top of the Iraqi leadership under Saddam Hussein.

The erudite priest said he feared the Easter celebrations would be overshadowed this year by the war and anxiety about the future, despite the usual fervor with which Iraqi Christians throw themselves into their holiest feast day.

"Many people are afraid; they have been traumatized by the bombardment and the looting of recent days," he said.

"We have been living in war for 20 years and the Americans finished by destroying this country. What they have done is criminal," he said.

The lack of electricity and security have put a stop to midnight mass this year, which had been the preferred ceremony of his flock.

The priest can barely contain his anger at US forces.

"If the soldiers come to my church to attend the mass, I will accept them but I won't like it," he said.

Father Haddad stressed that, as a Christian, he had few difficulties practicing his faith under Saddam Hussein's secular regime.

But, he added, "as a citizen there was plenty to find fault with".

Haddad said he remained skeptical about US forces' intentions in his country.

"We will not be liberated by the Americans; that is not why they came," he said.

Haddad lamented: "They have protected the oil wells but not the museums or the national archives" at Iraq's National Library, which was torched after being ransacked Sunday.

The bishop of Baghdad for the Syrian Greek Orthodox Church was more moderate than Haddad, saying he would withhold judgment on the US presence in Iraq for the time being.

"I would like to believe that the Americans came all this way for our freedom," said Georgis Gewergis Sliwa in his office in the shadows of Saint Mary's Church in the Al-Naariya district.

"But for the moment, I don't see much beyond the devastation," he said.

Sliwa noted that the patriarch of his church, based in Chicago, had condemned the war before it began.

He said the military conflict had not produced new divisions between the faiths of Iraq.

"The bombs did not create differences between Christians and Muslims, between a mosque and a church," Sliwa said.

"But he said he was worried that the persistence of chaos in the country could give way to a "Lebanization" of Iraq in which growing antagonism between religious and ethnic communities could rip the country apart from within.

There are some 500,000 Christians in Iraq, of which Chaldean Catholics make up about 350,000, Father Haddad said.

Sliwa said 100,000 people represent the Syrian Christian community in Iraq, a country of some 25 million.

The two men said emigration of Christians had grown in recent years due to economic, social and political reasons.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: easter; embeddedreport; faith; iraqichristians; iraqicivilians; iraqifreedom; tareqaziz
Hmmmmm. Tareq Aziz is a chief executive of a regime that butchered innocents, put children in prison, cut out the tongue of people who speak out, and tortured women for sport ... an yet, Father Boutros Haddad will miss Mr. Aziz on Easter Sunday.
1 posted on 04/17/2003 1:53:13 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Hmmm . . . Aziz was a murderer and almost never attended Mass - but Fr. Haddad thinks he's great.

However, a Catholic US soldier is lucky not to be turned away from his church.

Which diocese was he ordained in? Boston?

2 posted on 04/17/2003 1:57:55 PM PDT by wideawake (Support our troops and their Commander-in-Chief)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I can't believe the issue that's being made of this goddamned museum, which was in all probability trashed by Baath Party members. But this ignorant priest blames the Americans.
3 posted on 04/17/2003 1:58:12 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I would say the resurrection of human rights is "rebirth" enough.
4 posted on 04/17/2003 2:00:11 PM PDT by Stormy_MS1
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"What they have done is criminal"

Right, like liberate Iraq from a sadistic regime, free thousands of political prisoners including hundreds of children from prison, allow thousands of iraqi citizens in exile to return to their land. What's criminal is Haddad impersonating a Chistian while, no doubt, on the payroll of Saddam, as agent of Satan.

5 posted on 04/17/2003 2:01:16 PM PDT by Russ
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I wonder if Father Boutros Haddad and Georgis Gewergis Sliwa would have been able to retain their exalted positions without doing obeisance to the regime. They certainly seem to be parroting the Baathist/Franco/German/Democrat line.
6 posted on 04/17/2003 2:01:29 PM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (http://c-pol.com)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Tareq Aziz, a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and now one of the world's most wanted men, is not expected to make it to Easter Day mass at Baghdad's Church of the Virgin Mary this year.

Oh, cry me a frickin' river...

7 posted on 04/17/2003 2:05:53 PM PDT by dirtboy (The White House can have my DNA when they pry it from my ... eh, never mind, let's not go there...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Father Boutros Haddad will miss Mr. Aziz on Easter Sunday.

Did "Father" Haddad miss the thousands of prisoners held in the dungeons? Haddad was understanding of Aziz' absence; those shredders required maintenance on Sundays too >:( Another compromised clergyman, another fellow traveller, another werewolf in a robe.

No surprise, there were a few German churches that supported the National Socialists of the '30s; the brave Lutherans and Catholics that spoke out ended in the death camps.
8 posted on 04/17/2003 2:16:05 PM PDT by scubadave (to secure peace is to prepare for war...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"If the soldiers come to my church to attend the mass, I will accept them but I won't like it,"

It's called FREEDOM father, give it a little time, you'll see.

9 posted on 04/17/2003 2:17:36 PM PDT by Mister Baredog ((They wanted to kill 50,000 of us on 9/11, we will never forget!))
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To: Mister Baredog
True Christians do not need a church to pray in. Even if the church had been bombed they would have gathered. Having said that, it appears they need a new Pastor as well so they can celebrate Easter for the first time free in 30 years. Clearly this pastor was being paid off.
10 posted on 04/17/2003 2:20:30 PM PDT by alisasny
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Sounds like a cross between dhimmitude (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/778126/posts) and Stockholm syndrome. A pox on these clerics.
11 posted on 04/17/2003 2:21:21 PM PDT by omega4412
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
So, this guy was a buddy of Aziz and enjoyed Saddam's patronage. The imprisonment of children and other opponents of Saddam, rape and torture didn't bother him one bit. Some Christian.
12 posted on 04/17/2003 2:26:04 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"(Aziz) did not come to mass often, but his wife and his son were here every Sunday," Haddad told AFP in fluent French, learned at the seminary in Mosul in northern Iraq before he studied philosophy and theology in Rome.

So the Mosul seminary is under the control of French clerics. Are we surprised at the ethic that considers Tariq Azziz a Christian, in any sense of the word?

13 posted on 04/17/2003 2:33:32 PM PDT by browardchad
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To: browardchad
Do real Catholic priests tell the whole world about a member's standing and attendance?

I'm not Catholic but that strikes me as quite a violation of the relationship and confidentiality I expect from MY religious leaders.
14 posted on 04/17/2003 2:47:27 PM PDT by ChemistCat (My new bumper sticker: MY OTHER DRIVER IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

"The museum! Oh, the museum!"

Lord, now the liberals are giving us historonics over history!

15 posted on 04/17/2003 2:50:45 PM PDT by JoeSchem
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Tareq Aziz, a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle

Aka the eight of spades.

16 posted on 04/17/2003 2:52:51 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Rest in pieces Saddam!)
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To: JoeSchem
By Jean-Claude Crapon
Crapon? is the a joke?
17 posted on 04/17/2003 3:04:23 PM PDT by SubMareener
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To: ChemistCat
Do real Catholic priests tell the whole world about a member's standing and attendance?

As I said before, he was apparently trained by the French -- he may be a Catholic priest, but I doubt if he's real, at least in the sense we know the word.

I have a friend who is reading Barbara Bush's memoirs, and she tells the story of a dinner at which Mitterand's wife was arguing strenuously with someone at the table. Mrs. Bush found out later that the discussion was about religion, and Mrs. Mitterand was arguing, scornfully, that the more educated/sophisticated a society becomes, the less they need religion. That about sums up French Catholicism.

18 posted on 04/17/2003 3:13:20 PM PDT by browardchad
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"Father Haddad stressed that, as a Christian, he had few difficulties practicing his faith under Saddam Hussein's secular regime."

Another catholic liberal who denies the doctrines and precepts of the Father's holy child Jesus Christ. Personally, I take no stock with scripturealess and dead christianity.
19 posted on 04/18/2003 5:23:37 AM PDT by wgeorge2001 ("The truth will set you free.")
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