[markomalley]

"Well done, my sons"

[reg45]

Christians have lived in Mosul (formerly called Ninevah) for over 1600 years.

[a fool in paradise]

"DID I DO THAT?!!"

#ALQAEDASPRING

[a fool in paradise]

President Obama’s cheerleaders SAID his presidency would make history.

[Bringbackthedraft]

We better start thinking of supplying the Kurds with aid and anti armor weapons. If they willingly are accepting Christians they deserve our support. If I was a Christian in that area I would choose to go to Kurdistan in exile.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Immediately after reading the second paragraph, "The exodus was caused by the proclamation on Thursday by the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate that Christians must pay a special tax or be killed. Islamists have for the past two days been marking the doors of homes belonging to Christians and Shia Muslims living in the city.", my mind went to Exodus 12:12-13. Another 'passover', only in Iraq this time?

[Prospero]

The irony of Mosul's Christians finding refuge among the Kurds shouldn't be lost on anyone with a historic context. The earliest European travelogues record their the Kurds as their near-constant enemy, during the 19th century excavations of Nineveh, across the Tigris from Mosul, for example.

The Reverend Fletcher's Narrative of a Two Years Residence at Ninevah (1850) is an excellent choice among many to capture the feel of that region, as Assyria was first being excavated. It was published in two volumes, and is available at archive.org (Vol.1 and Vol.2).

His was primarily a journey to assess the state of the Syrian Orthodox and Chaldean churches, and predates the discovery of the Hittite strongholds so those less interested in his narrative of travel by horseback into the region from the Black Sea can safely skip the earlier chapters, though I did not and found these interesting also.

The Christian history of the region is rich and ancient, surviving through the Islamic dark age, beginning in the 7th century, until now.

[SunkenCiv]

> The last Christian families still present in Mosul are leaving the city and are heading towards Iraqi Kurdistan.

[Popman]

Now that Mosul is rid of all the filthy infidels and Takfir, the wonderful peace of Islam ( Salam) will settle across the land... / S