Whoever they think did it, "the pope is our only power but doesn't help us." From USAToday.com, with thanks to Jackie:
Before Communion - the chalice and bowl were blessed on a blackened altar - the Rev. Mansur al-Mokalisy told 40 or so faithful, some in tears, not to be shaken by the latest violence aimed at Iraq's tiny and shrinking Christian minority."We should be strong in our hearts and work together, united," the priest said. "Thanks to our Muslim neighbors, who helped us. Let God protect our country, and let peace live in our hearts."
That is a tough message for people to accept in Iraq, where every religious and ethnic group that makes up Iraq's complex mosaic has been targeted by suicide bombs, assassinations and kidnappings.
The Baghdad church attacks reminded Christians, who represent 3% of Iraq's estimated 25 million people, of their increasing vulnerability. "They want to spark a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims, and target Christians so they will leave Iraq," said Wisam Ayoubi, a Syrian Christian professor, as he stood amid the cinders of a church on Saturday. "You can't feel free. And it's not just Christians. A lot of people are not attending classes."
Ayoubi, who graduated from New York University in the early 1980s, added: "I don't feel safe in church. Before, I used to go every Sunday. Now I don't. I have two kids, and don't want them to be hurt."
He noted the only bright side of the attacks: They were conducted early Saturday, when the churches were empty. "Everywhere there was screaming (after the blast). We went to the roof, saw the flame, and I could feel the heat from the fire on my face. Imagine if this blast happened during Mass."
Christians weren't so lucky on Aug. 1 when a string of attacks hit churches during services. At least 12 people were killed and 61 were injured. It was the first significant strike against Iraqi Christians since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Since then, Christian shopkeepers selling alcohol also have been targeted.
The tiny community is shrinking further as Christians flee the violence. Pascale Isho Warda, a Christian who is the interim government's minister for displacement and migration, estimated as many as 15,000 Christians have left the country since August, when four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were blown up in a coordinated series of car bombings.
"People are frightened. We are an easy target," said the Rev. Yousif Thomas Mirkis, a priest and theology professor. "I compare our community to pigeons. You do that (he claps) and they all fly."
Mirkis said he has been advising people to stay in Iraq. One reason, he said, is that by his count the community accounts for 20% of Iraq's doctors and an even larger percentage of professions like engineers and professors. "We don't want our people to leave," he said. "If I leave, it will not solve the problem. What about the Muslims? They are not our enemies."
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group believed to have ties to insurgents. "Islam doesn't support the ongoing terrorism," Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabbar of the association said.
Easily said, but why can't Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabbar convince people like Magdi Ahmad Hussein?
At the Roman Catholic church, caretaker Jamil had received warning of a threat from U.S. troops less than 12 hours before the blast. That convinced several in the area that the U.S. was responsible. "I think the Americans made this operation (to attack churches)," said Nadwa George, a Christian neighbor. "It could not be an Iraqi. Never, never."Others believe that they are being persecuted because America is viewed as a Christian country. "Under the previous regime, we were protected, really. Now with the U.S., we are not," said Audet Abdal, who lives next door. "We can't go outside wearing any cross anymore," she said. "Since the U.S. came, (insurgents) think they are punishing America (by hitting Christians), because Americans are Christians."
Surah Samaan, a 25-year-old lab technician, said Christians are vulnerable in predominantly Muslim Iraq. "There's nobody to help us. Muslims have the support of their tribe. The pope is our only power but doesn't help us," she said.
She said she would like to leave Iraq for good. Where would she like to go? "Anywhere - out of the Arab world - where they all think we are infidels," she said.
idiocy to think america is behind the attacks -- especially when there is plenty of footage as to how we walk on eggshells when the enemy fights from mosques. give me a break
At the Roman Catholic church, caretaker Jamil had received warning of a threat from U.S. troops less than 12 hours before the blast. That convinced several in the area that the U.S. was responsible. "I think the Americans made this operation (to attack churches)," said Nadwa George, a Christian neighbor. "It could not be an Iraqi. Never, never."
Maybe the Jew's did it? As part of their evil plot to rule the world?
No Islam, Know Peace
A number of Iraqi Christians, naturally afraid of stating the truth, have been quoted as uttering words to the effect that "we have always had good relations with our Muslim neighbors." This, of course, is a travesty. Have these Christians forgotten the massacre of the Assyrian Christians in 1933, inflicted by the Muslim Arabs just a few months after the English pulled out of Iraq? Have they forgotten the hanging of the odd Christian, along with the many Jews, for being part of a non-existent "Zionist conspiracy" -- a public hanging, in the late 1960s or early 1970s (I've forgotten exactly when), in the middle of Baghdad, which half-a-million enthusiastic Muslim Arabs attended, delighted to watch the hanging of 13 innocents.
The reason, of course, that there are no outrages against Jews in Iraq is that there are no Jews left to commit outrages against. Should one remind everyone of the "Farhud" of June 1-2, 1941, when 600 Jews were massacred -- one of the favorite methods was to tie them up and put them across the tram tracks so a crowd could enjuoy the spectacle of watching as the tram crushed their fellow, but non-Muslim (Jewish) citizen. What about what happened in 1948? In in 50-51, when Jewish property was expropriated by that famous "strongman" (and one knows what happened to him, when his corpse was dragged through the streets of Baghdad in 1958) Nuri al-Sa'id?
If the Christians of Iraq could tell the truth, the truth they would tell would be that of all other dhimmis, once they have managed to escape to the West, and are sure that their families are safe. It is the same tale told by Copts from Egypt, by Maronites, by all those who have sloughted off the inherited inhibitions of dhimmitude. And they know perfectly well the Americans had nothing to do with it, but some-- such as this Nadwa George lady -- cannot allow thmselves to believe the truth about Islam. For if they did admit to it, what could they do? Where can they go? They feel helpless, trapped, and they are scared out of their wits. As are all sensible non-Muslims who live, surrounded and subjugated by their Muslim neighbors.
And if we are not careful, and take a much harder line with Islam, to this favor must we come.