More on the persecution of Christians and other non-Muslims in Iraq, and the State Department's indifference to this persecution. By Julia Duin in the Washington Times (thanks to all who sent this in):
Iraq's outnumbered Christians and other religious minority groups are targets of a terror campaign and are facing a dire situation where killings and rapes have become the norm, a panel of witnesses testified yesterday on Capitol Hill.In a hearing convened by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Canon Andrew White, vicar of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, and four other panelists unfolded tales of horrors overtaking Christians, Yezidis (angel worshippers) and Mandaeans, members of a pacifist faith that follows the teachings of John the Baptist.
"The situation is more than desperate," said Mr. White, who described how Christians in Baghdad have been told to convert to Islam or be killed. Hundreds of those who could not afford to flee the country are living in churches without adequate food or water, he said.
"In the past month, 36 members of my own congregation have been kidnapped," he said. "To date, only one has been returned."
Iraq's eight remaining Jews, now hiding in Baghdad, are "the oldest Jewish community in the world," he said, referring to the 597 B.C. Babylonian conquest of ancient Judah that brought the Jews to the region as captives.
"The international community has done nothing to help these people," Mr. White said, explaining that the group is trying to emigrate to an Iraqi Jewish enclave in the Netherlands, which won't admit them.
Michael Youash, director of the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project, called the situation "soft ethnic cleansing." The "de-Christianization of Iraq" is not far off, he predicted, saying that Washington has refused to help Iraqi Christians, whose common faith with many Americans has made them loathed by Muslim radicals.
"The State Department just dismisses this as part of an overall conflict," he said. "But Christians are being disproportionately targeted. The attacks are purely vindictive and vicious. They are meant to give a message."
... and the silence coming from the Pope is just deafening. He went into hiding after asking that there be peace around this world.
Well the Pope alerted Bush that this was happening. He cant close his eyes.
It is long overdue that the rest of the World puts Islam in the dock and dispenses justice on it.
"The international community has done nothing to help these people," Mr. White said, explaining that the group is trying to emigrate to an Iraqi Jewish enclave in the Netherlands, which won't admit them.
The international community is embarassed.
It has done "sweet FA" because most Western countries are ruled by liberal elites, out of tune with the massses, and they embarassed that their poster boy, Islam, is doing this, and cant find it in themselves to condemn it or take action.
Where is Israel? If Israel can get the 8 remaining Jews (wow!) to the country safely, then from there they can go to the Netherlands.
R_not, you couldn't be more wrong!
The pope has continually spoken out on behalf of Iraq's Christians. Every single day, the Vatican newspaper carries stories about the persecution faced by Iraq's Assyrian and Chaldean Christians. Vatican Radio is contunually raising the issue as do the many Vatican websites. The majority of Pope Benedict's conversation with Bush was about the fate of Iraq's Christians. The crime is that all these efforts of the Holy See have been ignored by the Western nations that could actually do something to stop this genocide.
There is one exception to this deafening silence of the world's political leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have spoken out against the destruction of the Assyrians many times. Putin raised the issue with Bush and Blair and Lavrov raised it with Condoleeza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. The US and British response to Putin and Lavrov was to accuse Russia of trying to undermine US efforts in Iraq. Well if the Russians can throw a wrench into the US/British sponsored Islamization of Iraq, they deserve our full support.
many muslims hate christians and jews.Where is the outrage on the us news channels?
... and the silence coming from the Pope is just deafening. He went into hiding after asking that there be peace around this world.
You couldn't be more wrong, the Pope has spoken out courageously on this issue. He has brought it up to President Bush and you can bet behind the scenes is doing all that he can. Considering the Vatican has absolutly no power (read troops in the area) to do anything in Iraq itself, they are using what power they have, speaking out vocally on this issue.
The fault lies on President Bush and those in his adminstration who have his "ear" but sit idle and ALLOW this to happen.
The fault lies in the world media who have all turned a blind eye to this and do not mention it during the nightly news.
The fault lies with fellow Christians who do nothing, especially those with public influence.
The fault lies with so-called human rights groups who seem not to be silent.
The fault lies with leaders of other countries who know this is occuring but are to intimidated to stand up to the Bush administration and do something.
Pope Benedict is one of the few who has spoken out. Unfortunatly it seems like many are not listening or do not care.....
R_not:
You show an astonishing amount of prejudice and ignorance by your comment. Ignorance because you obviously get your news from crappy sources; and perhaps lazy too, since you neve bothered to do a little research before opening your mouth.
And of all those people who supported the invasion of Iraq, how many said a single sentence about the potential disaster awaiting the Infidels in Iraq?
How many?
I'll tell you. Sweet fuck all.
All the blowhards and "mission accomplished" woofers never gave a crap and they still don't.
130,000 US troops in Iraq and they protect the crazy Ilamists and don't raise a finger to help the Infidel communities.
Operation "Iraqi Freedom" I swear was dreamt up in Tehran and has the backing of every Dhimmi in the West.
It's the Dhimmi's wet dream. Go bankrupt building roads and schools for the Jihadists and then protect same said buildings whilst the Infidel communities get torn apart.
Bring Back Saddam. The Christians and other Infidels had a waaaaaaay better deal under him.
Putin's the guy who cares. Dubya couldn't give a rats arse.
Putin for Prez, and get Dr. Frankestein to get Saddam back to life.
And of all those people who supported the invasion of Iraq, how many said a single sentence about the potential disaster awaiting the Infidels in Iraq?
How many?
I'll tell you. A BIG FAT ZERO
All the blowhards and "mission accomplished" woofers never gave a crap and they still don't.
130,000 US troops in Iraq and they don't raise a finger to help the Infidel communities. They're too busy implementing the Koran based Constitution.
Great priorities guys.
Operation "Iraqi Freedom" I swear was dreamt up in Tehran and has the backing of every Dhimmi in the West.
It's the Dhimmi's wet dream. Go bankrupt building roads and schools for the Jihadists and then protect same said buildings whilst the Infidel communities get torn apart.
Bring back Saddam. The Christians and other Infidels had a waaaaaaay better deal under him.
Putin for US Prez, and get Dr. Frankenstein to put Saddam back together again.
WHOOPS
Provoslavni"The US and British response to Putin and Lavrov was to accuse Russia of trying to undermine US efforts in Iraq."
They really said that?
That's how bad things have got in the US and the UK when you get crass comments from our leaders like that.
"Well if the Russians can throw a wrench into the US/British sponsored Islamization of Iraq, they deserve our full support."
You hit the nail on the head. The US is helping build an Izlamonazi state in Iraq and at the same time destroying these Infidel communities
Way to go USA
From the article:
"Washington has refused to help Iraqi Christians"
A pox on you all.
...let's see if I got this correct: Washington will allow 7,000 muslims on student visas to enter this country, most of which will never attend one class or even report to the school, they are free to filter into a mosque in your neighborhood, and no one bothers to track them down to see what they are doing and who they are associating with......and then Washington denies entry into the USA for 8 (8!!!!!) Christians who are really in a life/death situation....Current world events cleary show it is not the Christians who are running around killing everything that breathes....
.....this is further evidence of the governments onslaught to destroy Christianity in the US...They have banned prayer in school, removed the ten commandments from almost anywhere they are displayed, banned religious symbols from public display, and they have begun to systimatically allow the school systems to install Muslim classes in schools, to allow special prayer time for Muslims in school, allowed schools to force students to learn Arabic phrases and customs......
....the next thing you will see is schools teaching students on how to become good martyrs....
....something is in the air in Washington and it smells foul....
exsgtbrown"....something is in the air in Washington and it smells foul...."
And you could substitute "Washington" with nearly every Western European capital.
"They really said that?"
posted by ewha1.
--------------------------------
Sadly, yes!!!!
For some strange reason, Bush's foreign policy seems to be completely in the hands of neo-cons who've convinced him that Muslims are really no different than the average Texan and only needed us to bring them democracy. These same neo-cons are unable to face that fact that the Cold War is over.
They first gained power during the Clinton years (a neo-Con and a neo-Liberal are almost identical animals) under Madelyn Albright, the architect of the US war against the Serbs. Since there is no Soviet threat, they wanted to transform NATO into a global enforcer.
However we can't just blame the neos. This goes all the back to their hero Truman who issued National Security Service Directive number 20/1 from August 18, 1948 which is still in effect and reads:
"We must ensure that even an non-communist and nominally friendly regime in Russia:
a) does not have in the future sizeable military force; b) that its economy is strongly dependent on the rest of the world; c) does not have strong control over the minorities; d) cannot establish anything similar to the 'iron curtain'."
Weakening Russia's control of its minorities is one reason the US has all but supported the Chechen terrorists against Moscow. Even worse, a few months ago, when Putin refused to allow the Meshket Turks to set up their own little Islamic enclave in southern Russia, Bush issued executive order allowing 30 thousand of these Muslims asylum in the US. Not only will they all get green cards and be eligible for welfare, but they're being flown to the US at taxpayer expense.
In a just world, this would be grounds for impeachment.
"In a just world, this would be grounds for impeachment.
Posted by: Provoslavni "
...absolutely....
Provoslavni"Even worse, a few months ago, when Putin refused to allow the Meshket Turks to set up their own little Islamic enclave in southern Russia, Bush issued executive order allowing 30 thousand of these Muslims asylum in the US. Not only will they all get green cards and be eligible for welfare, but they're being flown to the US at taxpayer expense."
You know, there comes a point when news gets sooooo bad then you start to laugh. You have to. After reading of the destruction of the Infidel communities in Iraq and then this from Provoslavni I really laughed out loud. Come on, it is funny.
And when Dubya-the-Dumb leaves we'll have the Dhimmicrat version to laugh at as they squander US power, pissing it away in the desert.
There's no learning curve: no bottoming out of the descent into the abyss: we're getting dumber: and that's fatal.