They are paid less than other approved local militias around the country, and they are "only authorised when they act as auxiliaries to the Iraqi police." But in spite of threats, they are no longer completely defenseless.
"Iraq's Christians form new militias to combat Islamic extremists," by Damien McElroy for the Telegraph, July 27:
In the five years since the Anglo-American invasion of 2003, murders and abductions have driven about half of the 800,000 Christians who once lived in Iraq to flee the country.
Checkpoints manned by civilians armed with heavy machine guns and assault rifles have received official backing in Christian villages on the Ninevah plain in northern Iraq, where their presence dates back to the missions of St Thomas the apostle.
Father Yusuf Yohannes combines the duties of parish priest with overseeing security from a converted post office in the village of Karamlis, 10 miles east of the local capital, Mosul. Informal patrols by his parishioners started last year but the effort is now a fully-fledged operation, with 250 employees and official approval from the US army base in Mosul.
"We are facing the threat of wipe-out," he said. "I have not left this town in three years because of the danger. The situation here was like a bowl without a base for Christians, we were just tossed around. By establishing our own security we have the chance to stand steady again."
Radios supplied by the US-led coalition keeps the command post in touch with guards in Karamlis and three hamlets nearby. A heavy machine gun protrudes from the guardpost on St Barbara Street, pointing towards a road shared with Sunni Muslim neighbours. The gun's purpose, said Saleem Yusuf, the checkpoint commander, is to deter would-be car bombers. "We have not used it in anger yet. Thank God," he said.
Iraq's most senior primate, Cardinal Emmanuel Delly, made a public plea for military assistance for "defenceless" Christians in March. The persecuted minority was at it lowest point, reeling after loss of the political protection it had enjoyed from previous regimes over the last century, ranging from British colonial authorities to Iraq's monarchy and Saddam Hussein's government.
But local politicians in Mosul opposed the obvious route to Christian self defence - the creation of militias, equipped and armed by the coalition, a model pivotal to the dramatic drop in violence elsewhere in Iraq.
After all, Sharia law forbids dhimmi populations from bearing arms.
These objections have now been dropped, but Christian village guards are still only authorised when they act as auxiliaries to the Iraqi police. Consequently, the guards in Karamlis are paid only £100 a month, compared with the £150 given to militiamen elsewhere in the country.
But the patrols have already had an impact. New buildings are going up in Christian areas and there is a renewed willingness to resist the demands of Muslim radicals. "Why should Christians face arrest for not fasting in Ramadan?" asked Fr Yusuf. "Why is it that women should cover their faces if God loves all human beings? We reject these things and want the right to our own culture."
Cardinal Delly was able to travel to Karamlis for an ordination last Friday. The man he raised to the priesthood symbolises the ordeal of Iraq's last Christians. Yusuf Rabat assumed the title "Father Paulos" in tribute to the late Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Farai Rakha, who was kidnapped and murdered four months ago. Pictures of the dead Archbishop are pasted on lamposts across Karamlis.
it is about time...it has taken 1400 years to do this?..
The Christians in Iraq need to start defending themselves and stop being dhimmi doormats.
it is about time...it has taken 1400 years to do this?..
Posted by: exsgtbrown at July 27, 2008 3:00 PM
=========================================
Don't complain -- at least they're doing it.
Perhaps this can be a model for other persecuted groups, such as the Copts in Egypt.
I agree with the above - about time, but kudos to the Assyrians/Chaldeans for finally doing it. And hopefully, the Copts, the Maronites and the beleagured Christians of Indonesia and Pakistan will follow suit.
If the US govt wasn't so dhimmi, I'd recommend that US forces secretly arm them, while openly supporting them so that they can create clean Christian enclaves. Any Shia or Sunni attack, and there'll be hell to pay.
Go Assyria Go!!!!
Now this is a opportunity to take a vast swathe of territory and make it a Christian(and any other religion) homeland in the Middle East.
It would be a start, the only proviso, Muslims are not allowed in.
A mutual assistance pact with Saudi Arabia and western help. Within a few years you'd have a thriving democracy, with economic stability, just like Israel.
Then you could start letting in people who have left Islam, and want a better life.
After that you could start looking for other places to make such enclaves, and in the long term slice Islam to death, apart from in the few barren backward places in the world.
Of course the parasites would look on with their usual greed and envy, but as long as we remained firm, it would work.
The money we've wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan would be returned ten fold.
But that would need realistic politicians, not the pie in the sky idiots we seem to delight in voting in, in these troubled times.
Great it is time people took matters in their own hands. Good for the Christians here the western leaders have failed to protect the persecuted in Islamic countries; instead they have been lying and appeasing to Muslims. They have let millions of Muslims as refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. When they should have noticed the plight of the non Muslims who had legitimate causes to apply for asylum. Our leaders have really caused such great damage to ordinary people by promoting the Islam is peace and further exposing non Muslims to violent attacks by Muslims because of what Islam teaches. It is a real shame. Throughout history ideas and ideologies come and go. Even religions and political movement become obscure if not obsolete. I hope that this will be the case for Islam. It is a barbaric and violent ideology that does not belong now or in the future.
It's nice to hear a bit of good news for a change.
I hope that they are being *well* armed; and that every person in those Christian villages, aged ten and upwards, male or female, is secretly learning how to use those weapons and use them well.
Somebody give them a copy of Sun Tzu, quick. That, and an Arabic translation of Spencer's analysis of Muslim methods of war, in 'Onward Muslim Soldiers'.
Oh for a modern Orde Wingate...
If these people are unable to flee, they should be equipped to defend themselves adequately.
Thanks be to God!
Long live a free Assyria!
There you go. That's what needs to be done. Think America, circa 1776.
Iraq Christians are dead Iraqis unless they flea the country before Obama sutrenders to terrorist muslims.
Clearly, this is the strategy to follow. We must
remember that Christianity is the fastest
growing religion in sub-Sahara Africa, and that
tribes like the Dinkas have suffered from Muslim
barbarity for centuries. It is imperative to arm
and train Christians everywhere to fight their
oppressors. Ethiopians are trying to contain the
savage Somalians, while we let them immigrate to
our country so that in their display of
stupidity, they publicly show us their contempt
and arrogance towards us. Can we bend any lower to them?