“The position of the American president Obama only to give military assistance to protect Erbil is disappointing,” said Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako. Sako, and the rest of the world, know that the U.S. airstrikes are only a cosmetic gesture to help Barack Obama save face, not a genuinely effective action against the Islamic State.
“Iraq Chaldean patriarch says U.S. strikes offer little hope,” AFP, August 11, 2014 (thanks to Lookmann):
Iraq’s most prominent Christian cleric voiced his disappointment Sunday at the scope of U.S. intervention, which he said offered little hope that jihadists would be defeated and displaced people could go home.
“The position of the American president Obama only to give military assistance to protect Erbil is disappointing,” Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako wrote in an open letter.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced he had authorized air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq to protect U.S. personnel in the Kurdish capital Erbil and avert a genocide against the Yazidis in the Sinjar region.
Three days of strikes appeared to yield some results, with Kurdish troops reclaiming towns southwest of Erbil they had lost days earlier and some of the thousands of Yazidis who had been trapped on a mountain managing to escape.
Obama has stressed that the strikes would be limited, and Sako argued that may not be enough to wrest back the main northern city of Mosul from the jihadists.
The patriarch described the prospect of having to wait for Iraqi government forces to start fighting alongside the peshmerga as “very depressing.”
Angemon says
“Little”? You’re being too kind…
AnneM says
…Or to allow them enough time to leave, to head to Israel, or to America.
John C. Barile says
The Patriarch knows, unlike many Western Christian clerics, just what constitutes a just war.<
Lynne Newington says
The the pope of the day didn’t side with Bush when seeking the nod to invade Iraq, [part of the axis of evil] as a “just war”, in fact Bush claiming “God told him to” stood his ground and said “who isn’t with us, us is againsts us.”
The pope was concerned about retaliation against the Catholic population….. as it was with the Jews.
gravenimage says
More vicious apologia from “Lynne Newington”—*Ugh*.
Wetwork56 says
“The position of the American president Obama….”Disappointing”… “very depressing.” Most Americans have been saying this since Jan. 1, 2009.
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako –Do not put faith in this guy—as he has shown us Americans he has none.
John C. Barile says
Message received. We’ve all gotten the memo.
John C. Barile says
January 20 is Inauguration Day, don’t forget.
Jay Boo says
Michael
Still up to your old tricks Michael
You probably blame the Jews for being killed in the Holocaust.
You are a dishonest broker here.
John C. Barile says
He seems a bit more thoughtful and tempered these days. What he says passes muster with me.
Jay Boo says
President Barack Obama has his own agenda and CAIR advisors.
It may be partially about an Image adjustment.
The Islamic State is beginning to make Islam look bad even to leftists and the MSM.
John C. Barile says
Now if it were Bashar Assad in Syria committed these massive atrocities–the U.S. would be firing cruise missiles from ships and subs, making repeated drone strikes, and launching round-the-clock air strikes–guaranteed.
Mr. Obama is quite selective about who his clients will be. He gives hardly a fig about these poor people, and his words and actions show it. Purely cosmetic. For PR. A mere fig leaf.
Gail Griffin says
At least he is doing something. Shaming (I hope,). The rest of the western countries to do something. Australia wants to commit to the effort although they are rather to P.C. By the way, I thought France was going to send a few baguettes to the folks on the mountain! Where are they? Nope just us and the Brits.
pumbar says
I heard the Germans were supplying money, Italy was supplying food and us Brits were supplying two million Pakistanis.
CJ says
obama doesn’t care about these people,they’re just a ploy to make obama look like he’s finally doing something.. All this could have been avoided from the very start..obama is the BLAME for all the people who have been raped,driven from their homes, beheaded with their heads placed on a stick for the whole world to see.. YES THIS IS ALL obamas FAULT..obama and obama alone is the blame..
Thomas Wells says
A couple of cargo planes and a few fighter jets is sure not the same type of evacuation plan as was Dunkirk in WW II where the British forces rescued hundred thousands of their people from the Nazis in a matter of days.
Obama’s stunning performance-and perhaps another Nobel Peace Prize- for this major photo-op of a tempest in a teacup sham, will allow him to strut around making Churchill-like poses and basking in the applause of his brain dead worshipers.
gravenimage says
Jay Boo and John, I would imagine that this is a *different* Michael from the nasty troll who often posts here.
Michael is, after all, the most common men’s name in America. I have loved ones named “Michael”.