Folks, you have got to check this out- more from Michael Yon in Iraq, at St. John’s Church in Baghdad. Some of the captions:
“A Bishop came to St John’s Church in Baghdad today, 15 November, where a crowd of locals welcomed him home. They were joined at the service by soldiers from the 2-12 infantry battalion, many of whom had fought hard to secure these neighborhood streets. Members of the hard-fighting Iraqi Army 3rd Division were also here for this special day.“
“Most Reverend Shlemon Warduni, Auxiliary Bishop of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Diocese for Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq officiated standing directly beneath the dome under the Chaldean cross. Speaking in both Arabic and English, Bishop Warduni thanked those American soldiers sitting in the pews for their sacrifices. Again and again, throughout the service, he thanked the Americans.“
“LTC Stephen Michael at St John’s. LTC Michael told me today that when al Qaeda came to Dora, they began harassing Christians first, charging them “rent” [that is, the "jizya", the tax levied on non-Muslims. This is one of three options open to non-muslims under Sharia law, the other two being conversion to Islam or death] . It was the local Muslims, according to LTC Michael, who first came to him for help to protect the Christians in his area. That’s right. LTC Michael told me more than once that the Muslims reached out to him to protect the Christians from al Qaeda. Real Muslims here are quick to say that al Qaeda members are not true Muslims. From charging “rent,” al Qaeda’s harassment escalated to killing Christians, and also Muslims. Untold thousands of Christians and Muslims fled Baghdad in the wake of the darkness of civil war. Most of the Christians are gone now; having fled to Syria, Jordan or Northern Iraq.“
“Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors, and that the Christians will never come back. And so they came to St John’s today in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, “Come back to Iraq. Come home.” They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home. Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”
Read it all; you’ll never see this in the mainstream media, so give serious consideration to the last paragraph:
Michael Yon does not receive financial support from any network, movie, book or television deals at this time. He is entirely reader supported. He relies on his readers to help him replace his equipment and cover his expenses so that he may remain in Iraq and bring you the stories of our soldiers. If you value his work, please consider supporting his mission.
ADDENDUM: IRAQI’S RESPONDING.
An optimistic affirmation, with their very lives, of faith in the future. Iraqis returning from exile, as reported in The Times (UK) here.
UPDATE: Hope Waning.
Sadly, the exodus of Christians continues both in Iraq and throughout the lands that are the birthplace and cradle of the Faith. It makes a mockery of the accusation that the Western powers are engaged in a “new Crusade” against Islam. That is so obviously not the case that I can not really believe anyone accepts that as true. Were that so, this would not be happening. I see no chance that the author’s wish for a Western response will happen.
See also this essay; the book mentioned in the essay is here at Amazon.com. It was published in Dec. 2002, before the invasion of Iraq. Obviously the situation there became dramatically worse after that, but for that reason it shows how this is a situation that predates the invasion and exists throughout the entire region.
But, who cares? Who knows?
Lord, have mercy.
UPDATE, October 2008:
(From the New York Times, via Hot Air):
Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another.
“They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks,” said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. “Now it is safe.”
The slow dismantling of the concrete walls is the most visible sign of a fundamental change here in the Iraqi capital. The American surge strategy, which increased the number of United States troops and contributed to stability here, is drawing to a close. And a transition is under way to the almost inevitable American drawdown in 2009.
Filed under: Christianity, Iraq, Islam, Politics, Terrorism, Jihad
The events in Iraq spoken of above that detail the treatment of Christians correctly represents the historical treatment of Christians by Moslems; the remarks of Omar Ahmad off to the side here correctly represent the position of Islam in relatioon to other religons as taught by the Koran, and as accepted by most Moslems today in the world.
This is why people the United States and Western Europe had better soon realize that “co-existence” with Islam will only result in a situation similar to pre-World War II Europe-continuing and increasing appeasement of Islamic interests and Islamic demands, until, as did Hitler, they feel strong enough to attack! As soon as the people of the United States and Western Europe relaize that Islam is our implacable enemy, one that will never rest until it is victorious, the sooner prepearations can be made to avoid the fate of living under Sharia here in the US, or in Western Europe. Do not be fooled by the “Islam is a religion of peace” nonsense-look at history-Islam spread by the sword, from the beginning, and continues to do so to this day. Either fight the sword, or cbecome victim to it!