The end of the Christians in Southwest Asia? The violent Sunni uprising in Iraq has had many devastating effects in the region, but one that has gone relatively unnoticed is what appears to be the end of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. The archbishop of the Chaldean Catholics in Mosul, a city recently overtaken by ISIS forces, has announced that the few remaining Christians have been forced to abandon the city. Foreign Policy’s Christian Caryl reports: Since the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003, [Archbishop Emil Shimoun Nona] estimates, Mosul’s Christian population dwindled from 35,000 to some 3,000. “Now there is no one left,” he said. Most of them have joined the estimated 500,000 refugees who have fled the ISIS advance; many of the Christians, including the archbishop, have opted for the relative security of Iraqi Kurdistan. The reluctant exodus from Mosul is a direct result of the ISIS jihadists’ reputation for violence, a reputation Caryl states has been “consciously furthered through its own propaganda”: A few days ago, the jihadists used social media to distribute photos supporting their claim that they had killed 1,700 Shiite prisoners taken during their rapid offensive. No sooner had ISIS entered Mosul than some of their fighters set fire to an Armenian church. This all seems consistent with the group’s grim record during the civil war in Syria, where, among other things, it has revived medieval Islamic restrictions on Christian populations. Sadly, what has happened in Mosul has happened all over Iraq. What was an estimated 1.5 million Christian Iraqis (5% of the population) in 2003 has now dwindled to a tiny fraction of the number, an “overwhelming majority” leaving the country due to the escalation of violence at the hands of the militant radicals. The Roman Catholic Chaldeans, the Armenians, the Syriac Orthodox, and the Greek Orthodox communities have all but vanished in the war-torn country. Caryl does note that there are some “faint glimmers of hope” for the restoration of Mosul’s multi-faith community, with reports of efforts by some Muslims to protect the city’s churches from looting and Islamists attempting to “assuage the fears of religious minorities in the city.” However, Caryl argues, Iraqi Christians “can hardly be blamed if they’re unwilling to bank on these faint glimmers of hope — the jihadists’ record speaks too eloquently against them.” Scott Rickard, a former US intelligence linguist, from Atlanta, is saying that the United States were not surprised when it comes to the speed of ISIL. This was an organization that was very well trained by intelligence communities, not just Americans, British, French, Jordanian, Turkish. We have seen this group now for a while operating in Syria and committing unbelievable crimes. It is a large organization that’s been operating in that region for several years, that’s very well funded. One week to two weeks prior they had Susan Rice and also Barack Obama announcing that they’re going to give another 27 million dollars to “moderate rebels”. This is the result. aratta.wordpress/2014/06/27/things-fall-apart-iraq/
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 20:08:56 +0000