R
rdean
Guest
This from the American Conservative:
How the Iraq War Became a War on Christians The American Conservative
In March 2003, on the eve of war in Iraq, Pope John Paul II dispatched Cardinal Pio Laghi, a senior Vatican diplomat, to Washington to make a final plea to Bush not to invade. Laghi, chosen for his close ties to the Bush family, outlined “clearly and forcefully” the Vatican’s fears of what would follow an invasion: protracted war, significant casualties, violence between ethnic and religious groups, regional destabilization, “and a new gulf between Christianity and Islam.” The warning was not heeded.
Two weeks after the Bush-Laghi meeting, on March 19, 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced. Shortly after combat operations concluded on May 1, the real conflict began. Amid the chaos and sectarian violence that followed, Iraq’s Christians suffered severe persecution. Neither the military nor the State Department took action to protect them. In October 2003, human rights expert Nina Shea noted that religious freedom and a pluralistic Iraq were not high priorities for the administration, concluding that its “diffidence on religious freedom suggests Washington’s relative indifference to this basic human right.” Shea added, “Washington’s refusal to insist on guarantees of religious freedom threatens to undermine its already difficult task of securing a fully democratic government in Iraq”—more prescience that would be likewise disregarded.
During this campaign of systematic violence, the U.S. military provided no protection to the already vulnerable Christian community. In some instances, the clergy went to local American military units to beg to for protection. None was given. As Shea noted two weeks later, the administration and the State Department—whose record on Christian minorities and religious freedom leaves much to be desired—still refused to “acknowledge that the Christians and other defenseless minorities are persecuted for reasons of religion.”
It was disappointing. He knew it was a failure and his administration refused to acknowledge that.”
Many Chaldeans and Assyrians were detained, until their cases were heard, in what an attorney familiar with Chaldean-asylum cases describes as “prisons,” adding that she “never worked on a case where a Chaldean was granted asylum, but I heard that it happened.” Throughout these deportation proceedings, the administration and the State Department steadfastly refused to recognize the conditions—which the U.S. had helped to bring about—as “persecution.” In consequence, most were deported.
When he came to office, President Bush famously scribbled in a report on the Clinton administration’s inaction during the Rwandan genocide, “Not on my watch.”
In this sense, the Iraq War continues, and with it the deliberate extinction of Middle Eastern Christians.
Journalist Asks Bush to Protect Iraqi Christians
Does Bush want to go down in history as the U.S. President who launched a war that resulted in the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq?
We need less talk about using “influence” and “urging” the Iraqi government to do something. We are paying for that government. Our troops are there to prop it up. This is a Muslim government that has failed to protect the Christians. In fact, it discriminates against them.
It’s time to order U.S. troops to protect Christian churches and believers. All it would take is one call from Bush to General David Petraeus.
Make that call, Mr. President, before the Pope embarrasses you with more questions about your failure to prevent this terrible catastrophe.
A Rift Over Iraq Between President and Pope - US News
In March 2003, just hours after the first American cruise missiles slammed into Baghdad, the Vatican proclaimed the nascent conflict a "defeat for reason and for the gospel." It was a war, said papal confidant Cardinal Roberto Tucci, that was "beyond all legality and all international legitimacy." Strong words coming from the clerical leaders of some 1.5 billion Roman Catholics and indicative of the rift that still dogs relations between the president and the pope.
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Honest Conservatives see Bush's Disaster for what it is. A holocaust for Middle Eastern Christians.
How the Iraq War Became a War on Christians The American Conservative
In March 2003, on the eve of war in Iraq, Pope John Paul II dispatched Cardinal Pio Laghi, a senior Vatican diplomat, to Washington to make a final plea to Bush not to invade. Laghi, chosen for his close ties to the Bush family, outlined “clearly and forcefully” the Vatican’s fears of what would follow an invasion: protracted war, significant casualties, violence between ethnic and religious groups, regional destabilization, “and a new gulf between Christianity and Islam.” The warning was not heeded.
Two weeks after the Bush-Laghi meeting, on March 19, 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced. Shortly after combat operations concluded on May 1, the real conflict began. Amid the chaos and sectarian violence that followed, Iraq’s Christians suffered severe persecution. Neither the military nor the State Department took action to protect them. In October 2003, human rights expert Nina Shea noted that religious freedom and a pluralistic Iraq were not high priorities for the administration, concluding that its “diffidence on religious freedom suggests Washington’s relative indifference to this basic human right.” Shea added, “Washington’s refusal to insist on guarantees of religious freedom threatens to undermine its already difficult task of securing a fully democratic government in Iraq”—more prescience that would be likewise disregarded.
During this campaign of systematic violence, the U.S. military provided no protection to the already vulnerable Christian community. In some instances, the clergy went to local American military units to beg to for protection. None was given. As Shea noted two weeks later, the administration and the State Department—whose record on Christian minorities and religious freedom leaves much to be desired—still refused to “acknowledge that the Christians and other defenseless minorities are persecuted for reasons of religion.”
It was disappointing. He knew it was a failure and his administration refused to acknowledge that.”
Many Chaldeans and Assyrians were detained, until their cases were heard, in what an attorney familiar with Chaldean-asylum cases describes as “prisons,” adding that she “never worked on a case where a Chaldean was granted asylum, but I heard that it happened.” Throughout these deportation proceedings, the administration and the State Department steadfastly refused to recognize the conditions—which the U.S. had helped to bring about—as “persecution.” In consequence, most were deported.
When he came to office, President Bush famously scribbled in a report on the Clinton administration’s inaction during the Rwandan genocide, “Not on my watch.”
In this sense, the Iraq War continues, and with it the deliberate extinction of Middle Eastern Christians.
Journalist Asks Bush to Protect Iraqi Christians
Does Bush want to go down in history as the U.S. President who launched a war that resulted in the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq?
We need less talk about using “influence” and “urging” the Iraqi government to do something. We are paying for that government. Our troops are there to prop it up. This is a Muslim government that has failed to protect the Christians. In fact, it discriminates against them.
It’s time to order U.S. troops to protect Christian churches and believers. All it would take is one call from Bush to General David Petraeus.
Make that call, Mr. President, before the Pope embarrasses you with more questions about your failure to prevent this terrible catastrophe.
A Rift Over Iraq Between President and Pope - US News
In March 2003, just hours after the first American cruise missiles slammed into Baghdad, the Vatican proclaimed the nascent conflict a "defeat for reason and for the gospel." It was a war, said papal confidant Cardinal Roberto Tucci, that was "beyond all legality and all international legitimacy." Strong words coming from the clerical leaders of some 1.5 billion Roman Catholics and indicative of the rift that still dogs relations between the president and the pope.
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Honest Conservatives see Bush's Disaster for what it is. A holocaust for Middle Eastern Christians.
