A crusade in Iraq — not
Our sister LAT blog “Babylon & Beyond” has an affecting article (with a fantastic photo) about the mourning in Iraq for Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic prelate who died after being kidnapped near Mosul. The death of the archbishop is another blow to Iraq’s Christian community, including the Chaldean Catholic Church, an ancient community in communion with Rome. The exodus of Christians from Iraq in the aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein goes a long way toward explaining why the Vatican was opposed to the American invasion. It also explains why Chaldean Christians in America resent Bush’s war.
Aside from the carnage unleashed by the invasion, which appalled Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the invasion and the subsequent creation of an Islamist-friendly regime have made life hazardous for Iraq’s Christian minority. Saddam Hussein may have been a ruthless dictator, but, like the equally autocratic Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he was better for Christians than the alternative. (During a visit to Cairo several years ago, I noticed portraits of Mubarak in the vestibules of Coptic Orthodox churches and was told that Christians considered the dictator a bulwark against persecution by Islamic extremists.)
The effect of the invasion on Christians in Iraq is only one of the unforeseen consequences of the neocons’ cocky campaign to transform the Middle East. But it is an especially painful one for Christians including the pope, who last year appointed the Chaldean patriarch to the College of Cardinals as a gesture of solidarity with Iraqi Christians.
The hemorrhage of Christians from Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East — including Palestine — is traumatic for Christianity because the religion began there. Chaldean Catholics, and their cousins the Assyrian Christians, traditionally celebrate the Eucharist in Syriac, a language similar to the Aramaic spoken by Jesus and his disciples. They are in a sense living fossils who remind Western Christians of their faith’s Semitic origins. It would be ironic if a military operation likened by Muslims to the Crusades succeeded in depopulating Iraq of its Christians.
Crusade.
That sums it in a nut shell. Does any one in this country understand how the word crusade resounds in the Islamic world? Yet this is the word Bush initially used to describe the invasion of Iraq - a crusade to bring democracy to a heathen Muslim country. (Bear in mind these heathen Muslims gave us our number system and introduced us to algebara. Through Muslim scholars, we in the West got manuscripts of Aristotle - the father of modern sciene. Without the heathen Muslims, I would not be writing this message on a computer.)
To add insult to injury, Bush pasted a cross on the podium at the Republican convention in 2004. It sold with the conservative Christians of his core constitutency, but think of what message that sent to the Islamic world.
Furthermore, our soldiers have accidentally killed thousands of Iraqi citizens, we turned the notorious Abu Ghraib prison from the Saddam era into a medieval torture chamber worthy of the Spanish Inquisition,(most of the detainees were innocent Iraqis) we allowed Blackwater to murder innocent Iraqi civilians with no questions asked. Is it any wonder that we are hated throughout the Islamic world.
Read recent issues of Jenue Afrique and Afrique Magazine. You'll discover one of the majory concerns in these periodicals is the spread of Islamic Fundamentalism in both North African - more disturbingly Mauritania, a country proud of its democratic institutions and religious tolerance. One of the big reasons for this spread of Islamic fundamentalism is the US invasion of Iraq (A report by Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith confirms this.) The second is the high unemployment rate and miserable economic conditions that affect young mean in particular.
For all practical purposes, WE'VE ALREADY LOST the war in Iraq - surges not withstanding. We merely need to cut our loses. Right now, WE ARE ALSO LOSING the WAR on TERRORISM -
In this case the experience of John McCain is a recipe in disaster. If we want to win the war on terrorism, we need to change our choice of weapons. We need a complete and radical regime change.
Posted by: William Joseph Miller | March 19, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Why is everyone so quick to blaim USA, Im a Chaldean, and I believe that Iraq was much better prior to 2003, however, I believe and support USA in their fight against terrorism, how dare anyone threaten the Pope, the world doesnt need Terrorist, and let me remind you all, Its not the Americans who are causing all these internal wars, its the militia, The war between Iraq and USA is over the Iraqi army and the American army are working together, now its every sector for itself, and again its not the Americans who are kidnapping Bishops, and burning Chaldean children, this is over the limit, i an Iraq supports USA against the fight against terrorism
Posted by: Markus | March 20, 2008 at 08:36 PM