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| Patriarch Raphael I Sako of the Chaldean Church (Courtesy Catholic Leader) |
There's a report in this week's Catholic Leader about the plight of Christians in Iraq.
Isn't Iraq the "model" of successful intervention by the West in the Middle East?
An extract from the report -
According to Church sources, the number of Christians in Iraq have plummeted from 1.4 million in 1987 to perhaps fewer than 250,000 today. Many Christians who fled the south have not stayed in the north either because they have been unable to find jobs or housing or because they have been reluctant to settle in a region that continues to experience sporadic violence. Bomb attacks in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu last month left at least 30 people dead and more than 200 wounded. The violence was politically motivated.
So there are over a million Christians worse off since the invasion.
Some have a strange definition of "success".
Ask an Iraqi Christian.
Update - Today's Catholic Leader -
The last section of this report makes interesting reading -
It was a small step in Iraq's agonisingly slow recovery a decade after what the bishop described as an unnecessary "invasion and occupation"of Iraq by a US-led military coalition.
15 comments:
"Many Christians who fled the south have not stayed in the north either because they have been unable to find jobs or housing or because they have been reluctant to settle in a region that continues to experience sporadic violence. Bomb attacks in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu last month left at least 30 people dead and more than 200 wounded. The violence was politically motivated."
Substitute muslims for christians in this statement and give figures for dead and wounded according to religious background. Christians are a minority.
Christians are a minority
Precisely. Minority groups are no longer safe in Iraq.
See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_Iraq
You miss my point.....what makes Christians more important than the other Iraquis who find themselves in the same boat? The majority of victims in these bombings are Muslims and I doubt that you can give figures that indicate otherwise. Therefore it is more dangerous to be Muslim than Christian.
The choices of the Christian believers are highlighted in a way to indicate that Christians are targeted. No facts have been put forwarded to indicate that.
I doubt that it makes much difference whether you're Muslim or Christian. If you have to leave the country because the security situation is untenable, things have not improved. My point is the rapid decline of the security situation after the invasion.
I heard an interview with an Iraqi grandmother today.
When asked what has been lost and gained by the intervention of the Coalition of the Willing, she replied - "We have gained freedom and lost security".
When asked which she valued more, she replied "security".
This may have had something to do with the fact that seven members of her family have been killed in violence since 2003.
"So there are over a million Christians worse off since the invasion"
No, it means a there are over a million fewer Christians living in Iraq than there were in 1987. Given that the invasion of Iraq didn't occur until 2003, that's quite a leap.
Not really. Check any statistical database on the movement of Iraqi Christians, and you'll note that the bulk of it has occured post 2003.
From your article:
According to Church sources, the number of Christians in Iraq have plummeted from 1.4 million in 1987 to perhaps fewer than 250,000 today
Start Date = 1987
1987 < 2003
A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that there were 800000 Christians in Iraq in 2003. What happened to 600000 Christians between 1987 and 2003? Why does your article about post-invasion Iraq use a start date for stats during the Iran-Iraq War. It's dodgy.
I would guess then that the bulk of movement of Iraquis (generally) has been post 2003. My bet is that there are more muslims in that movement than cristians.
Given Christians are being murdered by Islam fundies it should surprise no one they are leaving Iraq, well those that are still alive that is.
Gee anonymous, considering more Muslims are dying as a result of all this internal termoil, it is surprising that anyone lives in Iraq.
Whether the victims of the war are Muslims or Christians matters very little, as far as I'm concerned.
Ten years on, and with the benefit of historical hindsight, it's quite obvious that the average Iraqi is no better off after 2003 than he/she was before.
You'd have to ask whether going to war on a lie and to "get square" for 911 was worth it.
There'd be many American and Iraqi families who wouldn't think so.
They'd agree that the whole dodgy episode was a waste of blood and treasure.
"Whether the victims of the war are Muslims or Christians matters very little, as far as I'm concerned"
Then why post this in a way designed to seek sympathy for displaced christians?
Pictures of a bloke in a frock and references to a cult publication????
in a way designed to seek sympathy for displaced christians?
It's all in your mind.
The article came from The Catholic Leader remember.
"It's all in your mind."....and your post was designed to put it there.
"The article came from The Catholic Leader remember".....that's what I said.
"It was a small step in Iraq's agonisingly slow recovery a decade after what the bishop described as an unnecessary "invasion and occupation"of Iraq by a US-led military coalition."
Add one more to the list of people that have a similar view to yourself.
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