The Woeful Plight of Iraqi Christians
Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, a Chaldean Catholic in Iraq, preached an astonishing sermon on June 19 at the Mother of God Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in Southfield, Mich. According to a Catholic News Service report written by Robert Delaney (The Catholic Voice, July 2), Bishop Ibrahim delivered his sermon in Arabic, later providing an English translation of his major points.
Delaney reports that “The current situation [in Iraq] puts Christians in the hazardous position of being perceived as being allied with the foreign occupiers, but the Americans provide no special protection for them, the bishop [said].” Bishop Ibrahim also said, “When the world’s major superpower has 150,000 troops in that country [Iraq], is a terrible thing…. they cannot defend human life and human rights.” According to Delaney, “even with” the “surge in U.S. forces already in place, there is no security in Baghdad, [the Bishop] noted.” Bishop Ibrahim said, “Things are worse and worse and worse…, even for the Americans. The best thing is to withdraw, and then let the brothers attack each other.” According to Delaney, “Bishop Ibrahim…believes the [internal] warring factions would eventually reach some sort of power-sharing arrangement.”
Delaney writes that “The best hope for improving the situation in Iraq would probably be for troops from other Arab countries under the auspices of the United Nations to be sent in to replace withdrawing U.S. forces, in Bishop Ibrahim’s view.”
Take it from Bishop Ibrahim; he has seen the destruction and devastation firsthand.
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We Westerners bear responsibility for the current sufferings in Iraq. We created a power vacuum there that has been filled by bloodthirsty maniacs hellbent on religious cleansing.
Christians in Iraq are perceived as being allied with the foreign occupiers, but the Americans provide no special protection for them.