1 of 1- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
Offline 
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 13,427
For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas
For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas
QARAQOSH, Iraq — Despite their hometowns having been recently freed from the Islamic State, the Christians of Iraq are still in a state of mourning as Christmas approaches.
Old towns on the edge of Mosul, where Christians lived for many centuries, have become wastelands. Most churches are still standing, but badly damaged and ransacked. When a liberating soldier hoists a cross atop a church, or a priest returns to take stock of the losses and light a candle, the scenes feel more sad than hopeful — especially when weighed against the widely felt sentiments of displaced Christians that they will never go home.
Some of the early gains in the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, which began in mid-October and is grinding into its third month, were the liberations of historically Christian villages and towns, including Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city, and Bartella.
There were early feelings of jubilation. Some families returned to celebrate alongside some of the Christian militia fighters who participated in the battles. But just as quickly it became apparent that rebirth for the Christian community in Iraq is unlikely, given how few seem to want to return.
“There is no guarantee that we can go back and be safe,” said Haseeb Saleem, 65, a Christian from the Mosul area who left more than two years ago and now lives in the Kurdish city of Erbil, the regional capital.
A biblical scene was defaced by the Islamic State in Bartella, Iraq.
Mr. Saleem echoed a deeply felt belief among Iraq’s minorities that the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, by removing a dictatorship that at least promised them security, marked the beginning of the community’s demise in their own country.
“Before 2003, believe me, my neighbor didn’t know what I was,” he said. “No one could ask, are you Sunni? Or Shia? Or Muslim? Or Christian?”
Continued at
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- tennyson
- Exchanger
Offline
- Registered: 2/06/2015
- Posts: 6,654
Re: For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas
“Before 2003, believe me, my neighbor didn’t know what I was,” he said. “No one could ask, are you Sunni? Or Shia? Or Muslim? Or Christian?”
THAT statement from the above article says it all.
Last edited by tennyson (12/23/2016 9:19 am)
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"