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| Iraq |
| Iraq pours in police to protect Christians |
| 2008-10-13 |
| Iraq deployed around 1,000 police in Christian areas of Mosul and set up checkpoints at churches on Sunday, an official said, as thousands of members of the minority group fled the worst violence against them in five years. "Two (national police) brigades were sent to Christian areas in Mosul and churches were surrounded and put under tight security," interior ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf told AFP. He said the reinforcements had been deployed from midnight in the restive northern city, considered by U.S. and Iraqi commanders as the last urban stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Khalaf added that two investigation teams, one security and the other criminal, had also been deployed to probe a spate of attacks on Christians in Mosul since September 28, in which at least 11 people have been killed. Nearly 1,000 Christian families have fled their homes in the city since Friday following the worst violence against Christians in five years, according to provincial governor Duraid Kashmula. Mosul military command spokesman Khalid Abdul-Satar said he did not know who was behind the violence but pledged to protect the Christian community. "We told the Christians through their churches and priests that we are ready to provide security to any house or individual that needs our protection. We have enough forces to do that," Satar said. At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday condemned the violence against Christians in both Iraq and India. "I invite you to pray for peace and reconciliation as situations cause concern and great suffering.... I think of violence against Christians in Iraq and India," he said. Yunadem Kanna, one of only two Christians in the national parliament, said he had held urgent talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on the violence. "I just met with Maliki and he promised to deliver," he said, adding that the army and not just police had to move into the area in force if the law was to be upheld. The flight of Christians from Mosul came as Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako last week called on the U.S. military as well as Prime Minister Maliki's government to protect Christians and other minorities in the face of a rash of deadly attacks. In an interview with AFP, Sako called on U.S. forces to do more to protect Christians and other minorities. "We are the target of a campaign of liquidation, a campaign of violence. The objective is political," Sako said, noting that more than 200 Christians had been killed and a string of churches attacked since 2003. There were around 800,000 Christians in Iraq at the time of the U.S.-led invasion, a number that has since shrunk by around a third as the faithful have fled the country, the archbishop said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Proving that 'truthers' are found at both ends of the political spectrum. |
| Posted by: Milton Fandango 2008-10-13 20:52 |
| #4 A jury answered that question. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-10-13 13:38 |
| #3 Round up all those asshole palastinians(and other assorted terrorist fucks) clinton relocated to OK City trying to wrest the Nobel POS Prize from arafart AND exchange them for these Iraqi Christians. Good deal if you ask me. WHOOOOOO brought down the Murrah Building? |
| Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2008-10-13 13:27 |
| #2 I'm glad the Moslem Iraqis have finally figured out that the Christians are their fellow-citizens, deserving of living safely in their midst. And yes, it is quite possible they've been shamed or pressured into this by the Americans, but that means they've gotten to the point where they realize they ought to respond to that pressure -- they haven't, after all, cared up till now. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-10-13 11:18 |
| #1 Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako: "We are the target of a campaign of liquidation, a campaign of violence. The objective is political," Sako said, noting that more than 200 Christians had been killed and a string of churches attacked since 2003. Al Qaeda: Most Holy and Brave Islamic Warriors Plot, Plan and Execute Christians... allah akbar!! *Spit* |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-10-13 00:52 |