Free Michel Kilo Now - Enough Already

I rarely write about the tragedies of Iraq because I don’t know the local players that well and I don’t know the good guys since they are not that many good politicians there that are impressive. One thing is sure is that Iraq got massacred pretty well and there won’t be any solution to fix the mess there in the near future…10 years at least is needed plus an international and regional will to stop it for people and terrorists to stop killing each other. We are in the second or third year of a civil war under occupation. Iraq will surpass Yugoslavia in terms of war duration and will be closer to Lebanon 15 years or Algeria’s independence war.

One piece of news that I just read on Elaph which is very very alarming

فقد قامت جماعات مسلحة في بغداد بتهديد العوائل المسيحية الساكنة في مناطق عديدة من منطقة الدورة جنوب بغداد الدورة ومنها حي المعلمين بترك المسيحية واعتناق الاسلام او القتل. وقد امهلت هذه الجماعات المسيحيين مدة 24 ساعة فقط لتنفيذ مطالبهم هذه او مغادرة المنطقة وما عدا ذلك فانهم سيتعرضون للذبح كما قال تقرير لوكالة انباء عينكاوا المسيحية في تقرير الى “ايلاف”. واشارت الى انه إمعانا في الاذلال فقد منعت هذه الجماعات العوائل المسيحية من الاحتفاظ باي جزء من مقتنياتها في حالة اختيارهم المغادرة كما اصدرت فتاوي بمصادرة جميع ممتلكات هذه العوائل.
 
وقد ادت هذه التهديدات الى ان العوائل المهددة قد هربت فعلا من منازلها خوفا الى احياء اكثر أمنا في بغداد او غادروها الى مناطق اخرى من العراق تاركين حاجياتهم في بيوتهم. معروف ان الاف المسيحيين العراقين قد غادروا بلدهم خلال السنوات الاربع الاخيرة الى بلدان مجاورة وخاصة سوريا او الى دول اوربية نتيجة تهديد الجماعات الدينية المسلحة المتطرفة.

I’ll translate the arabic report : “Some armed groups and militias threatened Iraqi Christians families living in many areas south of Bagdad to become muslim or face death! These groups gave the Christians 24 hours to give in to their demands or leave the area, otherwise there will be butchered. This was a news report from Einkawa Chrisitan News to Elaph.com and to add further humiliation, these groups were denied to take their belongings if they chose to leave. So everything will be confiscated. These threats succeeded  in making the families run away from their houses empty handed to safer areas in Baghdad or other areas in Iraq. It is known that thousands of Iraqi Christians have fleed Iraq the last 4 years specially to Syria and Europe because of religous persecutions and extremism.”

This is extremely dangerous if proven true news. I don’t see it as surprising given how things are out of control there, and extremists are being creative with all kind of crimes and terrorism.  I am not going to lay blames on foreign powers for this but it could be a case of wanting Christians out of Iraq. There are a lot of stories on how Jews were transferred out of Iraq in the 40s and 50s. That is not how you keep a country together by kicking a vital part of its human diversity out. The Middle east won’t be the same without Christians in it and those who use Islam or any other reason to justify exterminating a minority are criminals and thugs pure and simple. My only relief is that I know that the majority of muslims don’t approve what is happening and they are the first to decry it. The ones that perform and support such actions are ignorant bastards who should rott in hell.

Long live the Christians in Iraq and the middle East, and may they continue to be a positive influence whereever they are…I also hope that the tragedies end in Iraq very soon for all Iraqis regardless of their faith or ethnicities…enough blood, Iraq can’t take anymore, the American occupation has failed miserably so no need to kill each other. PEACE.