Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
FrontPageMagazine.com<\/p>\n
Last week an Iraqi Muslim scholar issued a\u00a0fatwa<\/a>\u00a0that, among other barbarities, asserts that “it is permissible to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians.” Inciting as the fatwa is, it is also redundant. While last October’s Baghdad church attack which killed some sixty Christians is widely known \u2014 actually receiving some\u00a0MSM coverage<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the fact is, Christian life in Iraq has been a living hell ever since US forces ousted the late Saddam Hussein in 2003.<\/p>\n Among other atrocities,\u00a0beheading and crucifying Christians<\/a>\u00a0are not irregular occurrences; messages saying “you Christian dogs, leave or die<\/a>,” are typical. Islamists see the church as an “obscene nest of pagans<\/a>” and threaten to “exterminate Iraqi Christians<\/a>.”\u00a0John Eibner<\/a>, CEO of\u00a0Christian Solidarity International<\/a>, summarized the situation well in a recent\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to President Obama:<\/p>\n The threat of extermination is not empty. Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, more than half the country’s Christian population has been forced by targeted violence to seek refuge abroad or to live away from their homes as internally displaced people. According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, over 700 Christians, including bishops and priests, have been killed and 61 churches have been bombed. Seven years after the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk reports: “He who is not a Muslim in Iraq is a second-class citizen. Often it is necessary to convert or emigrate, otherwise one risks being killed.” This anti-Christian violence is sustained by a widespread culture of Muslim supremacism that extends far beyond those who pull the triggers and detonate the bombs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The grand irony, of course, is that Christian persecution has increased exponentially under US occupation. As one top\u00a0Vatican official<\/a>\u00a0put it, Christians, “paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship” of Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n What does one make of this \u2014 that under Saddam, who was notorious for human rights abuses, Christians were better off than they are under a democratic government sponsored by humanitarian, some would say “Christian,” America?<\/p>\n Like a Baghdad caliph, Saddam appears to have made use of the better educated Christians, who posed no risk to his rule, such as his close confidantTariq Aziz<\/a>. Moreover, by keeping a tight lid on the Islamists of his nation \u2014 who hated him as a secular apostate no less than the Christians \u2014 the latter benefited indirectly.<\/p>\n Conversely, by empowering “the people,” the US has unwittingly undone Iraq’s Christian minority. Naively projecting Western values on Muslims, US leadership continues to think that “people-power” will naturally culminate into a liberal, egalitarian society \u2014 despite all the\u00a0evidence otherwise<\/a>. The fact is, in the Arab\/Muslim world, “majority rule” traditionally means domination by the largest tribe or sect; increasingly, it means Islamist domination.<\/p>\n Either which way, the minorities \u2014 notably the indigenous Christians \u2014 are the first to suffer once the genie of “people-power” is uncorked. Indeed,evidence<\/a>\u00a0indicates<\/a>\u00a0that the US backed “democratic” government of Iraqenables and incites<\/a>\u00a0the persecution of its Christians. (All of this raises the pivotal question: Do heavy-handed tyrants \u2014 Saddam, Mubarak, Qaddafi, et. al \u2014 create brutal societies, or do naturally brutal societies create the need for heavy-handed tyrants to keep order?)<\/p>\n Another indicator that empowering Muslim masses equates to Christian suffering is the fact that, though Iraqi Christians amount to a mere 5% of the population, they make up nearly\u00a040% of the refugees<\/a>\u00a0fleeing Iraq. It is now the same\u00a0in Egypt<\/a>: “A growing number of Egypt’s 8-10 million Coptic Christians are looking for a way to get out as Islamists increasingly take advantage of the nationalist revolution that toppled long-standing dictator Hosni Mubarak in February.”<\/p>\n At least Egypt’s problems are homegrown, whereas the persecution of Iraq’s Christians is a direct byproduct of US intervention. More ironic has been Obama’s approach: Justifying US intervention in Libya largely in\u00a0humanitarian terms<\/a>, the president recently\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0that, while “it is true that America cannot use our military wherever repression occurs\u2026 that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what’s right.”<\/p>\n True, indeed. Yet, as Obama “acts on behalf of what’s right” by providing military protection to the\u00a0al Qaeda connected Libyan opposition<\/a>, Iraq’s indigenous Christians continue to be exterminated \u2014 right under the US military’s nose in Iraq. You see, in its ongoing bid to win the much coveted but forever elusive “Muslim-hearts-and-minds<\/a>” \u2014 which Obama has even taskedNASA<\/a>\u00a0with \u2014 US leadership has opted to ignore the inhumane treatment of Islam’s “Christian dogs,” the mere mention of which tends to\u00a0upset Muslims<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a92011 Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Raymond Ibrahim FrontPageMagazine.com Last week an Iraqi Muslim scholar issued a\u00a0fatwa\u00a0that, among other barbarities, asserts that “it is permissible to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[225,227],"tags":[192,1035,1040,1044,30,1060,250,478],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-RI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1309,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/iraqs-christians-near-extinction\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":0},"title":"Iraq’s Christians Near Extinction","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine A\u00a0recent\u00a0Fox News report\u00a0tells of how \"a rash of attacks on Christian-owned businesses in\u00a0northern Iraq\u00a0has raised troubling questions about the future safety of the country's shrinking Christian community, particularly as US forces withdraw completely from the nation they've refereed since 2003.\" In fact, \"questions about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Iraq"","block_context":{"text":"Iraq","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/iraq\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6949,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/kerry-boasts-of-pluralistic-syria-once-assad-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":1},"title":"Kerry Boasts of ‘Pluralistic’ Syria Once Assad Gone","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, was recently\u00a0interviewed\u00a0about Syria. \u00a0While many of his assertions can be debated, one especially requires a response. Throughout the interview, he repeatedly insisted that, if Bashar Assad would only leave power, everything would go well \u2014 especially for all of Syria\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/11769416185_50193bfa40-300x240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":902,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/christians-jihadists-and-the-fate-of-syria\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":2},"title":"Christians, Jihadists, and the Fate of Syria","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Stonegate Institute What is the alternative to Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria? A simple if indirect way to find out is to consider which groups in Syria are especially for or against Assad \u2014 and why. Christian minorities, who, at 10% of the Syrian population, have the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1987,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/running-for-their-lives\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":3},"title":"Running for Their Lives","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Historically, non-Muslims whose lands were seized by the jihad had three choices: conversion, dhimmitude, or death. Today, however, they have a fourth option largely unavailable to their forbears: quit their lands of origin \u2014 emigrate \u2014 the latest testimony to the nature of Islam. A\u00a0recent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6796,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-jesus-demands-sharia-law-and-jizya-tribute\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":4},"title":"‘Muslim’ Jesus Demands Sharia Law and Jizya Tribute","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Time and again, Muslims, especially those in Egypt,\u00a0project Islamic thinking onto Christians: thus the Coptic church has been\u00a0accused\u00a0of smuggling and storing weapons in its churches to take over the nation (when in fact mosques are regularly exposed housing illegal weapons for the jihad); of kidnapping and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3102,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/islams-christian-scapegoats\/","url_meta":{"origin":3330,"position":5},"title":"Islam’s Christian Scapegoats","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPageMagazine.com After mentioning the sort of atrocities Christians in Pakistan suffer \u2014 including being killed by \"blasphemy\" laws, constantly \"abused in public and harassed in the street by groups of Muslim youths,\" ostracized and impoverished by the government \u2014 a recent\u00a0Fox News\u00a0report reminds us that Christian persecution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3331,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330\/revisions\/3331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}