The noise generated by Israel and the Palestinian conflict and the downing of MH17 in Ukraine have conspired to assist the governments of the world, and us the punters, to put aside what should have been a measure of outrage at this obvious breach of human rights.
I would have expected people to engage in thinking ethically and defending what is right stand up and denounce that which is clearly wrong - and yet what do I see?
Not a lot!
Ethic cleansing at its very best :-(
Take a look at this piece from the Assyrian International News Agency and tell me whether you're still sitting comfortably after it:
The last Christian reportedly left Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul at 12:00pm on Saturday, ending over 6,000 years of Assyrian history in the city.
Assyrians have lived in Mosul for over 6,000 years, converting to Christianity over 2,000 years ago. This all came to an end on Saturday, when the last Assyrian Christian left the city. On Thursday, July 17th, the Islamic State (IS) – formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) – released a statement demanding the Christians in Mosul either to convert to Islam, paying the jizya (tax on non-Muslims), leave the city, or be killed.
The threat was to be implemented on Saturday. It is being reported locally that by noon yesterday, every Christian had chosen to leave.
Here in Erbil, about an hour an half [sic] away from Mosul by car, I have spoken with families who were forced to flee. They describe how ISIS invaded their homes, taking whatever they wanted, and threatening to kill them.
The estimates are that over 500,000 refugees have fled Mosul after Islamists took control on June 10th, and the few remaining Christians left yesterday.
Everyone I have spoken with has expressed their frustration with the international community’s lack of response to the crisis facing the people of Iraq (I'd call this a failure in ethics - wouldn't you?)
They blamed the United States for creating the current situation and for leaving the country so quickly and so creating the vacuum for IS to exploit.
Many also think that it was a serious mistake for the U.S. to “give Iraq to Iran,” allowing Tehran to have a major influence in the Iraqi Parliament.
Another local told me he thought it was strange and nonsensical that the U.S. and European countries were opposed to IS in Iraq, but supporting IS groups in Syria and other violent groups against local governments. They warned of the danger such groups pose to the West. “These jihadists will eventually go home to their countries, to Canada, England and the U.S.” said one.
Please pass this information on and contact the press, the politicians and as many church members (and leaders) as you can. This needs to be noted, prayed about and acted upon politically too!
Emphasis in bold is mine
Pax
1 comment:
Huxley famously said: "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach." Or Steve Turner put it rather more succinctly that:
History repeats itself.
Has to,
No-one listens.
IS the problem that no-one is speaking out about ISIS, or that so many, especially those in power, have such strong motivations to want not to listen.
Last fortnight's Private Eye had a column on how some of Tony Blair's cronies are laying the blame at the door of one Nouri al-Malaki and his party, formerly darlings of....Tony Blair and his cronies. Laughably, the pressure group and magazine the Eye quotes is called "Progress".
Of course, some people remember support for the Muhajedeen when the Russkies were the "enemy" and see parallels with the Syrian opposition and ISIS.
Perhaps a pertinent question is whether it is politically possible, in the Western world, for even the most honest and self-effacing politician to properly admit that they were wrong until many years after they have left power? And how many get to hold any influence without the ability to place self-belief well above facts?
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