Iraqi Christians - a need for prayer

Open Doors calling for urgent prayer for the Iraqi Christians reporting that they are in great danger and that there is a real threat of being beheaded over the coming hours.

Where is the response to the UN statements of concern?

I see no real response from the Western nations, all I hear is silence from the Arab League and hear not one effective and influential Islamic voice speaking out against the situation.

The US are great at voting 'NO' in support of Israel yet are content to leave people on hillsides, resorting to UAVs and going onto the back foot when they should be looking to redress the situation they have helped create.

Shameful

PLEASE PRAY

The Kocho massacre

Wherever you look today you will find reports of Islamic State fighters putting to death many (up to 100 according to some reports) Yazidis in the village of Kocho some 30 miles away from Mount Sinjar. Eyewitnesses tell of  ISIS members arriving and attempting to indoctrinate them for five days. They were then assembled in a school where they were asked to either convert to the Sunni religion or be executed. The rebels were said to have arrived in vehicles and have commenced the massacre in the afternoon.

The men who refused to do so were executed in the afternoon, which witnesses said lasted for about an hour, while women and children were boarded in buses and taken to an unknown destination. Survivors also speculated that the women may have been brought to the city of Tal Afar, where the ISIS group is said to be currently gathered.

The killings come not long after President Obama's planned evacuation of Yazidi survivors in Mount Sinjar had been put off on the grounds that it was too risky for US troops or that those who perished in Kocho were under no immediate threat. To compound the (call it what you will) madness there are some who are keen to arm the Kurds and point them at the IS fighters!

Will we never learn?

Will we stop reporting 'potential genocide' and start recognising that what we have is 'actual'?

I was quite convinced by Richard Dannatt's call for direct action on the grounds that the UN needed to act and how those who have contributed to the situation (and they surely know who they are) and the ceding of 'legacy military equipment' to the IS forces all conspire to present a scenario that demands integrity and compassion. Pity those who should be hearing it apparently aren't :-(

Qaraqosh: A place to be concerned and praying for

Reports are flooding in regarding the conquest and expulsion of the residents of the  'entirely Christian town' of Qaraqosh (located between Mosul and Arbil) by IS and associated forces.

The town (population c.50,000) is testimony to the sad reality that the Iraqi government is unable to protect those members of minority communities (Christians, Yezidi and Shabak) and highlights the ethnic cleansing and other war crimes that are taking place (and yet whilst HAMAS and Israel dominate the news, this is allowed to slip almost quietly by).

The Christian nationals are being eradicated (by death or forced exile) and are part of an extremely grave humanitarian crisis.

Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, Joseph Thomas, is quoted by AFP (Agence France-Presse) sources as saying, 'I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of the militants.'

Please pray

Please support those under threat (all faiths)

Please contact your political representative (wherever you live) and ask them what they are doing about this.

A small and insignificant island ...

Or a proud nation willing to stand as part of the international community to save lives and protect the weak?

This is what I'm being faced with today as I find that everyone has a view on Syria and as the government of our sceptred (or perhaps that should be septic) isle comes back early to discuss what measures they should take.

Having written on the responsibility to protect yesterday I have to say that people are just a little confused at the moment and for a number of reasons:

It's Not our Problem
I will deal with this more at the end of this scribble - but I have to say that (in my opinion) those who are content to see the images on their screens and consider what they see as nothing to do with them are in need of some social and moral education. How can anyone be unmoved by what they have seen and how anyone can shrug and dismiss it as that most invisible of all things, the 'someone else's problem' field is beyond me.

Regime Change
Can I point out that any nation, or confederation of nations, that enters another country's sovereign territory with the intention of removing its democratically elected leader (and/or government) is guilty of breaking international law. This is proscribed against in the Geneva and other conventions and is also found within international law as well - it is illegal.

Proportionality
When any conflict is enacted, it is the duty of both sides to do the very minimum in terms of taking life and reigning destruction down upon the enemy. The current attitude (as espoused this very morning by one of those passing me in the street) of 'slotting the B***s' and 'bombing the place to hell' is great on the big screen but it is neither legal, moral or effective.

Vote Winning
Here we are with a pretty much financially bankrupt country and we want to add to that label the term 'morally bankrupt' too? Nah - surely not even the weakest brained politician (and there's so many to choose from) can really believe that conflict is a vote-winner.

Right response
That's easy - the right response is to wait and see what the UN inspectors come up with following their assessment of the sites and warheads found in Syria. It would be wrong to believe the US intelligence (isn't that an oxymoron?) reports because to be honest that was what caused some of the issues surrounding Iraq - and whilst there were WMDs at some stage, what we have subsequently found in the reports was conjecture rather than fact - and that's not intelligent intelligence is it?

Back to Basics
The process is clear and obvious regarding Syria:

Political means which include dialogue and confrontation, sanction, embargo, trade, travel and other restrictions. When these measures have been attempted and exhausted then there is the final, military, response - peace-keeping forces.

Those who are calling for the rebels to be armed and supported are wrong (have the Americans and their 'arm our friends' follies taught us nothing) for, as the Bible tells us, there are two sides to every conflict and it's rarely a black and white affair.

Those who are saying that 'It's none of our business,' are also wrong because it is - morally and spiritually! Looking back at the Shoah (AKA the Nazi holocaust against the Jews), Rwanda, Kosovo, Darfur, Cambodia and many other places it is obvious that wicked people exist and act wickedly against those in the nations - and we must make 'never again' a reality, not some trite cliché.

Conflict has to be the last resort but the reality lies in the words of the old Latin motto:

'Si vis pacem, para bellum'*

Boots on the ground are the very final response - but we do need our government, and all the governments of the world (are you listening Russia?) to discuss at local level and bring that discussion to a global setting so that a consensus is reached and a balanced response made.

So are you praying - I know I am :-)

Pax







*'If you want peace, prepare for war'