The Blood of Saints

By: Mr. Curmudgeon
mrcurmudgeon@inthepublicsquare.com

“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” –Book of Revelation, Chapter 18

In a national vote on October 15, 2005, a majority of Iraqis ratified that nation’s constitution making Sharia (Islamic Law) the law of the land. The Iraqi Constitution reads in part:

Article (1): The Republic of Iraq is an independent, sovereign nation, and the system of rule in it is a democratic, federal, representative (parliamentary) republic.

Article (2): 1st — Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:

(a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of   

Islam.

(b) No law can be passed that contradicts the principles of democracy.

Of course, Article (2) section (a), by definition, cancels out section (b).

Of the vote establishing Iraq as an Islamic Republic, President George W. Bush said:

We believe, and the Iraqis believe, the best way forward is through the democratic process. Al Qaeda wants to use their violent ways to stop the march of democracy because democracy is the exact opposite of what they believe is right. We’re making progress toward peace. We’re making progress toward an ally that will join us in the war on terror, that will prevent al Qaeda from establishing a safe haven in Iraq , and a country that will serve as an example for others who aspire to live in freedom.

The problem with the President’s analysis is that the exclusionary nature of Sharia, which views non-believers as less equal than Muslims before the law, by its very nature, de-legitimizes the Iraqi Constitution as an expression and instrumentality of democracy properly understood. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iraq is a slap in the face to the American armed forces which have bled and sacrificed for the hope of freedom in that dysfunctional region of the world.

Political and religious minorities which are marginalized under this so-called democratic constitution are clambering for political power-sharing to protect their insolated communities against Islam’s aggressive heavy hand. Tragically, one of these minorities—the Chaldean Catholic Christian minority is already feeling intense heat from the “democratic” Iraqi government and Al Qaeda terrorists.

In point of fact, the Iraqi “democratic” parliament recently passed legislation to exclude Chaldean Christians from participating and sitting on the governing council in Mosul – the Northern Provincial capital of Nineveh . Instead of democratic debate Christians have suffered systematic Islamic retaliation. According to the New York Times:

Hundreds of Christians are fleeing Mosul in the wake of a string of killings that appear to be singling out Christians in the northern Iraqi city, where many had taken refuge from persecution in other parts of the country.

At least 11 and perhaps as many as 14 Christians have been killed in Mosul since the end of August, according to government officials and humanitarian groups. The victims have included a doctor, an engineer, two builders, two businessmen and a 15-year-old boy, who was shot dead in front of his house. In the last week alone, seven Christians were killed.

Louis Sako, the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Kirkuk , said Friday that the killings were an example of "a campaign of cleansing, killing and threatening’ that Christians faced in Iraq ."

And Archbishop Louis Sako should know. Al Qaeda kidnappers murdered his predecessor Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho last February. Archbishop Rahho was an open critic of the Iraqi parliament’s enshrining of Sharia law in the country’s constitution. "We are in a predominantly Muslim country," he said. "We are not concerned that Islam is the state religion, but being a basic source of legislation contradicts the principles of democracy and freedom…"

During a trip to Rome in 2007, Archbishop Rahho confided to the Vatican that Islamic gunmen in Mosul had threatened to kill him and his entire congregation unless a collection was taken every Sunday to pay Islamic terrorists the Koranic tax on non-believers (the jizya). Said the New York Times:

In a paradox, this city [ Mosul ], long the seat of Iraqi Christianity, also became known as the last urban stronghold of Sunni insurgents. Another, more painful, paradox is that many of Iraq's remaining 700,000 Christians paid to save their lives, knowing full well that the money would be used for bombs and other weapons to kill others.

The Times understates the tragedy of Christians caught between strong Islamic extremists and a weak US occupation policy created by a befuddled and disoriented Bush Administration. After all, President Bush’s “small military footprint” strategy left large areas of Iraq at the mercy of militias, insurgents and remnants of Saddam’s Republican Guard. In spite of the minor success of the President’s recent military “surge,” little has been done to alleviate the plight of Iraq ’s Christian minority.

A report released by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy details some of the violence unleashed by Islamic extremists:

The targets hit in the capital [ Baghdad ] were the Chaldean Church of St George in the Ghadir quarter, where Patriarch Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly had just finished celebrating mass; a Greek-Melchite Church and a convent of Chaldean sisters in Zaafraniya. In Mosul , car bombs targeted the Chaldean Church of St Paul , an orphanage run by the Chaldean sisters in Alnoor and a convent of Dominican nuns in Mosul .

The United States as a whole has done little to nothing to assist the Christian community in Iraq since entering in 2003. While the Christians were relatively well protected under Saddam Hussein, they have been the target of severe persecution since 2004.

In the waning days of the overwhelmed and ne’er-do-well Bush presidency, it appears the Iraq debacle will survive only as a festering legacy passed to the next administration no matter what party ascends to office. But more, and to the lasting shame of George W. Bush and this country, it is a history written in testimony of suffering and persecution, scrawled in the blood of Christian saints, martyred not only by Muslim fascists, but by our shameful and feckless President who having been given power to do good—had not the mind of insight or spiritual heart of wisdom to discern what was right from what was wrong.

And the blood of saints crieth from the ground against the folly of this nation. Alas Babylon. Babylon the Great is falling.

--Mr. Curmudgeon