Last month, a Chaldean priest, Ragheed Ganni, and three sub-deacons were murdered by Islamist terrorists in Mosul, Iraq. Before being executed, they were informed that they would be spared on the condition that they converted to Islam. All refused. Ganni was one of many Iraqis killed since 2003 for no reason other than their Christian identity. Additionally, thousands of Christians have been expelled from their homes, extorted, harassed, beaten, raped and ordered to covert to Islam, spawning a frantic and ongoing exodus. As a result, Iraq's Christian community stands on the verge of extinction. Other religious minorities have also been persecuted, including the Yazidis of the north and the tiny Mandaean community of the south.
Until recently, the Iraqi diaspora was relatively small. The 1980-1988 war between Iraq and Iran, which was accompanied by an economic boom, did not prompt mass emigration of Iraqis. Large-scale emigration began with Saddam Hussein's 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurds, and skyrocketed with the 1991 Gulf war, Saddam's crushing of a Shiite rebellion, and international sanctions. The resulting economic deterioration led large numbers of Christians to leave. Saddam's post-war Islamization drive provided an added incentive.
Most of Iraq's Christians are Chaldo-Assyrians, an ethnic group comprising several Christian sects, including Chaldean Catholics (the largest), two factions of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Syriac Orthodox and Catholics. Iraq is also home to Armenian Orthodox and Catholics, and smaller groups like Anglicans, Protestants, and Roman Catholics. On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Christians was often generously estimated at 800,000; the real figure was likely no higher than 500,000. The violent and anarchic period following the invasion has proven disastrous; some estimates indicate that in the past four years, the Christian population of Iraq has halved.
Although bombings of churches receive media attention, assassinations and kidnappings go largely unnoticed. Recently, however, expulsions and large-scale harassment of Christians, such as those under way in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Daura, have been reported. "The Islamic State of Iraq," a Sunni terrorist umbrella group which includes Al-Qaeda, ordered Christian residents of Al-Daura to pay a jizya, the Islamic poll tax historically imposed upon non-Moslems.
The money would go to financing the very activities that threaten the future of Christians in Iraq. Seventy percent of the neighborhood's Christians subsequently fled.
It is crucial to understand that Christians in Iraq are not simply suffering from the general violence and anarchy plaguing the country, but are being targeted as Christians by Islamists as well as criminal gangs. While Islamist terrorists openly aim to rid Iraq of all "infidels," criminals seek to exploit the perceived wealth of Christians. Thus, many Christians who were middle-class are now destitute, having paid exorbitant ransoms for kidnapped loved ones - some of whom were killed nonetheless.
Though Christians have been persecuted by Moslems in the past, today's Islamist onslaught against Christians in Iraq has led to something virtually unprecedented in the history of Islam in Mesopotamia: Christians must hide their identity so as to avoid being harassed or killed. Christian women routinely don the hijab, and men and women with identifiably Christian names have taken to concealing them. Concomitantly, Christians have been forced to remove the cross from public view, including church steeples and domes as well as from around their necks. This is a hugely symbolic act that powerfully illustrates the tragic position of Christians in Iraq today.
Church services are regularly cancelled; when held, many parishioners are understandably too scared to attend. During parliamentary elections, Chaldo-Assyrian political parties didn't dare to mount a public election campaign, for fear this might be deemed "provocative." Physical danger stalks Christians everywhere; Islamist groups have launched sectarian cleansing operations against Christian enclaves in virtually all Iraqi cities. Christians are targeted by both Sunni and Shiite violence. Though some have sought sanctuary among coreligionists in the Kurdish-controlled north, for many there is no option but to leave Iraq altogether.
Women are especially vulnerable. Theological justifications for the rape of non-Moslem women and their forcible betrothal to Moslems are widespread - Mandaean women have been specifically targeted - as are rulings permitting the summary murder of all non-Moslems who violate Islamic law. Violations can be selling liquor, dressing "immodestly," refusing to pay a jizya, expressing a political opinion, or even just professing one's faith openly. In the worst circumstances, the very act of being non-Moslem is perceived as an offense; many Islamist militias simply present non-Moslems with the choice of converting to Islam or being killed.
Significantly, however, it isn't just terrorists who target Christians.
A previously latent anti-Christian animus among large sections of the Moslem populace has manifested itself. There are many recorded instances of politically unaffiliated Moslems turning on their Christian neighbors, of others refusing to pay debts owed to Christians, and of acts of individual extortion. Fatwas authorizing the seizure of abandoned Christian property inevitably encourage Moslems to expel Christians or intimidate them into fleeing, while invidious rumors of wholesale Christian "collaboration" with the occupation forces prompt anti-Christian violence. This is part of the general Islamization engulfing Iraq, turning ordinary Moslems against their Christian compatriots, who are denigrated as "unclean" and physically threatened for being "Crusaders."
Western countries, terrified of being perceived as biased toward Christians, have maintained a studied indifference, while the Iraqi government and security services have been heavily infiltrated by members of anti-Christian Shiite militias. Unlike Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds, Christians field no militias and are easy prey for their oppressors.
Iraqi Moslem leaders' condemnation of sectarian violence is woefully insufficient, as they refuse to acknowledge - let alone confront - the extremism in their midst. Influential Moslem clerics like the Sunni cleric Hareth al-Dari and the Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr flatly deny that their communities produce extremists; instead, each blames the other community and the American military for all outrages.
This doesn't apply only to anti-Christian violence. Incredibly, Sunni leaders accuse Shiites of being behind attacks on Shiite holy sites, while Shiite leaders straight-facedly accuse Sunnis of the mass kidnappings and executions of unarmed Sunnis. As a result, there is little introspection and no self-criticism on the part of either community. Indeed, Moslem leaders often condemn the atrocity while exonerating the perpetrator.
The tragedy is that we will likely soon find ourselves writing the epitaph of Iraq's Christian community. Indeed, even if the situation were suddenly to improve - a highly unlikely prospect - it is already too late to reverse the effects of the hemorrhaging. Massive emigration has altered Iraq's demography irrevocably, and certain groups will never recover. Figures for members of the Assyrian Church, for example, have plummeted, and the Armenians of Iraq have virtually disappeared. Other minorities besides Christians are also endangered; according to the Mandaean Society of America, 85 percent of Iraq's Mandaeans have fled since 2003.
Eventually, the violence in Iraq will subside and a modicum of security will return. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will arrive at a modus vivendi, however imperfect. In attempting to forge some semblance of unity, a nationalist historiography will likely blame the occupation forces for Iraq's post-Saddam violence. And this will be the second crime perpetrated against Iraqi victims of Islamist terror. After all, there can be no greater insult to the murdered than to exonerate their murderers.
For the Christians of Iraq, indeed, for all Iraqis who have been killed or otherwise persecuted for their religious affiliation, this would mean exonerating the Islamist purveyors of holy war, Sunni or Shiite, who incite against one another and against non-Moslems. It would mean "moving forward" without ever confronting the Islamist theologies of murder, rape and genocide, whose adherents have forever disfigured Iraq.
What puzzles me is why the Iraqi Christians never formed a self-defense force like the Lebanese Christians did, if the Moslems can get weapons surely the Christians could too.
unfortunately they are severely outnumbered by filthy terrorists.
do i ever wish saddam were alive, he would have butchered those terrorists like a fishmonger to a salmon.
saddam could keep these islamist barbarians under control and under ground, where they belong.
long live 'iraqi' democracy, and i heard a rumor that suggests the iraqi christians who fled to lebanon will receive lebanese citizenship with the help of the maronite church. even though iraq is their historic homeland, sadly, they will never be able to return. so lebanon is next best for these christian iraqis who have faced historical genocide.
We may have made a mistake by taking out Saddam Hussein at least back then the Christians had some semblance of freedom. God bless the Maronites for helping our Iraqi Christian brothers and sisters I'm sure St. Sharbel is smiling down on them from heaven.
There are few instances of Christian Communities in recent History organizing defensive Militias along purely Christian Identity lines.
This is one area in which the influence of Clergy generally leads towards the impulse to Martyrdom and Cultural-Religious Suicide.
The notable exceptions are the Lebanese Kataeb, the Ethiopians, the Serbs and the Biafrans. For further examples you have to reach much further back to the Greek War of Independence from the Ottomans, Serb and Croat resistance, and from thence to the Spanish Reconquista, the European Resistance to the Ottomans (Vienna, Lepanto, etc.) thence to the Albanians under Skanderbeg, the reaction of the Crusaders, thence back to the Byzantines.
The one thing that each and every example of Christian Military Organization has is that it's origins lie in a DEFENSIVE REACTION AGAINST MUSLIM AGGRESSION.
This is precisely why the Christian Falange in this country needs to cultivate a militia / resistance culture and mindset. Every Falangist should be competent with a rifle. Every Falangist must take the oath of a soldier to persevere against the Islamic enemy REGARDLESS of the pusillanimity of the Clergy and their impulse toward Martyrdom.
Martyrdom is glorious for Saints, but not all of us are called upon to be Saints. There are always those left behind to cope with life in THIS WORLD. I for one REFUSE to surrender this world completely to EVIL, and Islam is evil. If there is no place left on the Earth where Christians can live in Freedom, then what is the whole point?
Pelagius you need be a party officer of some sort, Director of Information, Director of Falangist Thought, Vice-Director of the Party or something. You are GOOD! God Bless You!
I first learned of the Christian militias on my AKO account. Google Christian Militias and you will find several reports. And yes, these militias are directed by the displaced clergy. Funding is apparently comeing from the Kurds. "THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND"
This is precisely why the Christian Falange in this country needs to cultivate a militia / resistance culture and mindset. Every Falangist should be competent with a rifle. Every Falangist must take the oath of a soldier to persevere against the Islamic enemy REGARDLESS of the pusillanimity of the Clergy and their impulse toward Martyrdom.
I feel that every member should be in the National Guard. On another note, check out INFIDEL INK.
We do not ask our members what denomination they are though some do offer that information. I know of two who are Orthodox and one is a Deacon in his Texas church.
No, and as far as I know the Christians there are not fighters, they'd rather leave than fight. I heard of rumors that in Iraq there may be some and there definately are in Lebanon.
We do not ask our members what denomination they are though some do offer that information. I know of two who are Orthodox and one is a Deacon in his Texas church.
It seems to me that they would have access to front line information from the area.
The Maronites in Lebanon have a long history of resistance to the Muslim hordes. The main advantage they have always had is their location in the Mountains, where defense has the advantage.
Not only have they survived, but they have survived uncowed. The remarkable nature of their history lies hand in hand with that of Lebanon, for centuries being their retreat and fortress. Lebanon and the Maronites are inseparably attached. The Maronites have survived the storms of muslim invasion, occupation, repression and suppression for over 1600 years, preserving their religion, traditions and state.
Through the ages they have refused to bow to their occupiers. So fierce are they, that at the height of the Umayyad dynasty the Maronites even exacted tribute as a price for their good behaviour, in due course their Christian neighbours all succumbed to Islam but not Lebanon, holding a Maronite majority well into the 20th century, even their Syriac (Christian Aramaic) language was widely spoken well into the late 19th century and still survives today in their liturgy and in some of their villages.
The first battle between the invading Arabs and the Christians was the battle of Wadi al Arabah just south of the Dead Sea in 633. A couple of years after Wadi al Arabah, Damascus was attacked and put under siege for six months before treason on the part of some government officials allowed the Arabs to take the city. The battle that was decisive and resulted in the large scale invasion of Lebanon was the Battle of Yarmuk. The battle took place on August 20, 636 at Yarmuk. A Byzantine army of some 50,000 mainly Greeks, Phoenicians, Arameans, Mesopotamians and Armenians faced a much smaller Arab army. The Arabs won a great victory that day by their commander Khalid ibn al Walid. By 637, Baalbak, Acre, Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and many other cities fell to Arab invaders. Many Maronites living on the coast and in the Bekaa seeing that they were unable to halt the Arab advance moved up into Mount Lebanon which at the time was a Maronite stronghold. The mountain offered no attraction to the desert Arabs who considered agriculture below their dignity and who new little of industry and nothing of maritime trade, the caliphs did not realize the strategic importance of Lebanon and left it to itself.
The Maronites resisted the Arab invasion and almost immediatly began to launch operations against these new invaders. Nowhere was resistance more hostile than in Lebanon, realtively safe high in the mountains the Lebanese had a geographic advantage that facilitated their operations.
The Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV, Progonatus, who was suspicious of the Maronites due to their allegiance to Rome in Christological disputes became impressed with the resistance that the Maronites were mounting, recruited Christian mountaineers from the Black Mountain to infiltrate Lebanon and join the Maronites in harassing the Arabs.
In 669 a Byzantine cavalry company marched to Jarjuma linked up with the Jarajima and continued on to Lebanon on the way being joined by Nabateans and slaves who had escaped from the Muslims. In some cases this army had to fight its way through Arab lines and so "invade" Lebanon to join up with the Lebanese Maronites as the Arabs had surrounded Mount Lebanon. Over the next few years The Lebanese and the Jarajima regained controlled a large track of the Near East streching from the Black Mountain down to Jerusalem and became such a problem for the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750) that the Caliph Muawiya decided to sign a peace treaty in 677 and to pay a tribute to the Maronites and to the Emperor of Constantinople so as to ensure good behaviour on the part of the Maronites.
The Maronites resisted all throughout a thousand years of tribulation of the Byzantine Empire, then the Crusades, then the Mongols and the retribution of the Mamluks, then the Ottomans, being throughout much of history the ONLY people to successfully resist the Arab hordes.
In 1866 Maronite nationalist uprising took place against the first governor, Dawood Pasha. The uprising was led by a gallant and dashing young man by the name of Youssef Karam.
In 1840, Karam aged 17, fought beside his father and elder brother against Egyptian armies then occupying Lebanon in the battles of Hayrouna and Bazoun. Youssef showed remarkable skills as a fighter and leader, and his reputation and influence in the area steadily grew. So much so that in 1846, when his father died, Youssef succeeded him as ruler. Karam ruled with fairness, and his reputation and influence as a soldier and politician continued to grow and spread.
To win Lebanese support the governor, Dawood Pasha, offered Karam a senior Government post but Karam refused and insisted on nothing less than self rule for Lebanon and so Dawood issued an order exiling Karam to Turkey in 1861. In 1864 however, Karam returned to Lebanon where he was greeted as a national hero. War was inevitable.
The first confrontation took place near Jounieh on the 6th January 1866. Karam was attending Mass at St. Doumit Church when regular Turkish troops attacked his men stationed outside. A fierce fight followed, and Karam, aided by neighbouring villagers, defeated the Turkish troops. Karam immediately wrote to Istanbul and European Governments detailing the causes of conflict, and championed his people's right to defend themselves.
Dawood Pasha however, determined to rid himself of Karam and deal a fatal blow to the Lebanese nationalist movement tried to set a trap. Dawood instructed his military Commander, Amin Pasha, to arrange a meeting with Karam in the presence of the Maronite Archbishop at Karem Saddah. The meeting was arranged for Sunday the 28th January 1866. Whilst the meeting was in progress, Turkish troops were sighted advancing at nearby Bnasha toward Karem Saddah. The meeting was abandoned, and one of the fiercest battles was fought at Bnasha involving some 800 of Karam's men opposing a far greater number of Turkish troops. Here, Karam won a decisive victory which led to a string other victories: the battle of Sebhell 1st March 1866, Ehmej 14th March 1866, Wadi El Salib 22nd March 1866, Aytou 5th May 1866, Ey El Yawz 7th June 1866, Wadi Miziari 20th August 1866, Ehden 15th December 1866, Ejbeh 10th January 1867 and Wadi El Sabeeb 17th January 1867.
So successful was Karam, that he finally decided to march on 'Beit El Din', the Governor's residence, over-throw Turkish rule and install a Lebanese national government. Thousands of people joined Karam in his march to 'Beit El Din', and Dawood Pasha was forced to flee to Beirut. In Beirut however, Dawood Pasha rallied support from the European Ambassadors. These emissaries warned Karam that as their government were parties to the Lebanese constitution which allowed Turkish rule over Lebanon, they were bound to support Turkey and would actively oppose Karam and refuse to recognise any government he may form. At a meeting at Bkerke, the French Ambassador ordered Karam in the name of Napoleon III, to leave Lebanon in return for French guarantees of safety for his men and people and the implementation of all of Karam's national demands. Karam was warned that to refuse would mean to place his men and the welfare of his people in jeopardy. On Thursday the 31st January 1867, Karam left Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria. Karam's demands were not met and so he traveled from Algeria to European capitals describing, for the rest of his life, the plight of the Lebanese people and their desire for a sovereign and independent state. A strangely a very similar situation was to occur 123 years later when the French gave similar guarantees to another Maronite leader. In 1990 General Michel Aoun also left Lebanon into exile on board a French vessel.
Thirsty for freedom, the Lebanese people delegated in 1919, the Maronite Patriarch Elias HOAYEK to go to the Peace Conference at Versailles and to demand independence on their behalf. The Patriarch went to Versailles and explained the problems of Lebanon, negotiated effectively, and accomplished his mission. He thus put the future of Lebanon on a firm footing and obtained satisfaction for the national aspirations. Soon after this famous Treaty of Versailles, the San Remo Conference was held in Italy in April 1920, and Allies gave France a mandate over Lebanon and Syria. France then appointed General Henri Gouraud to implement the mandate provisions.
On September 1, 1920, General Henri Gouraud proclaimed:
'At the foot of these majestic mountains, which have been the strength of your country, and remain the impregnable stronghold of its faith a freedom; on the shore of this sea of many legends that has seen the triremes of Phoenicia, Greece and Rome and now by a happy fate, brings you confirmation of a great and ancient friendship and the blessings of French peace, I solemnly salute Grand Liban, in its glory and prosperity, in the name of the Government of the French Republic.'
This is a part of the history of the Maronite Christians of Lebanon. They created the Kataeb and they are our inspiration.
This is a history that is not yet over by a long shot. Now the odious Hezbollah under the foul mullah Nasrallah threatens the unity if Lebanon. May he meet the same fate as the others.
