Why “dialogue” doesn’t always work:
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — Iraqi security forces stormed a Catholic church Sunday where gunmen suspected of having ties to al Qaeda were holding worshippers hostage, ending an hours-long standoff, police officials said Sunday.
Thirty-seven people were killed in the operation, including hostages, kidnappers and security workers, they said. At least seven of the victims were hostages, police officials said, while another 57 were wounded.
Eight suspects were arrested.
“All the marks point out that this incident carries the fingerprints of al Qaeda,” Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader Obeidi said on state television Sunday.
He said that most of the hostages were killed or wounded when the kidnappers set off explosives inside the church. (Remind me – when was the last time a group of Jews or Christians bombed a mosque full of civilians, with the only goal being the death of those same civilians?)
The Islamic State of Iraq later claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement posted on a radical Islamic website. The umbrella group includes a number of Sunni extremist organizations and has ties to al Qaeda in Iraq.
“The Mujahideens raided a filthy nest of the nests of polytheism, which has been long taken by the Christians of Iraq as a headquarter for a war against the religion of Islam and they were able by the grace of God and His glory to capture those were gathered in and to take full control of all its entrances,” the group said on the website. (This story may last a day or two on CNN, if that. But if a Catholic called Muhammad a false prophet (which he is) you could expect a lingering controversy. But don’t worry – the media’s not biased.)
An American military spokesman said that as many as 10 hostages died and that between 20 and 30 people were injured in the operation. Seven Iraqi security workers and between five and seven suspected insurgents were also killed, said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom.
Survivors of the ordeal said they were about to begin Sunday night services when the gunmen entered the church, according to Martin Chulov, a journalist for the UK-based Guardian newspaper who was on the scene. About 50 people were inside the church at the time, and a priest ushered them into a back room, Chulov reported survivors said.
The U.S. military spokesman said that as many as 120 people were taken hostage.
At one point, one of the gunmen entered the room and threw an unidentified explosive device inside, causing casualties, Chulov said.
The gunmen seized the hostages after attacking the Baghdad Stock Market in the central part of the Iraqi capital, earlier Sunday, police said. Four armed men entered the nearby Sayidat al-Nejat church after clashing with Iraqi security forces trying to repel the stock market attack.
The gunmen were demanding that the Iraqi government release a number of detainees and prisoners inside Iraqi prisons, saying the Christian hostages would be freed in return, according to the police officials. Iraq’s defense minister later said on state television that the kidnappers had demanded the release of a number of prisoners in both Iraq and Egypt.
Iraqi security forces sealed off the area surrounding the church, the officials said, and buildings were evacuated of civilians as a precautionary measure. At least 13 hostages, including two children, managed to escape ahead of the security operation, police said.
The Iraqi authorities ordered the attackers to release the hostages and to turn themselves in, warning that they would storm the church if they do not comply. A few hours passed quietly as military units took up positions outside the church, including several American units, said Chulov.
“Then all hell broke loose,” he said. A firefight erupted and Chulov said he heard three to four large explosions. Later, he saw about 20 ambulances race away from the scene.
The sad thing is, the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is nothing new. The problem has been around for over 1300 years, and not one thing has changed. Pathetic.
Tags: Islam, News and Media
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I heard this on BBC this morning. The asked the head of the World Council of Churches for a statement. Sure, it’s nice that he condemned it, but the WCC is thoroughly discredited and silly and the Catholic Church isn’t even a member. Way to go Beeb.
/rant
Now that I’m done ranting, I’m gonna pray for the Iraqi Catholics.
Let us pray that the US government (that’s us, by the way), clarifies its goals, and makes it our goal to win the war to make it the law in Iraq and Afghanistan that all citizens of those countries be free to convert to the Catholic faith (or any other faith). That isn’t our goal at the moment, ladies and gentlemen… Civic Freedom is the assurance of protection to do the good. WIN THE WAR!!!! Feliz Todosantos!!!
A BBC article I read suggests a few things:
1) The church was the target.
2) The priest celebrating the Divine Liturgy was immediately murdered.
3) ‘Maj Gen Hussein Kamal said 52 “martyrs” had died in the fighting[.]’ If the church was the target, how right is the Maj. Gen.’s assessment.
It lasted more than a day or two in the news, actually. More bombs went off this week across Baghdad in what looks to have been a highly coordinated attack which calls into question just how successful this war has been thus far. In other words, because it can be linked to other bombings, the attack on the “anonymous church” is still in the news.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592572255816584.html
Dialogue will never work with a religion wanting to conquer the world by violence,.we can’t beat around the bush,..I wrote a piece on this on my blog as well!