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The Spectacle Blog
One of the tragic outcomes of the Iraq war has been the destruction of the historic Christian community. Saddam was evil, but had no interest in persecuting Christians. Indeed, a Christian woman was far better off living in Iraq than in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.
Half of the Christians have been forced from their homes, many to Syria, where they fear the consequences if Bashir Assad is ousted. Those remaining in Baghdad are afraid to publicly celebrate Christmas.
CHRISTMAS has gone underground in Baghdad this year with the leaders of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities taking the extraordinary step of warning followers that it is too dangerous to openly celebrate Christ’s birthday.“We have told everyone that there should be no public parties or large gatherings and people should do their own celebrations in their homes,” said Ra’ad Emmanuel, the head of the government-backed Iraqi Christian Endowment.
Ironically, Islamists blamed Iraqi Christians for American behavior, even though the Bush administration did nothing to help local believers. According to the Australian:
“After Saddam fell, Christians were targeted and attacked because everyone thought we were somehow attached to the Americans but the truth is that the US did not do anything for the Christians,” Mr Emmanuel said.
It is yet another tragic and unanticipated consequence of an unnecessary war.
View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Doug Bandow
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/24/no-christmas-celebrations-in-b
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Aleck| 12.24.11 @ 12:19PM
Thanks for pointing this out. As a Christian citizen, it was this effect on fellow Christians that made me begin questioning my previous strong support for the warmongering that so much of the Republican party had slid into. I began to realize that slowly but surely we had eroded our prior professed commitment to engaging only in just (as opposed to unjust) wars. The more I have wondered about these things, and studied up on them, the more cynical I became about the haughty and facile pro-war propaganda that still dominates so much of the Republican party (to which I belong). Yes, God has delegated the power of the sword to civil government to defend its law-abiding citizens from enemies without and within its borders. But in the name of defending and spreading liberty throughout the world (an idolatrous, messianic vision of our nation), our leaders have palpably frittered away so many of our liberties that it's getting hard to count that high. There's something very wrong with this picture.
MikeG| 12.24.11 @ 1:00PM
Another example of the total useless war in Iraq that served no American interests.
Red Phillips | 12.24.11 @ 1:03PM
"idolatrous, messianic vision of our nation"
Amen to that! A lot of Christians have adopted a messianic vision of America as savior nation that borders of blasphemy if it is not outright blasphemy.
Warrior | 12.25.11 @ 1:45PM
Red, just wondering if it's me or does these blogs stay silent unless Ron Paul's name is mentioned? Here is a specific example of severe unintended consequences of the foreign policy that all the "R"epublicans want to preserve and they are all silent as a church mouse.
Merry Christmas.
kramer| 12.24.11 @ 1:18PM
Aleck, I would say that it is not the warring itself that is wrong, it is the "how," as in, just 'how' it is waged.
Iraq wasn't a war. It was for about 2.5 weeks in April 2003 and in events like Fallujah I and II. There were skirmishes to be sure. Firefights. But did we ever really lay in a 48-hour artillery barrage where the big guns were breaking down from overuse?
We all know the answer to that: No.
The "how" we remove an evil dictator like Saddam and THEN what comes next and "how" we wage the 'peace,' reconstruction, establishment of new civil norms, etc. this is what is dreadfully wrong.
Since Korea we've not gotten this right. Not in places like Somalia or Panama. Certainly not one bit so in Iraq or Afghanistan.
We have useless monkeys doing the Pentagon, Beltway, CENTCOM planning, decision-making, and execution of missions.
That is our problem. Men who are 40 - 55 years old who haven't got a clue. Worse, they have no morals or consciences. (names like George Casey and Mike Mullen come to mind)
The fact that we could ask a Christian in Baghdad today, "Are you safer today in year 2011 than you were in year 2001?" and get ridiculed for asking the question by said Iraqi Christian speaks volumes for the evil (yes, incompetecy is evil) in all these fools.
Oh, yes, the fools who've billed you $billions that just went right to Korruptocrat Iraqis secret European bank accounts, from summer of 2003 to, well, right up to the present day, in fact.
Warrior | 12.24.11 @ 10:23PM
Thank you Mr. Bandow. I tried to make a similar point a few weeks back only to be ridiculed by the "R"epublicans on this site. It is not just in Baghdad that this is occurring. Christian churches are pretty much a think of the past in Bosnia and Egypt. Any nation predominantly populated by muslims that receives US military support have basically purged any Christians and their places of worship from existence.
Omni| 12.26.11 @ 10:45AM
Hm....I'm wondering much on this subject, too. What might it like to be a Christian in Kosovo?
Surely they are a minority there. But surely also the Kosovarans should understand that ALL the MASSIVE assistance they've received from NATO, EU capitals and the United States should mean that they FULLY adopt acceptance of Christians and Christians in their presence.
But? Do they?
Odd that we don't seem to get it: Where Christian values predominate, there tend to be far more stable and docile/friendly/collegial world societies.
PattyMor| 12.25.11 @ 11:46AM
I fear that our government has been sold to the highest bidders. Who are these people? The
George Soros' New World Order People, The Chinese, and the Communists. There was no American purpose served in invading Iraq. We have not only spent ourselves into oblivion, we removed Iran's most feared enemy, Iraq.
MarkJ| 12.25.11 @ 12:13PM
Mr. Bandow,
Question: Why did we invade Iraq in 2003?
Answer: So we wouldn't have had to nuke it in 2004.
Put that in your "unnecessary" pipe and smoke it, buddy. Your Monday morning quarterbacking is truly something to behold.
seth | 12.25.11 @ 12:30PM
you are a retard
Occam's Tool| 12.25.11 @ 2:47PM
I agree with you on that one, Warrior. The question now arises: are we going to do pre-emmptive destruction of our enemies (no nation building afterwards unless they are beaten as thoroughly as Germany and Japan), or are we going to wait until a WMD comes through our porous Mexican border and takes out El Paso (for example). I know where Red Phillips stands---he doesn't believe that the Islamists could ever attack our country significantly, that they could never, for example, slam two explosive fuel air bombs into the Twin Towers and bring them down. The proud Twin Towers stand over New York On Christmas Day 2011 thanks to the accuracy of Red's poition.
I, on the other hand, base my assumption of what the enemy might do on their capabilities. I prefer them not to use these capabilities due to being scared shitless of the outcome. So, I prefer to teach lessons like Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, and Hamburg. Lessons that teach well. I think Teheran would be a fine lesson to start with. They attacked us in Teheran for reasons that had nothing to do with Israel.
Yes, Christians are being massacred by Muslims. I propose that something be done. The paul followers engage in useless handwringing and protestations of moral cowardice. (I didn't say physical cowardice, I said moral cowardice. There's a difference. I know, possessing both. In my job, I have been physically attacked, and am always in danger of it. In addition, I have quit lucrative jobs over matters of principle.) I pity us if Paul wins.
Warrior | 12.25.11 @ 4:35PM
OT, your first question is easy. Tighten up security on the southern border. Bypassing our Constitution and declaring a global war on terror, we have allowed our government to justify perpetual war without the inconvenience of having to actually identify the enemy. Since there are no specific objectives that can be obtained, there is no way to end this war. Bush I cleared the path by using the military for humanitarian reasons. Clinton slapped NATO markings on our aircraft and conducted campaigns without any clear objectives vital to our national security. Bush II instead of finishing the job of eliminating the Taliban, allowed them to retreat and regroup while switching his emphasis to Iraq which again had no identifiable threat to our national interests. This is not a WMD discussion, Iraq had them and used them against their own people. There was no proven threat to our national security that was resolved by attacking Iraq. Now Obama, similar to Carter has facilitated regime change in Egypt (which isn't going so well unless you are a muslim extremist) and Libya while begging to get involved in Syria. All anyone can produce is some vague reference to terrorism without actually having to prove there is a risk to our country. Our own elected officials have also now succeeded in basically declaring our own country a war zone. Of course this is after many versions of the Patriot Act which does nothing but usurp our freedoms.
Again you attack Ron Paul but fail to state how any of the other candidates will implement a foreign policy that will actually make us safer. More of the same, which is basically what every candidate other than Ron Paul has in store if they are elected doesn't make any rational sense. We are not any securer today than we were on September 10, 2001. However, we sure have sacrificed a lot of soldiers lives, limbs and blood, our own liberties and basically pushed our country to the brink of bankruptcy and you can sit there and honestly say we are safer today than ten years ago?
If we would have fought our enemies in a military capacity where annihilation was the objective, we wouldn't be talking about any of this. The military industrial complex is alive and well while our country is running dry of money and liberty. We can't go back and rewrite the history of what has already happened. Red has a right to his opinion and his expression of that opinion just as you have a right to yours. However, the unintended consequences as stated in this article are real. Government is not the answer but is actually the problem. We could find proof of this in how through all the programs designed to help the black American has done nothing but destroy their family structures and enslaved them to the state.
I could keep going, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to you and others on this board. Many of you do not want to engage in discussion, you just seem to want to ridicule those with differing opinions and keep telling me I'm not a conservative because I don't believe in the same candidates as you. I pity us if Obama, Romney, Perry or Gingrich wins.
axbucxdu| 12.26.11 @ 8:04PM
The current spending, future unfunded liabilities, and existing debt service are barely tenable in a low interest rate environment, and are simply incompatible with financial reality if rates go higher.
wilsonian crusades need money, lots of it. See if you can guess what happens when the cash is no longer there.
Occam's Tool| 12.25.11 @ 2:48PM
Sorry: "Red's position"
Jacob R| 12.26.11 @ 7:24AM
So it's our fault that they're violent heathens?
Ok, just needed to get that straight!
Skippy| 12.26.11 @ 3:58PM
Let's imagine the post from Mr. Bandow had we vacillated and wrung our hands in doubt, and the intel from our best sources had been accurate.
DFW and London lie in ruins, and Saddam is holed up in triumph.
"It is yet another tragic and unanticipated consequence of an unwise quest for peace."
There; I fixed it for you.