Foreign Intervention Not the Answer - Archbishop of Baghdad

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
18 Jun 2014

 

As Baghdad's 7 million residents stockpile food, hard cash and prepare for siege under imminent attack by ISIS Jihad extremists, the Archbishop of Baghdad, the Most Rev Jean Sleiman has spoken out against foreign intervention and has told the international community to instead "think of the common good, not their own interest."

In an interview with the Catholic Charity, Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Sleiman stressed the need for "political consensus" amongst Iraqis leaders and said this was critical in overcoming the ISIL militants which have already taken the city of Mosul, Kirkut, Fallujah and other cities and towns in Northern Baghdad.

"I hope Iraqi leaders will find a consensus about how to tackle this situation or there will be a tragic outcome," he said. "I don't know what will happen next. Of course the military will resist ISIS but who knows if it will be strong enough. It is a possibility the terrorists will succeed. But we don't know."

Archbishop Sleiman says all roads north of Baghdad are closed and others to the south choked with checkpoints and other obstacles, leaving the airport as the only option for citizens to leave the beleaguered capital.

Two days ago, Australia, the US and other countries began evacuating staff and officials from their embassies in Baghdad. Last night the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs urged Australians in Baghdad to leave immediately while flights are still operating.

Tension continues to build and for Iraqis getting on a flight is proving difficult.

"You can only leave Baghdad if you have the money to pay for a flight. But the flights are booked out until the end of the month," the Archbishop said.

Asked if he was considering leaving, he said he had not yet made up his mind.

"I leave this problem to my angels," he said, adding that the taking of Mosul, a city of 1.8 million by the ruthless terror group ISIS took everyone by surprise.

An acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the ISIS militia terror groups which are also known as ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) are Sunni Muslims. Although Shi'ite Muslims have far outnumbered Sunnis in Iraq, the Sunnis have traditionally been the rulers of Iraq, holding the nation's most powerful positions and elite Government posts.

Saddam Hussein was a Sunni but after his downfall the Shi'ite Iraqis took over Government positions at all levels and began exacting their revenge. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki did nothing to stop the persecution of Sunnis and desecration of their mosques by Shi'ites, and against advice the US-led Coalition refused to include Sunnis in his Government or appoint them to any position of power, even at a local government level.

From this chaos ISIS emerged.

So ruthless even Al Qaeda considers them too extreme, ISIS last week released videos they claimed 1700 Iraqi soldiers shot in cold blood by the terrorists. The organisation has grown from a few isolated Sunni extremist terror cells in Iraq, to what is now arguably the world's most dangerous military force.

Mutating and thriving in the chaos of the ongoing civil war in Syria, ISIS has now returned to its original homeland and having taken over Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is now bearing down on Baghdad.

What the world is now seeing is sectarian violence between two strands of Islam, which already divide the Middle East politically and may now trigger a far wider and more dangerous conflict, with fears Shi'ite Iran may enter the conflict along with the oil rich Sunnis of Saudi Arabia, exploding the entire region into warfare.

As in recent conflicts between Islamic groups in Syria, Libya and Egypt, Christians are caught in the middle, and those in Iraq now face extreme danger.

In Syria where ISIS now occupies the north of the country, Christians are persecuted, kidnapped for ransom and ordered to wear Muslim dress and  ordered to pay a special tax. If they wish to worship and practice their religion, this must be carried out behind closed doors and out of sight and hearing of any Muslim.

The Christians of Iraq are considered one of the oldest surviving continuous Christian communities in the world. But by 2003 the Christian population had dropped to just 1,500,000 or 5% of the population. Today this is even lower at less than 450,000.

Most Christians in the country live in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkut and Arbil and already Mosul and Kirkut have fallen.

Archbishop Sleiman, a Carmelite originally from Lebanon, has been the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad since 2001. He has seen more and more Christians have left Iraq or in the wake of church bombings and attacks, been forced to flee.

In his interview with Aid to the Church in Need this week, Archbishop Sleiman said numbers at Sunday Mass on 15 June at St Patrick's Cathedral were down and those he spoke with after the Mass were extremely stressed by the situation.

He appealed to the world to pray for Iraq.

"We should all pray for peace and solidarity and for a solution to the crisis," he said.