Not quite ready to play nice in Baghdad:
Iraqi antiterrorist forces stormed a church where gunmen had taken close to 100 hostages on Sunday in an afternoon of chaos that became a bloodbath. At least 30 hostages and 7 security officers were killed, and 41 hostages and 15 security force members were wounded, according to a source at the Ministry of the Interior…
Abdul-Kader Jassem al-Obeidi, the minister of defense, said that most of the hostages were killed or wounded when the kidnappers set off at least two suicide vests as they took over the church. He defended the decision to storm the building, saying, “This was a successful operation with a minimum of casualties, and killing all the terrorists.” He added that an unspecified number of suspects were also arrested.
The source at the Ministry of the Interior said that the police had arrested eight gunmen believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq, a militant organization connected to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia…
The violence began shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday. The gunmen first attacked the Baghdad stock exchange in the Karada neighborhood, killing two security guards and wounding four others, setting off two bombs and then taking refuge in the nearby Sayidat al-Nejat church.
The church — one of six bombed in August 2004 — was filled for Sunday services. A local television channel, Baghdadiya, reported receiving a telephone call from someone claiming to be one of the attackers and demanding the release of all members of Al Qaeda imprisoned in Arab countries.
Because that would happen.
Looks like the Iraqi security services and anti-terror forces have a ways to go, as well. You’d think they’d have the knack of it by now, practice making perfect. Perhaps it’s an issue of motivation.
Here’s a PBS report from last summer entitled, “Disappearing Christians in Iraq.” A professional class mostly, never many in number, now dwindling rapidly.
In the Soviet times, Ronald Reagan pressured Gorbachev to expand the number of visas given to Jews, a persecuted minority. In response to steady US pressure, many of them were allowed to emigrate to the US and contributed greatly once here, like Google’s Sergei Brin. There’s no strategic reason to do so now for Iraq’s Assyrian and Chaldean minorities, of course. It would be tantamount to an admission of guilt in the breaking of the Iraqi civil society, such as it is, and embarrassing to our Iraqi “allies” in government.
But it would still be the right thing to do, quietly of course: You wouldn’t want to antagonize anyone.
Those Iraqi Christians? Chaldean Catholics and Assyrian Christians here in large numbers in San Diego’s East County. Daughter’s charter school full of their kids. All of them now Red, White and Blue and loving America. Glad to have them.
Iraq’s loss. Our gain. Esp when they bring things like the cooking at “Ali Baba’s” restaurant with them.
Corner of Main and Avocado in El Cajon if you’re so inclined.
Those Mohammadens are just following their religion. You people are such intolerant wags.
But just remember this; “Man does not live by bread alone..” –there is more to immigration than having access to great restaurants. If there wasn’t we would all have preferred to live in Communist China rather than, say, pre-Muslim England and be stuck with standard pedestrian traditional English fare. Yet most would have opted for England, English food notwithstanding. A greater variety of restaurants/ethnic foods at the super-market is not, to my mind, justification enough alone for increased immigration. This is definitely a case where the careful separating of the wheat from the chaff is called for.
VX,
Trust you see the larger, earlier red, white, blue point, si?
The food bit? That’s just gravy on top of us gaining patriotic immigrants who value education, are entreprenurial and tend to be from their educated, professional class.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, blackeagle603. As a Yankee Prairie Stater from the “Land of Lincoln” who went South for his education and stayed, there are no more zealous advocates of a cultural lifestyle than the “more Catholic than the Pope” willingly converted. I didn’t miss your point at all–just chose you’re broaching of the subj. to tee-off on the “diversity for its own sake” crowd with a warning shot. I’m just a drunken feral former LSU Bayou Bengal marking my territory. If I have to piss anyway it might as well be on the multi-culti “diversity” crowd.
PS: BTW blackeagle603. One of my college roommates from Louisville (being a large part of the reason I moved there after the service and grad school–long story, etc.) had several close friends from the large Christian Lebanese community in Louisville. My wife and I spent many a New Year’s eve back in the late 70s, 80s partying at the Lebanese club off of River Road–great times, great people.
Hey, for the Muzzies, it’s the perfect place to practice their armed entry procedures. All the ‘terrorists’ killed and most of the CHRISTIAN hostages killed during the assault. Win-win for those people.
Most of the Christian Iraqis live in Dearborn, own a house and are converting the upstairs an/or basement into a two or 3 flat for the relatives who will be moving in real soon now.
Just until they can start a family business and move out of Wayne county.
Dearborn was turned into Achmed-land due to the influx of Arab Muslims, who in turn have built the largest mosque in North America, the Islamic Center of America. http://bit.ly/9yRy11
When I lived in Dearborn in the late 70′s it was an outstanding community, and one in which the Lebanese (Christians) were a welcome and contributing part of the community. If there was a Muslim presence, and there had to be, I do not remember it.
The American City of Dearborn is no more -replaced by Arabic Muslims into a land of Shi’a. Easy to see why Christians would want to move away from Dearborn now.
Yep, I’ve read that our community is second to them as largest concentration of Iraqi expats. One of 8 polling places in the US for Iraqi elections.