Iraqi Christians’ Never-Ending ‘Black Day’

Yesterday, on Aug. 6, the Christians of Iraq commemorated the tenth anniversary of” The Black Day” — when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ) invaded northern Iraq, where most of that nation’s Christian minorities live ( d ), beginning on Aug. 6, 2014.

The atrocities finally committed — and which were appropriately labeled genocide by the global community — were unbelievable: I privately remember going through and still have access to numerous reports, several in non-English languages, on how ISIS butchered, crucified, enslaved, raped, bought, and sold Christians as if they were chattel — not to mention the bombing or burning of countless, usually ancient heritage-site churches and monasteries.

In another way, and moving more closely to the heart, it should be remembered that one of the major factors in allowing a small band of terrorists to decimate Northern Iraq’s large Christian populations was that these people were deposed by their own government, making them unable to rebel. As John Zmirak of The Stream wrote, &nbsp,

]Iraq’s Christians were ] kept apprehended, socially useless, but actually protected by a government that valued its credentials as morally accepting. The U. S. invasion in 2003 destroyed the regime of Saddam Hussein, dissolved the Baathist group, and unleashed the long-simmering troops of inter-religious anger … The one group which all the people saw no reason to defend, and which some scapegoated for the war by U. S.” knights”, were the vulnerable local Catholics.

It’s important to remember that the suffering of Iraq’s Christians, one of the oldest Religious communities in the world, began well before the” Black Day” that brought about ISIS’s defeat against the Christians in Northern Iraq, and that it continues to do so today. In other words, ISIS was always only the frosting on the jihadist bread, one which continues to be dished out to Christians, even if in smaller pieces.

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Saddam Hussein’s re-instatement, all fell apart for Iraq’s Christians. Despite his flaws, Saddam was a secularist, which meant that his internal enemies were the same as Christians ‘: observant ( “radical” ) Muslims who disliked and sought to overthrow Saddam for not being a” true” Muslim because they had long characterized him as an apostate. &nbsp, As like, he kept them suppressed, which directly benefited Christians.

As one top Vatican national once put it, Christians, “paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship]of Saddam Hussein ]”.

Once he was toppled, the genie — or jihadi — bottle was uncorked: “militant” Muslims everywhere — many of them presented by the mainstream media as U. S. allies and “freedom fighters” — began to exercise sharia ( as they later did in Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and Syria under the Obama-sponsored guise of an” Arab Spring” ).

For instance, here is a poignant excerpt from an article I wrote in April 2011 that had not yet led to the” Black Day” and was three years before ISIS even existed.

Next week an Iraqi Muslim professor issued a judgment that, among different depravities, asserts that “it is acceptable to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians”. &nbsp, Inciting as the judgment is, it is also useless. Even though it is well known that there were 60 Christians killed in the Baghdad religion attack in October, the truth is that since U.S. forces have overthrown Saddam Hussein in 2003, Christians have lived in hell. Among other crimes, beheading and crucifying Christians are no unusual occurrences, messages saying “you Biblical dogs, keep or die”, are common. &nbsp, Jihadists see the temple as an “obscene colony of romans” and harm to “exterminate Iraqi Christians”.

Keep in mind that the Muslims initiating this work did not already include ISIS, which would not even be a group until 2013. They were really “militant” Muslims who hated Christians for the same cause their ancestors hated and viciously conquered Christians: Islam, which exploits inherent tribalism, makes a hated enemy of the “other” — in this case, the non-Muslim, the infidel, who is to be abused, plundered, and slaughtered at will.

The fact that Christians continue to suffer persecution and discrimination even after ISIS has been removed, as well as the newly established U.S. government, is further evidence that the real issue was an uncorked Islam rather than an organization called ISIS.

Since late 2017, when ISIS was officially defeated in Iraq, Christians have continued to be physically attacked, including with knives, Christian shops have been firebombed, Christian churches invaded, Christian lands burned, and Christian homes illegally seized — always with the Iraqi government looking the other way.

None of this should be surprising: mainstream Iraqi clerics — Sunnis and Shias, neither “radicals” — continue to spew hate for infidels from their minbars. One Muslim leader on the government’s pay described Christians as “infidels and polytheists“, stressing the need for” jihad” against them.

Discussing Islam’s correct approach to non-Muslims, the Grand Ayatollah Ahmad al-Baghdadi, Iraq’s top cleric, even went so far as to say on live television:

If they are people of the book]Jews and Christians ] we demand of them the jizya—and if they refuse, then we fight them. &nbsp, That is if he is Christian. He has three choices: either convert to Islam, or, if he refuses and wishes to remain Christian, then pay the jizya]and live according to dhimmi rules]. But if they still refuse—then we fight them, and we abduct their women, and destroy their churches—this is Islam!

In a Dec. 30, 2022, interview, Louis Raphaël I Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, discussed the continuing plight of Christians in post-ISIS Iraq. He continued to say that Christians are still subject to pressure to convert to Islam and that Christians are subject to sharia laws.

The]Iraqi] constitution talks about freedom of conscience, but it is just on paper. This mentality and these practices—all this inherited tradition—must end. The world has become a global village. Just look at the Muslims abroad. When I travel abroad and meet with heads of state, I observe that there are the same rights enjoyed by Christians and atheists as Muslims there. Here, however, I am treated as a second-class citizen.

The most recent wave of Iraqi persecution, which is directed at the Chaldean Patriarch himself, is almost as if to prove his innocence. The Iraqi president reversed a decade-old decree that formally recognized Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako and gave him authority over Christian endowment affairs, according to a 2023 report.

Christians are persuaded that this action was intended to halt the ISIS-erading of their property. This is a political maneuver to seize what Christians have left in Iraq and Baghdad and to expel them, according to Diya Butrus Slewa, a human rights activist from Ainkawa. Unfortunately, this is a blatant targeting of the Christians and a threat to their rights”.

Other Christians gathered in peaceful demonstrations and chanted “placards” to the Iraqi government to show their continued oppression of the Christian community. Another sign read:

Mr. President, the protector of the constitution should not violate the constitution. The Iraqi president directs the displacement of Christians, which in turn opens the door to violations of the Chaldean Church’s ownership, which accounts for nearly 80 % of Kurdistan’s and Iraq’s Christians.

In short, Iraq’s Christians have gone from having ISIS, a terrorist organization, persecute them, to the U. S. sponsored president of Iraq persecuting them, if in an admittedly less sensationalist form ( hence why zero coverage from the “mainstream media” ).

This should make it clear that ISIS was never the root of the conflict between Christians in Iraq and the Middle East as a whole. It was merely a clear sign that there was a cause. The true cause — Islamic hostility and contempt for “infidels” — remains alive and well, not least because it must never be named or acknowledged.

And so, although it began ten years ago yesterday, Iraq’s Christians continue to live under a” Black Day” — one that has not seen a sunrise for a decade. &nbsp,

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