Seven Indigenous Aramean Churches in Baghdad (Iraq) attacked by car bombs

Israel Audo

3-3-2010: Exodus of the Arameans of Mosul continues undiminished: According to UN report already 720 Aramean families (4320 people) have left Mosul

1-3-2010: Peaceful demonstration on Sunday 28^th of February 2010 by the Aramean Orthodox and Catholics in Baghdeda (Qaraqosh), northern Iraq

27-2-2010: Council of Churches in Iraq appeals to the government to protect the Aramean people in Mosul, Iraq

26-2-2010: The Arameans of Mosul: A new Exodus and Ethnic cleansing is going on

18-2-2010: The Arameans of Iraq again victim of killings and bloodbaths:

24-12-2009: A Christmas “message” for the Arameans of Mosul: Four Aramean Churches attacked and one Aramean killed

26-10-2009: Exactly one month and one day after the dramatic appeal of Iraqi President to the United Nations, two car bombs were detonated in the neighborhood of the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq

1-9-2009: Arameans of Iraq: The East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk sounds the alarm bell

29-8-2009: Totally unfounded or has it a grain of truth in it? Greater- Israel and the ethnic cleansing of the Arameans of Mosul and surroundings in Iraq

14-7-2009: The Special UN envoy to Iraq, Mr. Ad Melkert, wants extra protection for the Aramean Christians in Iraq

13-7-2009: Seven Indigenous Aramean Churches in Baghdad (Iraq) attacked by car bombs

4-5-2009: Aramean blood continues to flow in Iraq…

15-11-2008: Iraq: The bloodshed of Aramean people and bombardment of churches continues undiminished

27-10-2008: Attempt of ethnic cleansing Mosul: The Aramean Srebrinica. Who is responsible and why?

14-10-2008: Aramean indigenous nation of Iraq: Removal of article 50, exclusion, killings, persecutions, displacements and ethnic cleansing in Mosul erea

2-9-2008: Again two Arameans killed in Iraq

Killing of Priest Yusuf Adel Abudi

4-5-2008: Again a Aramean spiritual leader is killed in Iraq. This time: The West- Aramean Syrian orthodox priest Yusuf Adel Abudi in Bagdad

11-4-2008: Through all the misery: Miracles happens in Iraq

6-4-2008: Funeral of the West- Aramean Syrian Orthodox Priest Yusuf Adel Abudi

Killing of Mgr. Faraj Raho

1-3-2008: East- Aramean Chaldean bishop of Mosul, Mgr. Paulus Faraj Raho was abducted on 29-2-2008 in Mosul.

13-3-2008: The East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Paulus Faraj Raho killed in Mosul

14-3-2008: Friday 14-3-2008: Funeral of Mgr. Faraj Raho in St. Addai Church in Karemlesh

16-3-2008: Mgr. Paulus Faraj Raho: A Great Spiritual Leader and a Worthy Sheppard in Charge of Jesus Christ

23-2-2008: Aramean centre for art and culture has been opened in Ankawa, northern Iraq

7-1-2008: Aramean Churches and institutions in Iraq under Attack

22-8-2007: AINA: The international lie- and hate machine and the cause of killing, persecution and decline of the Arameans of Iraq

Killing of Priest Ragied Aziz Gannie

3-6-2007: East- Aramean Chaldean priest Ragied Aziz Gannie brutally murdered in Mosul along with three deacons by Muslim extremists

25-5-2007: Terror against Arameans (including "Assyrians" and Chaldeans) of Iraq. Ethnic cleansing of the Indigenous people of Iraq

Killing of Isoh Majeed Hadaya

22-11-2006: The West- Aramean Isoh Majeed Hadaya killed by terrorists in Iraq

Killing of Priest Paulus Iskandar

12-10-2006: Aramean priest Iskandar beheaded in Mosul (Iraq)

Aramean people: Aramean people (not to be confused with ‘Armenians’) speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They are the indigenous people of what was called in ancient times Aram- Nahrin, in our days it is called ‘Mesopotamia’.

Some Arameans today identify themselves with “Assyrians”, because of the spiritual colonial hate generating activities of the Western missionaries and diplomats in the Middle-East in 16th and 19th centuries. Other Arameans became known as “Chaldeans”. However all of them are Arameans.In Turkey, the Arameans are called: Süryani. In Arabic they are called Al- Suryan.

Seven Indigenous Aramean Churches in Baghdad (Iraq) attacked by car bombs.

Dutch Version

On Sunday 12-7-2009, they were at it again in Iraq. In total seven Aramean churches were targeted by car bombs in Baghdad. Four people were killed and 18 wounded.

It seems now business as usual to the extremist and fanatical forces in Iraq to regularly remind the Aramean indigenous nation of Iraq that they definitely should not make any illusions regarding their place in the future of Iraq. The seven targeted churches are:

1. The East- Aramean Chaldean St. Maria Church in the district Sharaa Palestina

2. The East- Aramean Chaldean St. George church in the district Madidi

3. The East- Aramean Chaldean St. Joseph Kerk in the district Nafak

4. The East- Aramean Chaldean Heilige Hart Kerk

5. The West- Aramean Syrian Orthodoxe St. Paulus and St. Petrus Church

6. The East- Aramean Ancient Church of the East (“Assyrian”), St. Maria Church.

7. The East- Aramean Chaldean St. Jacob Kerk

There are in Iraq various Aramean denominations, namely the East- Arameans (Chaldeans and “Assyrians”) and the West- Arameans (Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics and Melkites). These Arameans are the indigenous people of Iraq and live since thousands of years in this part of the world; long before the advent of Islam. The fanatical forces seem eager to clean Iraq of its indigenous nation by means of terror and bloodshed.

Since the beginning of the American invasion in Iraq in 2003, hundreds of thousands Arameans were forced to leave their ancestral homelands. Before the war, the number of Arameans (of different denominations) living in Iraq was around 800.000. However, because of continuous terror and persecutions the number of Arameans has been decreased to but 400.000 people in Iraq. Around 400.000 of them, if not more, have left the country for Syria, Jordan and the West.

The situation for the Aramean indigenous nation of Iraq, also made known as “Assyrians” or Chaldeans, is extra alarming because in contrast to other groups they do not have their own militia to defend themselves. Therefore they rely on the protection by the Iraqi government, which unfortunately fails to offer adequate protection to prevent such cowardice attack by the forces of the evil.

The vulnerable position of the Arameans of Iraq makes them an easy target for the Islamic terrorists who wish to clean Iraq of the “unclean” and “uncircumcised” ones. However, also ordinary criminals and thieves eagerly use the power-vacuum to wheedle them out of money.

Colonialism: Main cause of the Aramean downfall

Another point is that the Arameans themselves are to be blamed for their terrible situation. And this has to do with the horrible mutual hatred and division which was planted in the hearts and minds of a part of the Aramean nation by the Western Catholics and Protestants, in the name of faith and brotherhood, causing an unspeakable damage to the Aramean nation.

And this colonial demonic hatred dear reader, is even so deep and odious that it prevents the Arameans to join the hands, necessary in this difficult times. The colonial hatred and division is today even being stimulated by some of those who call themselves “Christians” in order to make converts among the weak and defenseless Arameans. The enemy of Jesus Christ of the Bible every time seems to succeed, in particular acting as a fake Jesus, to create a carnivorous division and hatred among the followers of the real Jesus of the Bible. This “secret” vicious technology has been extensively used by the Catholics as well as Protestants with horrendous consequences for the Aramean indigenous nation.

More about this colonial hatred of extermination:

http://www.aramnahrin.org/English/Aramean_Spiritual_Genocide.htm

http://www.aramnahrin.org/English/Mosul_Aramean_Srebrinica_27_10_2008.htm

http://www.iraqichristians.org/English/Miracles_In_Iraq_11_4_2008.htm

Seven churches hit in Baghdad. Four dead

The dead and most of the wounded from attack on St. Mary, the church where Mgr. Sleimon Wardouni, Chaldean Patriarchal Vicar, officiates. Other churches suffered minor damage. The hand of Al Qaeda to avenge the "martyr of the veil"

» 07/12/2009 22:31

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15761&geo=23&size=A

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - A series of car bombs targeted seven Chaldean and Orthodox churches of Baghdad tonight.

The worst hit church is the Chaldean Church of St Mary, in Sharaa Philistine, where the patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, Mgr. Sleimon Wardouni officiates. The car bomb exploded on the road that runs alongside the church and left four dead and dozens wounded many seriously.

The other churches, because of their distance from the road, suffered slight damage and some wounded, other churches have not reported damage to people or buildings.

The other churches targeted were: the Chaldean Church of Saint George in the district at Madidi, that of St. Joseph in Nafak (Chaldean), the Church of the Sacred Heart (Chaldean), the church of St Peter and Paul (Syrian Orthodox), and Assyrian church of Saint Mary.

A seventh church, that of St. James in Dora it seems is still in flames hours later.

Only days ago, Msgr. Wardouni had issued a statement to AsiaNews, emphasizing the relative calm that there was in the capital and in Iraq after the departure of American soldiers.

Some journalists in the capital say that the police suspect Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, of being behind the attacks motivated by revenge for the "martyr of the veil" in Germany. Marwa el-Sherbini, 32 years old and in the third month of pregnancy, was killed in a knife attack in a Dresden courtroom by a German of Russian origin who she had sued for defamation. In the Islamic world she is being called the "martyr of the veil."

Churches in Iraq targeted in bombings; 4 killed

Sixteen people are wounded at a Baghdad church. Christians fear renewed persecution days after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraqi cities. In Nasiriya, a bomb explodes near the U.S. ambassador's convoy.

By Liz Sly
July 13, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-bombings13-2009jul13,0,2315778.story

Reporting from Baghdad -- An explosive device detonated beside a convoy in which the U.S. ambassador was traveling in southern Iraq late Sunday afternoon about the same time that Christian churches across Baghdad were hit by a wave of bombings. The attacks offered new evidence that Iraq remains far from stable after American forces withdrew from its cities at the end of June.

There were no injuries among the U.S. Embassy personnel traveling in Ambassador Christopher Hill's convoy in Dhi Qar province when an improvised device exploded, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh.

The bomb was small, but it hit a vehicle near the ambassador's as the heavily armored SUVs passed through the provincial capital, Nasiriya. It is the first such attack on a U.S. envoy since the American-led invasion in March 2003. "There was a bang and we went through a thick cloud of smoke," Hill told Aamer Madhani, a journalist with USA Today traveling with him, according to the newspaper's website. "It was nothing."

Dhi Qar is a Shiite Muslim-dominated province that has long been one of the quietest in Iraq, but it is heavily under the influence of Shiite militias, some of which have close ties to Iran. U.S. troops maintain only a minimal presence across southern Iraq and pulled out of the cities there long ago. Bombings are rare, and the fact that one came close to hitting the ambassador's vehicle underscored that even the calmest areas of Iraq cannot be considered secure.

Meanwhile, six bombs exploded outside churches around Baghdad, killing four and sowing fears among the country's dwindling Christian minority that they may be subject to a fresh round of persecution now that U.S. forces have withdrawn from Iraq's cities.

The deaths occurred when a car bomb detonated outside Virgin Mary Church on Palestine Street in east Baghdad as worshipers were leaving evening Mass. Sixteen others were wounded in the attack.

"This is going to make the Christians scared," said Bishop Shlemon Warduni, who was in his office at the back of the church when the bomb went off. "They will be scared to come to services, and maybe more will leave the country."

That attack came shortly after five smaller bombs exploded outside four other churches in the Karada and Dora neighborhoods, both of which once had sizable Christian communities. The four churches were closed at the time, police said.

Sunday's attacks came after one church was bombed late Saturday, pointing to a renewed campaign of violence against one of Iraq's oldest, smallest and most persecuted communities less than two weeks after U.S. forces completed their pullback, leaving Iraqi forces in charge of security in the cities.

Christian legislator Younadam Kanna tied the bombings to the withdrawal and to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's scheduled July 21 visit to the U.S. Extremists are trying to demonstrate that Baghdad is still unstable, Kanna said, and the easiest way to draw American attention is to bomb Christians. "It's a message to the international community."

Others feared that the attacks may mark a resurgence of anti-Christian violence. They were reminiscent of a wave of bloody bombings against five churches in Baghdad and Mosul five years ago. Those bombings signaled the beginning of widespread attacks by Islamic extremists that prompted an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Christians.

Nobody knows for sure how many Christians have left, said Abdullah Nufaili, who heads the Christian Endowment, a state organization that oversees churches. But he estimates that a community that once made up 5% of the population -- or about 800,000 people -- now totals less than 2%.

"Definitely we are the most vulnerable members of this society and we don't have any political forces to protect us," he said. "We were expecting this, and we expect it to get worse. . . . Their goal is to drive the Christians out of Iraq."