Do We Understand Christian Persecution in Iraq?

What everyone gets wrong about the persecution of Christians in Iraq

http://theweek.com/articles/548138/w...hristians-iraq

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The Assyrian homeland may be forever lost if persecution persists, and this should be feared and fought against. But it need not mean the end of the Christian faith and tradition in the region.

Herein lies the rub: We can't have it both ways. We can't give money to upstart American "charities" that send weapons and vigilantes to fight alongside the NPU and Dwekh Nawsha and pretend that the "Christianity" we're seeking to save is anything other than a deeply complex and entrenched ethnic, political, legal, geographic, and religious battle for land and all the meaning that comes with it.

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One of the UK's better journalists Jane Corbin has written this column in The Guardian, to accompany a documentary tonight on BBC 2 and her reports are from Iraq, Lebanon and Syria:http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...ution-iraq-war

Link to TV programme:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05rcr7n

Moderator's Note

I have moved this thread to the Middle East arena from the Operation Iraqi Freedom, as the issue affects the region and OIF arena is largely closed (ends).

David,

Can an American file a complaint with BBC's nationalist policy? Don't they realize we live in a globalized world, and that we allow British citizens to see our Frontline documentaries, among others? I sense that BBC still thinks they're part of a global empire :D

Can I watch downloaded BBC iPlayer programmes outside the UK?

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If you download a programme to your laptop or hard drive, or to your phone or tablet via the BBC iPlayer App, you can watch it anywhere in the world. But you can’t download any more programmes until you’re back in the UK.

The BBC uses Geo-IP technology to identify where you are, based on the location of your internet service provider (ISP). This is to ensure that only people in the UK can enjoy programmes on BBC iPlayer. Find out more about on-demand rights.

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Originally Posted by Bill Moore

David,

Can an American file a complaint with BBC's nationalist policy? Don't they realize we live in a globalized world, and that we allow British citizens to see our Frontline documentaries, among others? I sense that BBC still thinks they're part of a global empire :D

Can I watch downloaded BBC iPlayer programmes outside the UK?

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Bill,

This obstacle does happen and it is not only the BBC who have this policy. In the last week I tried to view a PBS documentary and got a rejection. Sometimes such documentaries migrate onto YouTube.

By all means complain to the BBC, the more who say why the better the chance of change.

After a few clicks as a present to Bill and others beyond the BBC's reach, the documentary is on:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmm_OiVhqmk

Hurrah!:)

They removed the video from YouTube, but I found it elsewhere and found it to be a moving summary of Christian prosecution (and outright murder) in the Middle East. I seen some heinous things in my life, but I still cling to a bit of naivety, and wonder how people can bring themselves to slaughter other people based on their race, religious identity, etc. No human is a simple, but ideology can reduce one to viewing the world in an over simplistic manner.

This war is just as much about ideology and religion as it is political for IS, AQ, and other such groups. In fact, like other trinities you can't separate the interactions of these factors, they each influence one another. Jobs will not convince Islamists to quit killing Christians. Jobs will not convince Islamists from killing other Muslims in different sects of Islam. Changing the government won't stop it, they'll simply kill everyone they don't like within their borders. In fact, it was the suppressive governments of the Middle East that kept the Islamists in check. Those governments were removed or weakened, which has allowed the rebirth of extremism in many cases. Unfortunately, the only practical response at this time is for the communities of peoples and states to destroy the extremists (IS in this case). The challenge will be finding the right balance of sufficient aggression to crush IS/AQ without alienating other Muslims. Much easier said than done.

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-20-i...n-libyan-beach

Islamic State video shows massacre of 30 Ethiopian Christians on Libyan beach

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“We tell Christians everywhere that the Islamic State will spread, God willing,” al-Nashwan says at the end of the video.

“It will reach you even if you are in fortresses. Those who embrace Islam or jizya will be safe. But those who refuse ... will have nothing from us but the edge of the sword.

“The men will be killed, the women and children enslaved, and their money seized. That is Allah and the prophet’s judgment.”

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Al-Qaeda in Yemen may be the most significant threat to the U.S. homeland, but it seems that ISIL will become the most significant Islamist terror threat for Europe in a short period of time. I suspect in addition to the ever present insider threat, the majority of terrorists will simply infiltrate from Libya to Europe as they intermingle with the thousands of illegal migrants making the voyage. The EU knows this, but by the time they generate the political will to act they will already have a serious problem in their homelands.