As we were celebrating our Christmas and New Year's holidays, Christians in other lands were being massacred. The Iraqis continue their campaign of murder and harassment of Christians. They invade their homes, drag them out and kill them. They also bomb churches in their quest to rid their country of infidels.
My question to these Muslims who feel the need to obliterate Christianity in Iraq is this: have you forgotten that Christians restored your country? It was the armies of the United States of America, a Christian country, and the consortium of other Christian countries that sent their soldiers to stop the reign of terror and bring Saddam Hussein to justice. Through our actions, peace and the rule of law were restored to this dictator-ravaged country.
Since the war approximately 800,000 Christians have emigrated from Iraq. They were driven out by the crimes committed against them by Muslims intent expelling members of all opposing religions. Christian's have been told by al Qaeda to leave Iraq or have their throats slit. These are not my words, but the words of the terrorists themselves. (http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=30651 [1]).
This is a clear indication of the jihad mentality that exists in the Middle East. Iraq is not alone in their mission to eradicate Christianity. A few days ago a suicide bomber in Egypt killed 21 Christians outside of church and wounded many more. In the mainstream press, I often hear that Islam is a religion of peace. Nothing can be further from the truth. The imams and their faithful followers are implementing the instructions in the Quran, Surah 9:5, to kill all of the non-believers.
"Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only because they are Christians," said Amin Gemayel, the former President of Lebanon. "What is happening to Christians is a genocide," he said. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/03/world/main7208414.shtml [2]).
In our world of political correctness there is no outrage when Muslims kill Christians. When Christians are the target of genocide, many people accept it and remain silent as they are shot, hung or blown up. At least this is an improvement from the early days when the Romans cheered as Christians were thrown to the lions, burned at the stake or crucified. The perpetrators of the recent murders of Christians have not been arrested. Could it be that they are considered heroes in their country?
If the tables were reversed and a Christian killed a group of Muslims, you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be a mighty uproar and the demand for swift justice. The perpetrator would be caught and executed. He or she might actually get a trial in a Kangaroo Court before being dragged out to be tortured and slaughtered in public.
As I write this, 4,432 American soldiers have been killed in the second Iraq war. Two were killed in the opening days of this year. I did not find out about these recent deaths in the American press. Instead, I found it on an Asian Web Site. (http://www.asianage.com/international/two-us-soldiers-die-iraq-first-cas [3] ...). Apparently, the mainstream press and news outlets no longer care about our soldiers killed in Iraq. After all, the war is over, at least that is what the President said. Our troops continue to die to enable the Iraqis to have the freedom we cherish. Only now, their sacrifice is withheld from the public.
Our intent when we rescued Iraq was not to install Christianity as their religion. Rather it was to ensure religious and political freedoms exist in Iraq as they do in the United States. Our soldiers gave their lives valiantly for people they did not know, in a far off land, because we Americans cherish freedom for ourselves and every human being. We still have 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq. They are scheduled to return home at the end of this year. Seeing the violence in that nation and Iraq's inability to protect their minorities, we can expect that our troops will remain for the foreseeable future.
Let's bring these troops home now. We can no longer fight and protect a country that does not permit freedom of religion and rewards the pious with a painful death.
We are also fighting and dying in another Muslim country for no reason.
Afghanistan is not a strategic location from a military perspective, nor do we have American interests in that country. There's no oil that we need; there is no manufacturing we require; and their major crop is poppies that is used in the manufacturing of heroin. Much of this heroin makes its way to the United States where it poisons our youth. The war in Afghanistan is expanding into Pakistan, a Muslim country that offers sanctuary to al Qaeda members retreating from our troops in Afghanistan. Bring our troops home from this godforsaken place and do