Tweet
The Washington Times
Aug 26 2014
Deja vu on Mount Sinjar
By Christy Stutzman - - Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It's almost too hard to face it, but the same heinous crimes we see
unfolding against the refugees on Mount Sinjar, Iraq, have happened
before.
It's like, deja vu almost 100 years later. The pictures brazenly
posted by the terrorist group calling themselves Islamic State are
horrifying. This barbaric, blood-thirsty organization has performed
the most horrific, evil acts on the innocent since World War II. The
difference now is that they aren't hiding their atrocities in
concentration camps. They are broadcasting them to the world without
apology.
Whatever your view regarding the conflicts in Turkey in 1915 under the
Young Turks government, one mass rescue and evacuation took place that
year that no one denies. The world was at war and turmoil was rampant.
Seeing the signs of coming conflict and danger for their people, over
4,000 Christian Armenians from six different villages in northern
Turkey, meticulously planned a desperate escape into Musa Dagh (Moses'
Mountain). In spite of months of careful planning and making use of
all the resources available to them, they knew they could not hold out
against the government forces for too long. They decided it would be
better to die on the mountain, rather than face forced marches through
the desert to relocation camps and almost certain death.
Sound familiar?
With very few guns and little ammunition, these simple villagers
defended themselves for 53 days. Supplies began to run low and their
numbers began to dwindle. They had few options. The rest of the world
was in the throws of World War I. They sent a runner to Alleppo to beg
the American Consul for help, but the messenger never got through.
They sent swimmers to look for war ships, but none could be found.
They had no means of communication. No one in the outside world knew
of their plight.
In their desperation, they crafted two distress flags and attached
them to tall trees on the side of the mountain facing the
Mediterranean Sea. One bore a large red cross and the other, these
words in English: "CHRISTIANS IN DISTRESS: RESCUE." On Sept. 12, 1915,
after 53 days under siege, a lookout spotted a ship in close range,
and the Armenian villagers began desperately waving their distress
flag. As the French ship Guichen lowered her boats, one of the
villagers swam to the cruiser. The ship's captain, upon learning of
the dire distress of the 4,000 refugees, sent out a telegraph to
nearby ships pleading for assistance in performing an immediate
evacuation.
The French ship St. Jeanne d'Arc soon arrived along with two others.
An English cruiser in the area heard the call and soon arrived as
well. Within hours, a mass evacuation was in full force. More than
4,000 souls were rescued that day in a large-scale, impromptu
evacuation by ships and sailors who had no preparation for such a
mission. They simply reacted to the crisis in an effort to save lives.
Almost 100 years later, with access to 24-hour news cycles, constant
real-time reporting, wi-fi, cell phones and social media, history is
repeating itself. But this time, what is our excuse? We're not talking
two distress flags on an obscure mountain barely viewable to the human
eye. We're talking widespread knowledge of thousands of people in
danger. We have Coptic Christians, Syrian Christians, Yazidis and
various sects of moderate Islam posting on social media and screaming
to live cameras, "IN DISTRESS: RESCUE." We are watching this unfold
before our very eyes. The French were the first to offer asylum to the
Yazidi refugees, but where is America?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/26/stutzman-deja-vu-on-mount-sinjar/
Aug 26 2014
Deja vu on Mount Sinjar
By Christy Stutzman - - Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It's almost too hard to face it, but the same heinous crimes we see
unfolding against the refugees on Mount Sinjar, Iraq, have happened
before.
It's like, deja vu almost 100 years later. The pictures brazenly
posted by the terrorist group calling themselves Islamic State are
horrifying. This barbaric, blood-thirsty organization has performed
the most horrific, evil acts on the innocent since World War II. The
difference now is that they aren't hiding their atrocities in
concentration camps. They are broadcasting them to the world without
apology.
Whatever your view regarding the conflicts in Turkey in 1915 under the
Young Turks government, one mass rescue and evacuation took place that
year that no one denies. The world was at war and turmoil was rampant.
Seeing the signs of coming conflict and danger for their people, over
4,000 Christian Armenians from six different villages in northern
Turkey, meticulously planned a desperate escape into Musa Dagh (Moses'
Mountain). In spite of months of careful planning and making use of
all the resources available to them, they knew they could not hold out
against the government forces for too long. They decided it would be
better to die on the mountain, rather than face forced marches through
the desert to relocation camps and almost certain death.
Sound familiar?
With very few guns and little ammunition, these simple villagers
defended themselves for 53 days. Supplies began to run low and their
numbers began to dwindle. They had few options. The rest of the world
was in the throws of World War I. They sent a runner to Alleppo to beg
the American Consul for help, but the messenger never got through.
They sent swimmers to look for war ships, but none could be found.
They had no means of communication. No one in the outside world knew
of their plight.
In their desperation, they crafted two distress flags and attached
them to tall trees on the side of the mountain facing the
Mediterranean Sea. One bore a large red cross and the other, these
words in English: "CHRISTIANS IN DISTRESS: RESCUE." On Sept. 12, 1915,
after 53 days under siege, a lookout spotted a ship in close range,
and the Armenian villagers began desperately waving their distress
flag. As the French ship Guichen lowered her boats, one of the
villagers swam to the cruiser. The ship's captain, upon learning of
the dire distress of the 4,000 refugees, sent out a telegraph to
nearby ships pleading for assistance in performing an immediate
evacuation.
The French ship St. Jeanne d'Arc soon arrived along with two others.
An English cruiser in the area heard the call and soon arrived as
well. Within hours, a mass evacuation was in full force. More than
4,000 souls were rescued that day in a large-scale, impromptu
evacuation by ships and sailors who had no preparation for such a
mission. They simply reacted to the crisis in an effort to save lives.
Almost 100 years later, with access to 24-hour news cycles, constant
real-time reporting, wi-fi, cell phones and social media, history is
repeating itself. But this time, what is our excuse? We're not talking
two distress flags on an obscure mountain barely viewable to the human
eye. We're talking widespread knowledge of thousands of people in
danger. We have Coptic Christians, Syrian Christians, Yazidis and
various sects of moderate Islam posting on social media and screaming
to live cameras, "IN DISTRESS: RESCUE." We are watching this unfold
before our very eyes. The French were the first to offer asylum to the
Yazidi refugees, but where is America?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/26/stutzman-deja-vu-on-mount-sinjar/