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Liberty News On Line, NY
May 3 2014
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ACCUSED OF SUPPORTING RADICAL ISLAMISTS WHO ARE
KILLING THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS
05-02-2014 11:33 pm - Katie Gorka - Breitbart.com
A growing number of Syrian Christian leaders are traveling to the
United States to plead with lawmakers to stop sending arms to the
rebels. The most recent visitor is the Patriarch of the Church of
Antioch, His Beatitude Gregorios III, who is based in Damascus.
For the first three years of the civil war, Syria's Christian leaders
have not been frequent visitors to the U.S., in part fearing reprisals
when they return to Syria, but also because they have been reluctant
to engage in what they see as political issues. But with the civil war
now in its fourth year, they are taking a more public stance. Visiting
Washington, D.C., in January of this year to speak about the war,
Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus,
said that after he witnessed the bombing of the St. John of Damascus
School, which killed nine children, he did not care anymore about his
own safety. He said he will now do and say anything to help end the
war.
But speaking out against the war puts church leaders in a difficult
position. They want to protect their congregations and their nation,
but they then face accusations of supporting the Assad regime. His
Beatitude Gregorios said, "Everybody asks me, 'Are you for or against
the regime?' I tell them, I am not for or against the regime; I am not
for or against the opposition. I am for stability." The complaint that
many in Syria now have is that while Assad is far from an ideal ruler,
they fear more what would follow in the wake of his downfall. The
Patriarch continued, "All the churches in the Middle East are saying
the same thing: 'We want stability, but Europe and the United States
are ignoring us.'"
With foreign fighters flooding into Syria, concerns about worsening
chaos and escalating violence are not unreasonable. An estimated
130,000 people have been killed so far in the Syrian civil war, more
than 2.5 million Syrians have fled the country, and an estimated 6
million are internally displaced. In April, another Armenian Christian
school was bombed in Damascus, and on Tuesday, the extremist group
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced it had killed
two prisoners by crucifixion.
The conflict in Syria is capturing the imagination of Islamic
extremists in much the same way the wars in Bosnia and Afghanistan
did. According to a report issued by the Indonesia-based Institute for
Policy Analysis of Conflict:
Islamic eschatology predicts that the final battle at the end of time
will take place in Sham, the region sometimes called Greater Syria or
the Levant, encompassing Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and
Israel. Indeed, within some extremist circles, the Syrian conflict is
known as the 'one-way ticket jihad' because anyone [who] goes there to
fight will be able to stay and see Islam's final victory.
That may help explain why Syria has attracted an estimated 13,000 -
15,000 foreign fighters, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and
Information Center in Tel Aviv.
Patriarch Gregorios also believes that Syria's fate has global import,
but for an entirely different reason. According to the Patriarch, the
future of Christians in the Middle East is at stake. In a four-hour
meeting that took place between Pope Francis and the Patriarchs of the
Middle Eastern churches on November 21, Pope Francis said:
Syria, Iraq, Egypt and areas of the Holy Land are still oozing tears.
The Bishop of Rome will not be at peace for as long as there are still
men and women of every religion, who have been robbed of their dignity
and deprived of a future and all the basic things they need to survive
and forced to become refugees and asylum seekers. Today, together with
the pastors of the Churches of the East, we appeal for everyone's
right to a dignified life and to freely profess their faith be
respected. We should never resign ourselves to thinking of the Middle
East without the Christians, who for two thousand years confess the
name of Jesus, as full citizens in social, cultural and religious life
of the nations to which they belong.
According to Patriarch Gregorios, any future for Christians in the
Middle East requires that Muslims and Christians continue to live
together side by side. "The future of the dialogue between
Christianity and Islam is at stake in Syria," he said. But the growing
presence of extremists is making that dialogue nearly impossible, and
the fact that the United States is providing arms to rebel groups,
which, in turn, end up in the hands of Muslim extremists also works
against dialogue.
The civil war in Syria also has growing security implications for the
United States. Jeh Johnson, who became Secretary of Homeland Security
in December, told ABC News this week, "Syria has become a matter of
homeland security, and we are very concerned about Syrian foreign
fighters, people who are going into Syria, who are being recruited by
extremists there and who then may leave Syria with a different purpose
in mind." Foreign fighters are training and fighting alongside the AQ
affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham
(ISIS), and the fear is that when they return home to Europe and the
United States, they will bring their skills and extremism with them.
According to Ken Dilanian, writing in the L.A. Times, John Brennan,
director of the CIA, expressed similar apprehensions before a House
panel: "We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al
Qaeda organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability
to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to
use Syria as a launching pad."
Last week, the British government launched a national campaign aimed
at families of would-be fighters, encouraging them to intervene and to
dissuade their young men from traveling to fight in Syria. An
estimated 400 British citizens have gone to fight in Syria, while an
estimated 50 American citizens have gone there as jihadis. Dilanian
noted, "James B. Comey, the FBI director, has said counter-terrorism
officials are trying to track U.S. veterans of the Syrian war who have
returned home."
Patriarch Gregorios said during his visit to Washington that the voice
of the church now needs to be heard. Given the failure of the policies
that have been tried thus far, perhaps his advice should be heeded.
http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_401_35389.php
May 3 2014
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ACCUSED OF SUPPORTING RADICAL ISLAMISTS WHO ARE
KILLING THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS
05-02-2014 11:33 pm - Katie Gorka - Breitbart.com
A growing number of Syrian Christian leaders are traveling to the
United States to plead with lawmakers to stop sending arms to the
rebels. The most recent visitor is the Patriarch of the Church of
Antioch, His Beatitude Gregorios III, who is based in Damascus.
For the first three years of the civil war, Syria's Christian leaders
have not been frequent visitors to the U.S., in part fearing reprisals
when they return to Syria, but also because they have been reluctant
to engage in what they see as political issues. But with the civil war
now in its fourth year, they are taking a more public stance. Visiting
Washington, D.C., in January of this year to speak about the war,
Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus,
said that after he witnessed the bombing of the St. John of Damascus
School, which killed nine children, he did not care anymore about his
own safety. He said he will now do and say anything to help end the
war.
But speaking out against the war puts church leaders in a difficult
position. They want to protect their congregations and their nation,
but they then face accusations of supporting the Assad regime. His
Beatitude Gregorios said, "Everybody asks me, 'Are you for or against
the regime?' I tell them, I am not for or against the regime; I am not
for or against the opposition. I am for stability." The complaint that
many in Syria now have is that while Assad is far from an ideal ruler,
they fear more what would follow in the wake of his downfall. The
Patriarch continued, "All the churches in the Middle East are saying
the same thing: 'We want stability, but Europe and the United States
are ignoring us.'"
With foreign fighters flooding into Syria, concerns about worsening
chaos and escalating violence are not unreasonable. An estimated
130,000 people have been killed so far in the Syrian civil war, more
than 2.5 million Syrians have fled the country, and an estimated 6
million are internally displaced. In April, another Armenian Christian
school was bombed in Damascus, and on Tuesday, the extremist group
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced it had killed
two prisoners by crucifixion.
The conflict in Syria is capturing the imagination of Islamic
extremists in much the same way the wars in Bosnia and Afghanistan
did. According to a report issued by the Indonesia-based Institute for
Policy Analysis of Conflict:
Islamic eschatology predicts that the final battle at the end of time
will take place in Sham, the region sometimes called Greater Syria or
the Levant, encompassing Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and
Israel. Indeed, within some extremist circles, the Syrian conflict is
known as the 'one-way ticket jihad' because anyone [who] goes there to
fight will be able to stay and see Islam's final victory.
That may help explain why Syria has attracted an estimated 13,000 -
15,000 foreign fighters, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and
Information Center in Tel Aviv.
Patriarch Gregorios also believes that Syria's fate has global import,
but for an entirely different reason. According to the Patriarch, the
future of Christians in the Middle East is at stake. In a four-hour
meeting that took place between Pope Francis and the Patriarchs of the
Middle Eastern churches on November 21, Pope Francis said:
Syria, Iraq, Egypt and areas of the Holy Land are still oozing tears.
The Bishop of Rome will not be at peace for as long as there are still
men and women of every religion, who have been robbed of their dignity
and deprived of a future and all the basic things they need to survive
and forced to become refugees and asylum seekers. Today, together with
the pastors of the Churches of the East, we appeal for everyone's
right to a dignified life and to freely profess their faith be
respected. We should never resign ourselves to thinking of the Middle
East without the Christians, who for two thousand years confess the
name of Jesus, as full citizens in social, cultural and religious life
of the nations to which they belong.
According to Patriarch Gregorios, any future for Christians in the
Middle East requires that Muslims and Christians continue to live
together side by side. "The future of the dialogue between
Christianity and Islam is at stake in Syria," he said. But the growing
presence of extremists is making that dialogue nearly impossible, and
the fact that the United States is providing arms to rebel groups,
which, in turn, end up in the hands of Muslim extremists also works
against dialogue.
The civil war in Syria also has growing security implications for the
United States. Jeh Johnson, who became Secretary of Homeland Security
in December, told ABC News this week, "Syria has become a matter of
homeland security, and we are very concerned about Syrian foreign
fighters, people who are going into Syria, who are being recruited by
extremists there and who then may leave Syria with a different purpose
in mind." Foreign fighters are training and fighting alongside the AQ
affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham
(ISIS), and the fear is that when they return home to Europe and the
United States, they will bring their skills and extremism with them.
According to Ken Dilanian, writing in the L.A. Times, John Brennan,
director of the CIA, expressed similar apprehensions before a House
panel: "We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al
Qaeda organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability
to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to
use Syria as a launching pad."
Last week, the British government launched a national campaign aimed
at families of would-be fighters, encouraging them to intervene and to
dissuade their young men from traveling to fight in Syria. An
estimated 400 British citizens have gone to fight in Syria, while an
estimated 50 American citizens have gone there as jihadis. Dilanian
noted, "James B. Comey, the FBI director, has said counter-terrorism
officials are trying to track U.S. veterans of the Syrian war who have
returned home."
Patriarch Gregorios said during his visit to Washington that the voice
of the church now needs to be heard. Given the failure of the policies
that have been tried thus far, perhaps his advice should be heeded.
http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_401_35389.php