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The East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Paulus Faraj Raho killed in Mosul
Mosul (Iraq)- Today 13-3-2008 we received the heartrending news from Mosul, that the East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Mgr. Faraj Raho who was abducted on 29-2-2008, is murdered by the kidnappers.
Mgr. Faraj Raho is now the third clergy who brutally has been killed. On 12-10-2006 the West- Aramean Syrian Orthodox priest Paulus Iskandar in Mosul was abducted and slaughtered. On 3-6-2007 the East- Aramean Chaldean priest Ragied Aziz Gannie along with three deacons was killed. And today Mgr. Faraj Raho was cowardly killed.
For sure, the perpetrators do not act out of blind rage or fanaticism. On the contrary, it seems that there is a well-thought-out plan behind these terrible killings. After all, how can you in most appropriate and effective way chase the people out of a country in order to clean it of ‘unwanted and unclean” ones? The most effective way to achieve this is to kill the leaders and then people will leave the country.
The killings of these spiritual leaders is a signal to the Aramean Christian people of Iraq, who also made known as “Assyrians” and Chaldeans, that they are unwanted in Iraq and should leave the country as soon as possible.
The Aramean people seem to have understood the message quite well. Since the Iraq- war hundreds of thousands of them have left Iraq for countries like Syria, Jordan and the West.
The strategy used now in Iraq to clean the country of its indigenous Aramean people seems to draw a parallel with their situation in the 80ties and 90ties in south-east of Turkey in Tur Abdin. At that time frequently prominent Aramean leaders were killed. Needless to say, however no effort was made to track the murderers; they came out of “nothing” and suddenly “disappeared” in nothing.
The government told the outside world that PKK- fighters were responsible for the killings of Christians. However, they “forgot” to tell that the majority of these killings were carried out by the Kurds working for the secret service, some of whom were village-defenders.
These atrocities and killings resulted in that a complete emigration of the Aramean people took place to the West. Forty years ago, there were around 40.000- 60.000 Arameans in Tur Abdin, while by now their number is reduced to no more than 2.000 people. Thus the strategy works quiet well!
The chaos and anarchy in Iraq is much bigger in its magnitude than in Turkey. And for that reason you can much more effectively clean the country of “unwanted ones”, “unclean ones” and “uncircumcised ones”.
The problem for the Aramean indigenous Christians is that they have nobody on whom they can relay and find support in these difficult times. The Turkmens in Iraq get support from Turkey, the Armenians in Iraq get support from Armenia. The Arameans however, have factually nobody to help them and therefore their situation is much weaker. And that is certainly not a flourishing future perspective.
Kidnapped Iraqi archbishop dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7294078.stm
An archbishop seized by gunmen last month in Iraq has been found dead.
The body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found in a shallow grave close to the city.
Pope Benedict XVI said he was profoundly moved and saddened, calling the archbishop's death an act of inhuman violence.
Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped after leading prayers at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul on 29 February.
According to the SIR Catholic news agency, the kidnappers told Iraqi church officials on Wednesday that Archbishop Rahho was very ill and, later on the same day, that he was dead.
However, Iraqi police say the condition of the archbishop's body suggests that he may have died at least a week ago.
It is not clear whether he was killed, or died of natural causes. Nobody has claimed responsibility for his death.
The archbishop's body was found by church workers who went to the area after being contacted by the kidnappers.
'Horrible crime'
The archbishop, 65, was the latest in a long line of Chaldean clerics to be abducted in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003
Three people who were with him at the time, a driver and two guards, were killed by the gunmen.
Only last Sunday, Pope Benedict had appealed for the archbishop's release.
A Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said: "The most absurd and unjustified violence continues to afflict the Iraqi people and in particular the small Christian community, whom the Pope holds in his prayers in this time of deep sadness.
"This tragic event underscored once more and with more urgency the duty of all, and in particular of the international community, to bring peace to a country that has been so tormented."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said those behind the kidnapping would not escape justice.
It was, he said, a "horrible crime" by "a criminal, terrorist gang".
The Chaldeans are the largest sect within Iraq's Christian community, which was estimated at 800,000 before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Many have left their homes after attacks linked to the continuing insurgency.
Baghdad blast
Earlier on Wednesday, a car bomb in the capital Baghdad killed at least 12 people, and injured dozens more.
Police said the bomb was in a car parked in Tahrir Square, a central commercial district just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses much of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.
The attack is the latest in a series in Baghdad, following several months of relative calm.
