Iraqi Christians Pray for the Surge-Iraqi archbishop hopes Americans provide security,democracy

It must have been a huge disappointment. An Iraqi bishop addressing an anti-Israel ecumenical jamboree in Amman, Jordan declined to demand an immediate U.S. evacuation from Iraq.

"Is it going to bring about peace or play into the hands of terrorists?" asked Archbishop Avak Asadourian, the Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Etchmiadzin), who was responding to a question about U.S. church groups that are demanding an expeditious time-table for U.S. troops to quit Iraq.

Asadourian spoke at the "Churches Together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East," organized by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC). Speaking to 130 church officials from the WCC's affiliates around the world, the Armenian Archbishop of Baghdad was representing the Council of Christian Church Leaders in the Iraqi capital.

The focus of the WCC gathering was to organize church opposition to the Israeli "occupation." But the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq is of equal if not greater interest to left-wing prelates, many of whom prefer political protests to Christian ministry. Asadourian was probably attending the WCC event with hopes of gaining sympathy for Iraqi Christians. Good luck! WCC officials have never expressed tremendous interest in human rights in Iraq. Instead, they mainly see church leaders there as little more than potential props for denouncing the U.S., just as prelates in the West Bank are convenient mouthpieces for condemning Israeli policies.

Asadourian called the calls for a U.S. military withdrawal time-table a "two-edged sword." He expressed hope that the U.S. military presence would "eventually" end but showed even more interest in U.S.-led security forces reducing the violence in Iraq. "The occupying powers have to enforce the Geneva conventions and guarantee the security of the country," the archbishop said. "If they were able to bring about security, a lot of problems would be solved."

"Security is needed to make democracy viable," Asadourian said. "Democracy is not only a concept, but also a way of life. Today in Iraq, we need basic freedoms, like freedom from fear, freedom to work, to travel in order to satisfy basic needs. One of the tragic features of the current situation is the fact that they have stolen the nights of Baghdad from us." The archbishop complained that the U.S.-led invasion had been "bungled" but he declined to denounce it sweepingly as an exercise in imperialism, as many WCC-related clerics in the West have done.

When asked how churches outside Iraq could help Iraqi Christians, Asadourian did not ask that they accelerate their antiwar protests. Instead, he suggested that they "advocate effectively with their governments, they should tell the occupying powers to fulfill their promises of a better life for Iraq. Promises of a bright future should now be substantiated. One key point in the story of the Good Samaritan is that he not only extended help, but his help was complete and effective."

Do not expect Asadourian's audience of WCC Religious Left prelates to take his pleas very seriously. For most of them, the only solution for Iraq is a rapid route for the U.S. and British forces, come what may. These clerics are interested in neither "security" nor democracy for Iraqis. They primarily desire a strategic defeat for the U.S. and its allies.

"I come from a wounded Iraq and a severely wounded Baghdad," Asadourian told the WCC meeting. "The situation in my country is tragic. We were promised freedom, but what we need today is freedom to have electricity, clean water, to satisfy the basic needs of life, to live without fear of being abducted."

Who is preventing Asadourian's flock and millions of other Iraqis from having unhindered democracy, electricity, clean water, and protection from kidnappers? Former Baathists, Islamic militias, and al-Qaeda affiliated insurgents. But the WCC and the Religious Left prefers not to criticize the actual agents of upheaval and destruction. Instead, the religious leftists reserve all their fire for the occupying forces that are attempting to create security and order out of chaos.

"Every day terrorist attacks are targeting people who could be the cornerstone of a new Iraq: professionals, physicians, and engineers," Asadourian told a WCC interviewer. "And this is resulting in an across-the-board brain drain, which is a shame since it takes decades to train qualified people." Note that the archbishop persistently referred to "terrorists" in Iraq, which the WCC and its allies never do. How surprising that the WCC even published the interview with Asadourian, and his harsh rhetoric against insurrectionists who simply oppose the Western imperialists!

Asadourian referenced the recent murders of two Christian priests in Iraq and noted that 27 members of his church have died, while another 23 have been kidnapped. The Christian population has dropped from 7-8 percent of Iraq to 3-4 percent. Some Christians are also moving "north within the country," which is relatively safer, the archbishop said. He recounted that his own church has declined from 600-700 worshipers to 100-150.

Some have left Baghdad, some fear going out, while others just lack fuel for their cars.

"My message to my flock is: do not be afraid, but be careful. Confront this dire situation with optimism, and pray and work for a better future," Asadourian concluded. "My message to churches outside Iraq, especially to those in the occupying countries, is: Help us to make life better for the Iraqi people, to alleviate its suffering, to keep their governments' promises for a better future in all walks of life, and ask for God's help in this humanitarian endeavor."

For the WCC and the Religious Left, unable to set aside the archaic prism of Liberation Theology, the war in Iraq is a simple morality play involving Western colonizers versus oppressed Third World natives. But actual Iraqis, especially vulnerable Christians, are fighting for their lives and the life of their tender democracy.

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