Recalling the horror of militant attacks

Catholic Review ^ | 8/13/14 | Doreen Abi Raad

[Welchie25]

The memory of that brutal June evening in his home near Mosul, Iraq, brought 48-year-old Joseph, now a refugee in Lebanon, to tears.

“These people know no limits of humanity, decency, or respect for human life,” he said of the Islamic State fighters.

Meeting with Catholic News Service Aug. 8 at the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center in Beirut, he and other Catholic Iraqi refugees asked that their real names not be used to protect their identities as they shared the traumatic experiences that led to their exodus.

Joseph recalled how his wife and their teenage son, Bachar, were in their living room. Two other children were asleep around 10 p.m. when there was an explosion-like crash. In an instant, four militants barged into the house, guns aimed at the heads of father and son.

“Give us your gold and valuables,” he said they demanded.

Filled with fear, Joseph’s wife tried to calmly gather all jewelry she had. One of the militants, noticing Bachar’s cross, ripped off the chain in a rage and started to beat the boy, accusing the family of withholding their gold.

“What’s for sure is they (the terrorists) are not all Iraqis. The ones with the beards are not Iraqis,” Joseph said.

After ransacking the home for other valuables, the terrorists warned they would return in 48 hours. Their ultimatum: The family must convert to Islam, pay the Islamic jizya tax, or be killed.

[bolobaby]

The world was horrified by the Nazis too late.

When will they wake up this time? I fear even later brought on by increased secularism and moral relativity.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

I wish these people could get amnesty here in North Dakota. so many jobs for those willing to work.

Instead, we get Bosnian and Somalian Muslims who know the ins-and-outs of the welfare system.

[rfreedom4u]

“I locked the doors of my shop and my house for the last time, and we left.”

I would have burned my shop down before letting the savages have it.

[IronJack]

Or better yet, booby-trapped it.

[Ancesthntr]

I am sick and tired of the term, “militants.” A “militant” is someone who protests in the street, shaking his fist in anger. OTOH, a terrorist ACTS to harm and/or kill people, the more the merrier so as to TERRORIZE others.

Let’s stop this PC $hit - let’s call a spade a spade, a dog a dog and a terrorist a terrorist. IOW, let’s tell the TRUTH, even if it isn’t very comfortable or appetizing.