Not in the News

[The Reaper]

If you only read one post per day, click on this link.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/come-home.htm

Why is this not all over the MSM?

Hmm, let me guess. Success in Iraq and Christianity. Two non-reportable topics.

The link has the great photos to accompany it.

TR

Dispatches From Iraq: Come Home
Friday, November 16, 2007

By Michael Yon

The Dome Under the Cross: Local Muslim and Christian leaders prepare the church.
Michael Yon is an independent journalist and former Green Beret who was embedded in Iraq for nine months in 2005. He has returned to Iraq for 2007 to continue reporting on the war. Here is a portion of his latest dispatch exclusively for FOXNews.com.

———————————————

Come home, come home,

Ye who are weary, come home;

— Will L. Thompson, "Softly and Tenderly"

A bishop came to St John’s Church in Baghdad on Thursday, where a crowd of locals welcomed him home. They were joined at the service by soldiers from the 2-12 infantry battalion, many of whom had fought hard to secure these neighborhood streets. Members of the hard-fighting Iraqi Army 3rd Division also were here for this special day.

The Most Rev. Shlemon Warduni, auxiliary bishop of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Diocese for Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq, officiated standing directly beneath the dome under the Chaldean cross. Speaking in Arabic and English, Warduni thanked those American soldiers sitting in the pews for their sacrifices. Again and again throughout the service he thanked the Americans.

Lt. Col. Stephen Michael told me that when Al Qaeda came to Dora, it began harassing Christians first, charging them "rent." It was the local Muslims, according to Michael, who first came to him for help to protect the Christians in his area. That’s right. Michael told me more than once that the Muslims reached out to him to protect the Christians from Al Qaeda.

Real Muslims here are quick to say that Al Qaeda members are not true Muslims. From charging "rent," Al Qaeda’s harassment escalated to killing Christians and also Muslims.

Untold thousands of Christians and Muslims fled Baghdad in the wake of the darkness of civil war. Most of the Christians are gone now, having fled to Syria, Jordan or Northern Iraq.

The ceremony was long and very Catholic, and since I was not raised Catholic, I would not have understood most of it even if it were all in English. But some of the American soldiers understood what was going on, and they said it was good.

Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s, Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors and that the Christians never will come back.

And so they came to St John’s in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, "Come back to Iraq. Come home." They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home.

Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. "Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq."

[rubberneck]

Thanks for posting that. I don't know why we have gotten to the place we have but I am grateful that my two grandfathers aren't alive to see it. Somehow I get the feeling that they would be ashamed of the behavior on the left/MSM over the last 4 years. Even though they have been gone less than 30 years neither would recognize the country that they served in their youth.

[echoes]

TR Sir,

Thank You for posting that story! Michael Yon is so very talented.

The photos of those beautiful girls and thier mother in the church, were uplifting. It is indeed a shame that Our MSM is so fractured and broken, that they cannot report on an incredible achievement, like this one.

A great job by Our Guys on the ground!

Holly

[RTK]

All I can say is "Wow."

I think I found my church for my next trip.

[Snaquebite]

I read this story earlier today and it reminded me of the Iraqis I worked with most being Muslims but many were Christians. There was no animosity within the group at all. They worked as a team with no regard to each other's religion.

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by RTK

All I can say is "Wow."

I think I found my church for my next trip.

No kidding, a major "WOW" factor. What a great story.

[The Reaper]

I believe that the Muslim religion refers to Christians, Muslims, and Jews as all "People of the Book", due to our common beliefs in the Old Testament.

The photo of the Muslim men erecting a cross on the roof of the church was incredible to me. We still have along way to go, but what a first step. Unless our elected "cut and run" leadership snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Anyone who does not get the significance of this cannot comment intelligently on the GWOT.

TR

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

If you only read one post per day, click on this link.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/come-home.htm

Why is this not all over the MSM?

I saw that a few hours ago, Foxnews picked up Yons story.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311933,00.html

[Guy]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Anyone who does not get the significance of this cannot comment intelligently on the GWOT.

TR

Stay safe.

BTW...I was reading that Christians are being welcomed in the Kurdish held areas.

[sg1987]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

I saw that a few hours ago, Foxnews picked up Yons story.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311933,00.html

Good to see it picked up....I hope it gets some TV time. Great story.

[jwt5]

Just finished viewing Mr. Yon's dispatch right before coming here. I was amazed and touched when he mentioned the area they were in. The last time I was in Iraq, this one area was the number one source of insurgent activity. We had lost the majority of our soldiers in this area. It was so bad at one point, you were not allowed to drive ANY vehicles into the area. Only air assault operations were allowed.

It seems things turned around finally. This is great news.

[Gypsy]

Outstanding dispatch yet again from Michael Yon...keep spreading the news.

[82ndtrooper]

Those photos are beautiful. On many levels, not only visual aesthetics.

A cross being erected by both muslims and christians. Truely the work of and sacrifice of American Soldiers, with due credit to the lord of course.

I remember reading that Michael Yon, while embedded with troops, actually picked up an M4, reloaded, and fired at insurgents. He was supposedly given a stern reprimand by the Army.

Thanks you TR for the Michael Yon link and story.

[x-factor]

A couple of notes...

- The "rent" AQ referred to is called "jizya" and it is the traditional Quranic tax that non-Muslims must pay to live in a Muslim state.

- While the Muslims do refer to Christians and Jews as People of the Book and respect them as kindred (if slightly misguided) religions. However, there are also a fair number of anti-Christian statements in Islamic tradition. Historically speaking, Muslims have lived in peace with Christians far more often than in conflict (though the nature of that peace can in some cases be debated).

- One important distinction, Muslims (even jihadists) differentiate between "Christians" and "Crusaders." The Arabic word for "Christian" is "al masihi" (meaning "followers of the messiah") or "al nasrani" (meaning "followers of the Nasarene). The Arabic word for "Crusader" is "al salibi" (meaning "he who raises the cross banner" or "he who follows the cross") and it carries a very negative cache associated with both military and colonial predation.

The point TR raises is very true. The long-term key to the GWOT is (through many methods) to convince the Islamic world that they will benefit from coexistence and mutual respect far more than from the never-ending jihad that AQ promotes. The more we can get Muslims to view us as other than "al salibi," the better we're doing.

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by 82ndtrooper

I remember reading that Michael Yon, while embedded with troops, actually picked up an M4, reloaded, and fired at insurgents. He was supposedly given a stern reprimand by the Army.

It's true. Go to his site and read Gates of Fire, you'll see why. It is, perhaps, his most riveting dispatch I've ever read.