Pope Francis’s Four-days in a War-torn Iraq, Where America’s Leaders go Unannounced, When Sunset and Leave Before Sunrise, The Pope has a Sunday Mass in an Open Stadium, Christians, and Muslims Pray with Pope for Peace and Wisdom for America’s Leaders

 

Pope Francis’s Four-days in a War-torn Iraq, Where America’s Leaders go Unannounced, When Sunset and Leave Before Sunrise, The Pope has a Sunday Mass in an Open Stadium, Christians, and Muslims Pray with Pope for Peace and Wisdom for America’s Leaders

Mujeeb Khan

 

Pope Francis meets Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf, "Christians should live like all Iraqis, in security and peace and with full constitutional rights"

 

Pope Francis Sunday Mass at Franso Hariri Stadium in Irbil, Iraq Mar7, 2021

  

  It has been 18 years since the Iraq war, but so far, the US president, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and other top officials have visited Iraq unannounced, they stayed in Baghdad with their troops, meet with Iraqi leaders in the Green Zone, and within 24 hours left Iraq, excused for security reasons. They did not see Iraq outside the Green Zone, a war-torn Iraq, perhaps felt sham. Pope Francis is the first world leader to visit Iraq at a time when world leaders are not traveling because of the coronavirus. Pope Francis did not stay in the Green Zone. Instead, the Pope went to the war zone, town, and cities in Iraq. Pope Francis has been warmly welcomed by Iraqis who have been at war for 18 years. Pope Francis went to Mosul, Najaf, Ur, Irbil, walked through the narrow streets of Najaf to meet Ayatollah Ali Sistani at his residence, ninety-year-old Ayatollah is a top Shiite cleric in Iraq. The Ayatollah Sistani came to greet Pope Francis at his door, “religious authorities have a role to play in protecting Iraqi Christians,” said Ayatollah Ali Sistani, “and Christians must live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis.” Pope Francis thanked Ayatollah Ali Sistani for raising his voice in defense of the most vulnerable and most affected. Wherever Pope Francis went to Iraq, he was greeted by hundreds of Iraqis on both sides of the street. In every way, it was a successful historic visit of the Pope.

   About two million Christians were in Iraq before the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Christians were in Iraq for centuries, there were ancient Christian churches in Iraq. Christians had a history in Iraq. The Iraq war has left ancient historic churches in ruins. There are now 300,000 Christians in Iraq. Thousands of Christians have fled Iraq, their settlements destroyed, families are deserted. It was the only region in the world where Christians, Muslims, and Arab Jews had one language, one culture. They all sat together in cafes and drank coffee. They spoke Arabic. Their places of worship were different. Saddam Hussein kept this culture alive in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, but he did not establish Sunni supremacy over Shiites, nor did he make Christians third-class citizens. Under Saddam Hussein, Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians had equal rights, because they were Arab first and religion later. No one was in the majority based on religion, no one was in the minority, all were Arabs, and all had equal rights. Syria and Libya also had large Christian populations and Christians had equal rights because they were Arabs. Why did the United States and European countries destroy Iraq, Syria, and Libya, where Christians and Muslims lived together in peace? There was no difference between Arab Christians and Arab Muslims.

  US secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes the message from Israel to Beirut and tells the Lebanon’s president, a Christian, “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and should be removed from the government.” Lebanon’s president was shocked to hear that Lebanon is a sovereign country and that demand was interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs. Hezbollah was elected by 60% of the people. Hezbollah was in the government, he had ministers in the cabinet, removing Hezbollah from the government would mean political instability in Lebanon. After the bloody civil war in the 1980’s Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians decided to work together for stability and reconstruction in Lebanon, which led to peace and stability in Lebanon. The United States should have helped the government in Lebanon. Christians, Shiites, and Sunnis ruled together, and Lebanon had a parliamentary democracy. The press was also free. Women's freedom is respected. America’s two close, Israel and Saudi Arabia, one was the aggressor and the other was suppressor, have declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization, just as the two countries have branded the Egyptian people’s democracy as terrorism. The United States also supported the decision of Israel and Saudi Arabia. The gang of three have created political turmoil in Lebanon and the State Department’s website told the world that “the United States will continue to pursue peace in the Middle East.”

   Surprising, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a personal acquaintance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Middle East. The Arab rulers who were intimidated by Iran, Mike Pompeo’s job was to bring those Arab rulers under Israel’s orbit. Prime Minister is not popular in Israel, in the last three elections he did not get the majority to form his government without the help of other parties. But in the United States, every demand of Prime Minister Netanyahu was met. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been pressuring Arab governments to establish ties with Israel, but Israel has never been asked to change its aggressive policy with the Palestinians. Mike Pompeo is an evangelical Christian, but he did not urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to give equal rights to Christian Palestinians who were Israel’s citizens. Reactions to resolving disputes in unfair ways are also unfair.

   President Trump was blamed for the January 6 attack on Capitol Building in Washington DC. President Trump has been accused of inciting insurrection. President Trump did not stop the violent insurrectionists from attacking the Capitol Building, five people were killed in the attack, that’s why President Trump was impeached. But in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, Churches were being destroyed under President Bush and President Obama, Christians and Muslims were being killed, Christians were fleeing from the Middle East. Pope Francis called for Christians not to be expelled from the Middle East, But President Bush and President Obama did nothing to stop the warmongers, two million innocents people killed, human destruction was insurmountable. The most sacred and ancient historical mosques and places of Islam was also destroyed. The United States knew that “Houthis back by Iran, Iraqi Shiite militia back by Iran,” but the United States did not know ‘ISIS back by who?’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

                                                                                                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

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