Thanks and Praise
Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.
Michael Yon writes:
A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.Jules Crittenden calls this the Iraqi "Iwo" moment.
The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers. (Videotape to follow.)
Michelle Malkin added a reporton the Easter celebration at St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad:
During the mass, Shiite Muslim leader Ammar al-Hakim, son of the head of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite political organization, walked into the church. Father Louis al-Shabi, the chief priest at St. Joseph, escorted al-Hakim to a seat near the alter.Later this month... Pope Benedictus will appoint a new Cardinal of Baghdad.
“Sheik al-Hakim came to join us in our celebrations as we mark this feast,” al-Shabi told the worshippers. “We welcome this visit as a display of unity among the Iraqi people.”
Al-Hakim responded, “We are all the sons of Iraq, and we should put our hands together to build this country. We are confident that the Iraqi people will come out of this crisis and our pain will end.”
Newly elected Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad, right, waits with unidentified clergy for the inaugural Mass at St. Joseph's Chaldean church in Baghdad in this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2003 file photo. The Chaldean Church is loyal to the pope but does not follow the Roman church's Latin Rite. Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly is one of the 23 new cardinals the pontiff will elevate in a solemn ceremony next Nov. 24. The pope named Wednesday, Oct.17, 2007, 23 new cardinals, tapping the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, two Americans and archbishops from four continents to join the elite ranks of the 'princes' of the Roman Catholic Church. Eighteen of the 23 are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pontiff. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
Reader BG added this: Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki congratulated Patriarch Emmanuel Delly III, head of the Chaldean Church in Iraq on his appointment by the Pope in an October statement.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also promised to protect and support the vulnerable Christian community in Iraq in a meeting with the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Emmanuel III Delly, on Saturday October 27.
Previously:
Pope Benedict XVI Establishes Cardinal of Baghdad
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ReplyDeletehey GP.. (thumbsup)
Michael Yon Live From Baghdad (11/05/07)
Transcript: Michael Yon reports on the good news in Iraq, the place MSM forgot. (11/06/07)
excerpt:
[HH: Michael Yon, I was privileged to have lunch today with the parents of Lt. Mark Daily, an Army lieutenant who was killed in Iraq this year, in January of this year, and who had written to his brother that one of his objectives in joining and going there was to make sure that the Iraqis, brother to brother, could have the same kind of relationship he had with his brother, that if he wanted to go for a cup of coffee with his brother, he hoped someday that the Iraqi brothers could just go out for a cup of tea, and that's why he was fighting, to bring normalcy and a decent life to these Iraqis. Is that happening?
MY: Yeah, it's happening. In some areas, quicker than others. You know, we're just on the front edge of it. But I can tell you, I can see it every day I'm out now, or week by week, month by month now, I really believe that, I'll be the first to say it and take a chance, I really believe five years from now, I'm going to be back here with my camera and my longest lens shooting bird photos. I just feel that it's coming. You can sense the change in the people. The Iraqi people actually really tend to like Americans. It's the ones that don't like us, you know, that can be a pretty severe difference. But in general, they really want to have a relationship with the United States, and it's not, we're not dealing with blood enemies here at all.
HH: Are they grateful?
MY: More and more so. Actually, especially now that things are settled down and they realize that our intentions are not here, you know, we're not here to steal their oil and that kind of thing. Actually, I'm seeing them express gratitude a lot more than I've ever seen it before. And so yes, they're definitely grateful.
HH: And what about Iran? What does the average Iraqi tell you about Iran?
MY: Well, now that's not only a good question, but an increasingly kind of semi-humorous question, because every day now, including yesterday again, a retired army colonel, an Iraqi army colonel, told me hey, we will support you in your war against Iran. And he keeps saying this in front of American…oh yeah. Every day I'm hearing that.]
Audio: Michael Yon reports on the good news in Iraq, the place MSM forgot. (11/06/07)
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