Fox News
Dec 23 2006
Archbishop of Canterbury Condemns Iraq War Policy for Endangering
Christians in the Middle East
Saturday, December 23, 2006
LONDON – Christians in the Middle East are being put at unprecedented
risk by the England’s "shortsighted" and "ignorant" policy in Iraq,
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, says today.
In an extraordinary attack, Dr. Williams accuses Tony Blair and
the U.S. of endangering the lives and futures of many thousands of
Christians in the Middle East, who are regarded by their countrymen
as supporters of the "crusading West."
He has been backed by bishops across the Church of England, who say
that Christians in the Middle East are now paying the price for the
"chaos" in Iraq after the British government failed to heed their
warnings about the consequences of military action.
Dr. Williams, writing in today’s Times, says that one prediction that
was systematically ignored was that Western military action would
put the whole of the Middle East’s Christian population at risk.
Writing from Bethlehem, where the number of Christians has plummeted
to a quarter of what they were, he condemns the government for failing
to put in place a strategy to help Christians.
"The results are now painfully adding to what was already a difficult
situation for Christian communities across the region," he says. "The
first Christian believers were Middle Easterners. It’s a very sobering
thought that we might live to see the last native Christian believers
in the region." In some Middle Eastern countries where Muslim-Christian
relations have always been good, he says that extremist attacks on
Christians are becoming "notably more frequent."
Dr Williams, who is visiting Israel with Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian,
the Armenian Primate of Britain and David Coffey, the head of the
Baptist World Alliance, returns to Britain today with a call for all
British churches to take action to raise the profile of Christians in
the Middle East. Dr Williams said yesterday that the Israeli-built wall
around Bethlehem symbolised what was "deeply wrong in the human heart".
Despite Dr. Williams’s attack on British policy in Iraq, the government
insists that the strategy in southern Iraq, where about 7,000 troops
are based, is bearing fruit.
Des Browne, the Defense Secretary, told The Times in an interview
this week: "There is no evidence that the strategy is not still
on course." He said that Operation Sinbad, under which troops and
reconstruction teams are devoting resources to improving Basra,
was the key to Britain’s strategy.
The Government hopes that next year British troops will be able to
adopt a "watching role", leaving the trained Iraqi security forces
to take over responsibility for Basra. "I think it’s highly unlikely
that we will need the same number of troops to watch over the Iraqis
as we have there at present," Mr. Browne said.
He insisted that the environment in Basra was "genuinely improving".
In October, General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, gave
warning in a newspaper interview that if the British troops stayed
for too long they would risk exacerbating the situation.
Senior bishops threw their weight behind Dr. Williams. Dr. Tom Wright,
the Bishop of Durham, said: "Nobody takes any notice of what churchmen
say about these things. Now this has turned into a very sorrowful
‘I told you so’."
Dr Wright, who is one of the Church’s top five clerics, said: "We
have argued all along that what was being done in our name by our
government, led by America, would have disastrous consequences.
"The 64-and-a-half thousand dollar question is, what do we do now? We
have made a problematic situation far worse. Even if there were
changes of government in America and Britain, they will still have
to cope with the chaos that has been unleashed."
He called for the U.N. resources in the region to be strengthened.
"Long term, that is what we must do because it is ridiculous for any
one, two or three countries to pretend they can be global policemen
in other people’s parts of the world. We desperately need a credible
international police force."
"As long as it is America and Britain doing the policing, local
people will see it as Christian nations coming in and beating up
Muslim nations, so it merely makes matters worse." He said that the
ensuing chaos could lead to a situation that was "worse than Saddam".
The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Rev John Gladwin, said: "I am
fully aware of the appalling situation in which many Christians
in the Middle East now find themselves and would wish to give my
whole-hearted support to the Archbishop."
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, said: "The
Archbishop has done much to deepen friendship between Christians,
Muslims and Jews in this country. We must pray that this friendship
spreads.
"We face two further possibilities: either a conflict of attrition
between the faiths or a settlement of peaceful coexistence. We must
hope that Christians will find the same just treatment in the Middle
East as Muslims have a right to expect in this country."