A historian is taking aim at the West for staying "bizarrely silent" on the plight of Iraqi Christians, calling his claim ironic considering the rampant violence and instability that unfolded following the U.S.-led Iraq War.
"The West’s direct intervention in Iraq created Hell on Earth for its Christian citizens, while the West’s lack of action in Syria (out of deference to its failings in Iraq) has permitted a regrouping of Islamist forces and the opening of a second front against Christians," Dr. Timothy Stanley wrote in an op-ed for the Telegraph. "The lesson is: 'either leave other countries alone or, if you must intervene, do so with consistency and resilience.'"
Iraqis who have fled recent fighting in the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar try to enter a temporary displacement camp but are blocked by Kurdish soldiers on July 2, 2014 in Khazair, Iraq. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The historian said that it took mere weeks for an ancient culture to be entirely wiped out, calling the infractions against Christians "a war crime that, strangely, no one seems to want to talk about."
[sharequote align="center"]"A war crime that, strangely, no one seems to want to talk about."[/sharequote]
Stanley went on to say that invading Iraq, creating chaos and then pulling out has not benefitted those left behind. Despite being responsible for the upheaval, he said that the West has opted not to speak out about the death, destruction and murder befalling Iraqi Christians.
"Yet, having been so intimately involved in the collapse of Iraq, the West is now bizarrely silent about events in Mosul," Stanley wrote. "The streets of London fill with thousands marching against Israel’s military operation in Gaza; the West rails mightily against the Russian separatists in Ukraine. But of Iraq there is nothing."
Iraqi Christians leave Saint-Joseph church after a mass on July 20, 2014 in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Hundreds of Christian families fled their homes in Mosul on July 20, 2014 as a jihadist ultimatum threatening their community's centuries-old presence in the northern Iraqi city expired. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
He continued by asking an important question: "If we don't speak out for Christians, who will?" Read Stanley's op-ed here.
The historian's comments come after Christians in the Iraqi city of Mosul — which is currently being held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a radical group seeking an Islamic caliphate — were given an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a tax or be put to death, sending Christians fleeing.
TheBlaze covered Iraqi Christians' plight in-depth last month.
(H/T: Christian Post)
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