Special Announcement:

IF Mourns Archbishop’s Death

March 14, 2008

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, kidnapped last month, was found dead on March 13, 2008, buried in a shallow grave outside the Iraqi city Mosul. The Iraq Foundation deplores the loss of this man of religion, condemns the hatred and intolerance that motivates such heinous action, and calls on the Iraqi government to fulfill its responsibility of protecting Iraqi citizens.

Archbishop Rahho was a good man. He was murdered by intolerance and blind hatred which are alien to Iraq’s culture and history. The Iraq Foundation believes these criminal actions cannot be ignored and complacency must never be excused.

The violence that has gripped Iraq is especially deplorable when it targets vulnerable minority communities. Archbishop Rahho’s crime in the eyes of his murderers was that he held different religious beliefs from his murderers, and that he practiced his faith and ministered to his community. His murder is the culmination of numerous hate crimes carried out against the Christian community, including the burning of churches, assassination of other clerics, and the abduction of ordinary Christians citizens. We should also recall the attack against the Yezidis last August, which resulted in over 500 deaths. Minority communities have suffered great losses at the hands of armed extremists bent on promoting hate, intolerance, and destruction.

The Iraq Foundation calls on the government of Iraq to take responsibility for protecting its citizens, and especially minority communities who are vulnerable to extremist hate crimes, have no armed militias for self defense, and have no powerful governments to champion their interests. At the very least, the Iraqi government must conduct a prompt, thorough and professional investigation of the Archbishop’s murder, and inform the public of the progress of its investigation. Iraqis have had enough of unsolved murders.

Please join us in the fight against the intolerance and hatred that caused this tragedy and so many others like it.