BOMB ATTACKS ON IRAQ CHRISTIANS KILL DOZENS

Christmas Bomb Attacks Kill at Least 37 in Baghdad's Christian Areas

Militants in Iraq targeted Christians in two separate bomb attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, officials said.

In one attack, a car bomb went off near a church during Christmas Mass in the capital's southern Doura neighborhood, killing at least 26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said.

A little bit earlier, a bomb ripped through an outdoor market in the nearby Christian section of Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21, the officer added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Iraq's dwindling Christian community, which is estimated to number about 400,000 to 600,000 people, has often been targeted by al-Qaida and other insurgents who see the Christians as unbelievers.

According to an earlier report from Reuters:

Ahmed Edan, a policeman on duty in the area of the attacks, said the sound of the first of the two explosions caused worshippers to leave the church.

"A car parked near the church exploded when the families were hugging each other goodbye before leaving. The blast was powerful," he said.

"Bodies of women, girls and men were lying on the ground covered in blood. Others were screaming and crying while they were trying to save some of their wounded relatives."

Iraq's fast-dwindling Christian minority has been a target of al-Qaida Sunni militants in the past, including a 2010 attack on a church that killed dozens of people (see here for graphic images).  Journalist and author Raymond Ibrahim points out that:

It is interesting to note that these attacks happened in Iraq — the one nation that should have served as an early model of what happens once Arab autocrats are removed and so-called "freedom" ushered in, and this a decade before the "Arab Spring" came along.  In all cases — in Iraq, followed by "Arab Spring" nations Egypt, Libya, and ongoing Syria — chaos and violence have been the result, with indigenous Christian minorities and their churches bearing the brunt.

An article published just two days before the Christmas Day terror attack highlighted how Iraq's Christian minority have come to dread Christmas:

While millions of Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas, a dwindling number of believers in Iraq will be forced to mark the birth of Christ in private, if at all.

Christians are afraid to put up a Christmas tree or other decorations, according to one Christian pastor in Iraq. Such displays of faith in an increasingly extremist nation can bring threats and violence, say human rights groups. Christian churches must be regularly guarded, but congregants are even more on edge during their holiest days.

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein more than 1,000 Christians have been killed in Iraq, and more have been kidnapped and tortured. Some 62 churches and monasteries have been vandalized or even destroyed.  The United Nations Committee for Refugees recently stated that 850,000 Iraqi Christians have fled since 2003.

In 1987 Iraq's Christian population numbered approximately 1.2 million.  By 2020 there might not be any of them left in their ancient homeland.  That's the goal of Islamofascists around the globe: a world without Christians.  

Liberals in the U.S. and Europe like to pay lip service to the cause of protecting minority rights around the world.  But their lack of interest or empathy for the plight of Christian minorities in Muslim countries exposes their rhetoric as empty, cynical and insulting.  Shame on them for their hypocrisy.

Further reading: 

Persecution at Christmastime

Can We Finally Start Talking About The Global Persecution Of Christians?

What the Middle East would be like without Christians