ICC Note: What is it like to be a Christian from the Middle East today? To be an Assyrian, Syriac, or Chaldean? Can you imagine the realities that they are facing on a daily basis? This article urges you to try.
05/07/2015 Syria (Assist) ISIS’ claim of responsibility for the shooting in Garland, Texas, was proof of its ability to capitalize on terrorist sympathizers globally who can pull off so-called lone wolf attacks.
This marks the first time ISIS (also known as Islamic State) claimed credit for an attack inside the United States. A White House spokesman said Tuesday that it was too early to determine whether the terror group was directly involved.
Reportedly, a self-styled American jihadist called Abu Ibrahim al-Ameriki said that Sunday’s terror attack in Texas was the work of ISIS and that the terrorist group has scores of “trained soldiers” positioned in 15 states, awaiting orders to kill.
The chilling threat went on record naming five of the states where it claimed that ISIS has terror cells in place.
The reality of the Garland attack is that even with the CIA, DIA, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, local police, the U.S. Border Patrol, and other agencies and individuals involved in the security of this nation, the operation was only foiled when the gunmen encountered a police officer with a basic service revolver and good training. There is much we take for granted here in the U.S.
Imagine being a Christian who does not have this basic security apparatus that protects U.S. citizens.
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Imagine that you are a woman displaced from your home after your husband was beheaded, or a man whose wife is raped and shot, or a parent whose child is kidnapped and sold into a harem, or a young mother who has to resort to prostitution to feed her baby.
Imagine that there is no 911 service to call when evil men come to your door; that there is no one who will answer your cries for help.
Imagine that you have no military and or police force to detain bad people or fight back on your behalf and protect you from those hell bent on killing.
Imagine that ISIS is attacking your community on a daily basis with armored vehicles, 120mm mortars, 81 mm mortars, suicide bombers, and using drones to scout out your positions.
Imagine that you´re living in the open parking lots of regional “partners” whose children gladly collect and dump scorpions in your refugee camps for their personal amusement so that your sisters and brothers can be bitten and suffer this as well as suffer exposure under the elements and endure pain and disease.
Imagine when you have to walk a mile up a hill just to collect fresh water since non-Christian neighbors defecate and urinate in the only water source up stream from you. Imagine having to suffer from Hepatitis’s A and other diseases since you lack access to clean water.
Imagine that you are not granted visas enabling you to escape the crisis region and, further, that you are forced to stay in refugee camps with no access to schools, healthcare, and jobs.
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Imagine all these sufferings … and then know that this is what it is like to be a Christian Assyrian in the Middle East.
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