Syria in the spotlight on Sputnik!

Posted on May 5, 2014 by fatherdave

Recently it was my great privilege to join my friend John Shipton as guests on ‘Sputnik’ – RT’s wonderful current affairs show, hosted by George Galloway and his partner Gayatri.

With Gayatri, John and George on Sputnik

With Gayatri, John and George on Sputnik

George is a real mentor to me. I remember asking him when I first met him last year “How is it that you always say what you believe to be true, and yet you’re a politician!” George said “I have nothing to lose! I have no real money or power so there is nothing that they can threaten me with in order to compromise me!” George is a true prophet – powerless yet powerful, poor in worldly goods but rich in all the things that count. I count it a privilege to call him my friend. 🙂

Father Dave

Father Dave & John Shitpon on Sputnik

P.S. You can see my earlier interview with George here

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Why the Syrian rebellion may soon collapse like a house of cards!

Posted on April 25, 2014 by fatherdave

I have just returned from Syria. Over the space of a couple of days our group drove from Damascus to Lattakia to Homs and back to Damascus – all without harassment or signs of imminent violence. The contrast with my last trip – almost exactly a year earlier – could not have been greater!

Last year Damascus seemed under siege! The red glow of mortar fire filled the horizon every night and when members of our delegation tried to leave town in the direction of Homs their car was fired upon! A year ago the mood everywhere was tense and fearful, but now the Syrian people seemed to have a new strength and confidence. The battle was nearly over, and Syria was going to win!

This is certainly how the Syrians we met perceived the war. They don’t see it as a civil war at all. They see a foreign invasion, led by the US and its client states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel and Turkey. As Syria enters its third year of bloody conflict and as the number of actual Syrians in the anti-Assad alliance becomes an increasingly small percentage, this interpretation looks increasingly compelling.

Of course our delegation included a good number of us ‘Westerners’ which made things uncomfortable at times! “Why do you want to destroy us?” people asked. Why indeed?

Thankfully most of those who asked such questions were also wise enough to realise that we were in Syria precisely because we did not accept the official narrative of the Western media – that the rebels are Robin Hood and his merry men trying to topple the evil prince. We recognised that the war in Syria had far more complex causes, rooted in the economic threat posed by Iran to the other main players in the region.

Note that I speak of Iran’s ‘economic threat’ and not ‘existential threat’. Despite all rhetoric to the contrary, this war has always been about nothing more than money.  It’s a battle between business magnates who seek to control oil and gas flow across the region. The Syrian people are simply the canon-fodder who pay the price of corporate greed.

Of course the average Syrian doesn’t understand all this and neither is the average Syrian interested in issues of global hegemony. She just wants to get on with her life and bring up her family in an environment that is stable and secure. The Syrian people are sick of the violence. Even those with a passion for political reform recognise that nothing constructive can happen until the violence ceases. And this is why the people cling to Bashar Al-Assad even if they don’t particularly love the man. He offers a return to normalcy and peace whereas his takfiri opponents offer only a return to the Caliphate!

Syrians want peace, and the religion of the takfiri has never had any place in Syrian culture, and this is why the whole rebellion could collapse any day like a house of cards! I appreciate that analysts everywhere are saying that there is no end in sight for the conflict and that it could drag on for years to come but this is because they focus on logistics and on the policies of the foreign interventionists. What they fail to take into account is the strength of the resolve of the Syrian people!

The Syrians are a proud people. They don’t want to be controlled by foreign empires and they don’t want their culture of pluralism and religious tolerance destroyed. Whatever problems Syrians might have with the Assad government, it is their independance and way of life that is at stake in this conflict and so it is only a matter of time before Syrians of all political persuasions join hands to push out the foreign invaders!

This process is already well underway. We met a Sheikh Tahhan in Lattakia who is a much sought-after man by members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Homs. He is the go-to guy for those who want to take advantage of the government’s armistice – guaranteeing protection from prosecution to those who will hand over their arms! There were FSA fighters trickling into the peace camp like this when I was in Damascus last year. Now that trickle has become a steady flow!

Sheikh Tahhan with Mother Agnes Mariam and a former FSA fighter

Sheikh Tahhan with Mother Agnes Mariam and a former FSA fighter

The Sheikh had three former-fighters with him when he met us, each of whom seemed very happy to be out of the fight. Tahhan’s report though was more encouraging still – that the entire FSA garrison in Homs might be on the verge of laying down their arms! If this happens it will doubtless start a chain-reaction. Syrian rebels everywhere will abandon their foreign-led battalions and come back to their families, and once this happens the end will come quickly.

Of course on paper the forces of Jabhat Al Nusra and ISIS and the other foreign jihadists could still put up a fight for years to come, but once the Syrian people unite the writing will be on the wall and these takfiri will lose their financial backers. Once the money dries up the violence will stop.

For it is the bottom line that is the bottom line in the Syrian conflict. In the end it is all about money and so it can only last so long as foreign investors are willing to pour their cash into it. Once Syrians unite to throw out the takfiri the whole venture will start to look like a very poor investment and so the rebellion will collapse like a house of cards!

My hope and prayer is that this will happen within months, maybe even within weeks! Certainly I don’t expect to see another year end with jihadists decorating trees with the severed heads of Christians in mock celebration of Christmas. The strength and resolve of the Syrian people will not allow this sort of barbarity to subsume their culture. A ceasefire is on the horizon, after which will begin the more lengthy process of national reconciliation.

Father Dave
member of the 2014 International Pilgrimage of Peace to Syria

Father Dave with refugees from Yarmouk (April 2014)

Father Dave with refugees from Yarmouk (Damascus, April 2014)

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Is Turkey gearing up for open war on Syria?

Posted on April 4, 2014 by fatherdave

Below is the recording and transcript of the recently leaked phone conversation between two high-ranking Turkish military officers, discussing a possible false-flag operation that would initiate open warfare against Syria!

If you’re not familiar with the ‘false flag’ concept, think of Hitler’s burning of the Reichstag. Hitler starts the fire himself, blames the communists, and then uses the crisis as an excuse to arrest all his communist political rivals so as to consolidate his own power. In this case, Turkey starts shooting, blames the Syrians, and then they claim that they have no excuse but to defend themselves by engaging in open violence!

How and why the recording was leaked, nobody is quite sure, and yet neither Prime Minister Erdogan nor any of his cabinet has bothered to deny that the recording is genuine. Instead they have followed what is becoming standard procedure. They threw a tantrum, accused the person who leaked the recording of treason, and shut down Turkish access to both YouTube and Twitter (though the court has subsequently switched both services back on).

That Turkey has been quietly funding and assisting the rebellion in Syria is well known, even if it is never openly admitted. So we might wonder how much difference it would make should there be a few extra troops on rebel side carrying Turkish coffee in their backpacks.  The issue though is not the extra troops but the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO, and once NATO has troops on the ground in Syria, God knows where they might take the fight from there! We could be looking at another Libya?

Father Dave

[imaioVideo v=1]

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PART 1

Ahmet Davutoglu: “Prime Minister said that in current conjuncture, this attack (on Suleiman Shah Tomb) must be seen as an opportunity for us.”

Hakan Fidan: “I’ll send 4 men from Syria, if that’s what it takes. I’ll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary.”

Feridun Sinirlioglu: “Our national security has become a common, cheap domestic policy outfit.”

Yasar Güler: “It’s a direct cause of war. I mean, what’re going to do is a direct cause of war.”

FIRST SCREEN:

Ahmet Davutoglu: I couldn’t entirely understand the other thing; what exactly does our foreign ministry supposed to do? No, I’m not talking about the thing. There are other things we’re supposed to do. If we decide on this, we are to notify the United Nations, the Istanbul Consulate of the Syrian regime, right?

Feridun Sinirlioglu: But if we decide on an operation in there, it should create a shocking effect. I mean, if we are going to do so. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but regardless of what we decide, I don’t think it’d be appropriate to notify anyone beforehand.

Ahmet Davutoglu: OK, but we’re gonna have to prepare somehow. To avoid any shorts on regarding international law. I just realized when I was talking to the president (Abdullah Gül), if the Turkish tanks go in there, it means we’re in there in any case, right?

Yasar Güler: It means we’re in, yes.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Yeah, but there’s a difference between going in with aircraft and going in with tanks…

SECOND SCREEN:

Yasar Güler: Maybe we can tell the Syrian consulate general that, ISIL is currently working alongside the regime, and that place is Turkish land. We should definitely…

Ahmet Davutoglu: But we have already said that, sent them several diplomatic notes.

Yasar Güler: To Syria…

Feridun Sinirlioglu: That’s right.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Yes, we’ve sent them countless times. Therefore, I’d like to know what our Chief of Staff’s expectations from our ministry.

Yasar Güler: Maybe his intent was to say that, I don’t really know, he met with Mr. Fidan.

Hakan Fidan: Well, he did mention that part but we didn’t go into any further details

Yasar Güler: Maybe that was what he meant… A diplomatic note to Syria?

Hakan Fidan: Maybe the Foreign Ministry is assigned with coordination…

THIRD SCREEN:

Ahmet Davutoglu: I mean, I could coordinate the diplomacy but civil war, the military…

Feridun Sinirlioglu: That’s what I told back there. For one thing, the situation is different. An operation on ISIL has solid ground on international law. We’re going to portray this is Al-Qaeda, there’s no distress there if it’s a matter regarding Al-Qaeda. And if it comes to defending Suleiman Shah Tomb, that’s a matter of protecting our land.

Yasar Güler: We don’t have any problems with that.

Hakan Fidan: Second after it happens, it’ll cause a great internal commotion (several bombing events is bound to happen within). The border is not under control…

Feridun Sinirlioglu: I mean, yes, the bombings are of course going to happen. But I remember our talk from 3 years ago…

Yasar Güler: Mr. Fidan should urgently receive back-up and we need to help him supply guns and ammo to rebels. We need to speak with the minister. Our Interior Minister, our Defense Minister. We need to talk about this and reach a resolution sir.

Ahmet Davutoglu: How did we get specials forces into action when there was a threat in Northern Iraq? We should have done so in there, too. We should have trained those men. We should have sent men. Anyway, we can’t do that, we can only do what diplomacy…

Feridun Sinirlioglu: I told you back then, for God’s sake, general, you know how we managed to get those tanks in, you were there.

Yasar Güler: What, you mean our stuff?

Feridun Sinirlioglu: Yes, how do you think we’ve managed to rally our tanks into Iraq? How? How did manage to get special forces, the battalions in? I was involved in that. Let me be clear, there was no government decision on that, we have managed that just with a single order.

FOURTH SCREEN:

Yasar Güler: Well, I agree with you. For one thing, we’re not even discussing that. But there are different things that Syria can do right now.

Ahmet Davutoglu: General, the reason we’re saying no this operation is because we know about the capacity of those men.

Yasar Güler: Look, sir, isn’t MKE (Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation) at minister’s bidding? Sir, I mean, Qatar is looking for ammo to buy in cash. Ready cash. So, why don’t they just get it done? It’s at Mr. Minister’s command.

Ahmet Davutoglu: But there’s the spot we can’t act integratedly, we can’t coordinate.

Yasar Güler: Then, our Prime Minister can summon both Mr. Defence Minister and Mr. Minister at the same time. Then he can directly talk to them.

Ahmet Davutoglu: We, Mr. Sinirlioglu and I, have literally begged Mr. Prime Minster for a private meeting, we said that things were not looking so bright.

FIFTH SCREEN:

Yasar Güler: Also, it doesn’t have to be crowded meeting. Yourself, Mr. Defence Minister, Mr. Interior Minister and our Chief of Staff, the four of you are enough. There’s no need for a crowd. Because, sir, the main need there is guns and ammo. Not even guns, mainly ammo. We’ve just talked about this, sir. Let’s say we’re building an army down there, 1000 strong. If we get them into that war without previously storing a minimum of 6-months’ worth of ammo, these men will return to us after two months.

Ahmet Davutoglu: They’re back already.

Yasar Güler: They’ll return to us, sir.

Ahmet Davutoglu: They’ve came back from… What was it? Çobanbey.

Yasar Güler: Yes, indeed, sir. This matter can’t be just a burden on Mr. Fidan’s shoulders as it is now. It’s unacceptable. I mean, we can’t understand this. Why?

SIXTH SCREEN:

Ahmet Davutoglu: That evening we’d reached a resolution. And I thought that things were taking a turn for the good. Our…

Feridun Sinirlioglu: We issued the MGK (National Security Council) resolution the day after. Then we talked with the general…

Ahmet Davutoglu: And the other forces really do a good follow up on this weakness of ours. You say that you’re going to capture this place, and that men being there constitutes a risk factor. You pull them back. You capture the place. You reinforce it and send in your troops again.

Yasar Güler: Exactly, sir. You’re absolutely right.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Right? That’s how I interpret it. But after the evacuation, this is not a military necessity. It’s a whole other thing.

SEVENTH SCREEN

Feridun Sinirlioglu: There are some serious shifts in global and regional geopolitics. It now can spread to other places. You said it yourself today, and others agreed… We’re headed to a different game now. We should be able to see those. That ISIL and all that jazz, all those organizations are extremely open to manipulation. Having a region made up of organizations of similar nature will constitute a vital security risk for us. And when we first went into Northern Iraq, there was always the risk of PKK blowing up the place. If we thoroughly consider the risks and substantiate… As the general just said…

Yasar Güler: Sir, when you were inside a moment ago, we were discussing just that. Openly. I mean, armed forces are a “tool” necessary for you in every turn.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Of course. I always tell the Prime Minister, in your absence, the same thing in academic jargon, you can’t stay in those lands without hard power. Without hard power, there can be no soft power.

EIGTH SCREEN

Yasar Güler: Sir.

Feridun Sinirlioglu: The national security has been politicized. I don’t remember anything like this in Turkish political history. It has become a matter of domestic policy. All talks we’ve done on defending our lands, our border security, our sovereign lands in there, they’ve all become a common, cheap domestic policy outfit.

Yasar Güler: Exactly.

Feridun Sinirlioglu: That has never happened before. Unfortunately but…

Yasar Güler: I mean, do even one of the opposition parties support you in such a high point of national security? Sir, is this a justifiable sense of national security?

Feridun Sinirlioglu: I don’t even remember such a period.

NINTH SCREEN:

Yasar Güler: In what matter can we be unified, if not a matter of national security of such importance? None.

Ahmet Davutoglu: The year 2012, we didn’t do it 2011. If only we’d took serious action back then, even in the summer of 2012.

Feridun Sinirlioglu: They were at their lowest back in 2012.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Internally, they were just like Libya. Who comes in and goes from power is not of any importance to us. But some things…

Yasar Güler: Sir, to avoid any confusion, our need in 2011 was guns and ammo. In 2012, 2013 and today also. We’re in the exact same point. We absolutely need to find this and secure that place.

Ahmet Davutoglu: Guns and ammo are not a big need for that place. Because we couldn’t get the human factor in order…

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What if Syria happened in London?

Posted on March 7, 2014 by fatherdave

I have cried every time I’ve watched this video. I don’t know what that says about me. Perhaps, having three lovely daughters myself, these scenes of a young girl growing up touch something deep in me. Even so, this is a powerful production.

The video – put together by ad agency ‘Don’t Panic’ for ‘Save the Children’ – is done in the ‘second-a-day’ format – a series of tiny one-second snippets from the girl’s life over the space of a year, between two birthdays. It mirrors the reality for so many children in Syria, where more than a quarter of the population have now been displaced!

I appreciate that appealing to sentiment like this can be a manipulative way of raising funds, and I likewise recognise how sad it is that we had to make the Syrian girl English-speaking and white before we could identify with her. Even so, I think it is great that this video has gone viral and I hope it generates a lot of money and interest.

Father Dave

[imaioVideo v=1]

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Syrian Archbishop says the US, Britain and France are “Screwing Us”!

Posted on March 3, 2014 by fatherdave

It was only a day ago that a Muslim friend asked me “why aren’t the Christians of Syria speaking out more about rebel atrocities?” The truth is that they are speaking out but nobody is listening, and the strong language of this Archbishop may indeed reflect frustration with the deafness of the world’s media as well as with the foreign powers who are funding the violence against his people.

Jacques Behnan Hindo has been Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hassake in Syria since 1996. Like most Christians in Syria he is not necessarily pro-Assad but he is certainly against the foreign takfiri who threaten to take over his country and turn it into an Islamic state. Not one to engage in political double-talk, he speaks plainly about the “fake humanitarian sentiment” displayed by US Foreign Secretary, John Kerry, and says that he and French Foreign Minister Fabius are “screwing all Syrians”.

 We can only hope that this exasperated cry from one of Syria’s leading churchmen gets the attention of the world media and has some reverberations in the corridors of power. Even so, as the Archbishop makes clear, his hope is in God and in the miracle of resurrection that the cross anticipates!

Father Dave

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Community leaders take the initiative in bringing peace to Syria!

Posted on February 20, 2014 by fatherdave

This is what we saw happening in Damascus when we were there in April 2013 – local community groups organising ceasefires between government and rebel troops.

Despite the fact that the politicians and power-players haven’t agreed upon any ceasefire as yet, this hasn’t stopped local community leaders from taking the initiative and reaching agreements with their neighbours! This is a true sign of hope for Syria!

This has certainly been the focus of the ‘Mussalaha’ (reconciliation) group with which I continue to be involved. Below is a picture of some of the figures of a local Mussalaha initiative – priests, sheikhs and other community leaders working together for the sake of their people. 

Despite the horrors of war, the humanity of the Syrian people cannot be repressed!

Father Dave

local community leaders in Damascus, working together for peace

local community leaders in Damascus, working together for peace

source: english.al-akhbar.com…

Syria army, rebels agree new Damascus area truce

Syria’s army and rebels agreed a truce in the capital’s southern suburb of Babbila Monday, the latest in a series of local ceasefires in Damascus flashpoints, an AFP reporter said.

The truces come more than a year into fierce daily battles in and around several areas of the city that have led to rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces deciding to compromise, with neither side able to claim victory.

In addition to Babbila, deals have been struck for local ceasefires in Qudsaya, Moadamiyet al-Sham, Barzeh, Beit Sahem, Yalda and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.

The accords are negotiated by public personalities from disputed areas, including businessmen and former ministers.

They involve a ceasefire, a siege being lifted and food allowed to enter rebel-held areas, with opposition fighters handing over heavy weapons and the regime raising its red, white, black and green flag there.

A new agreement is reported to be in the offing for Harasta, a rebel bastion northeast of Damascus, and talks over Daraya southwest of the capital are also taking place.

An AFP journalist visiting Babbila accompanied by official regime escorts on Monday saw dozens of cheering residents chant: “One, one, one! The Syrian people are one!”

Journalists saw streets completely destroyed by bombardment and fire. On Babbila’s main street, every single building had been either destroyed or damaged.

On Monday, regime troops raised the Syrian flag over the municipality of the southern suburb, which had been used as a rebel rear base until several months ago when the army laid siege to it.

Armed rebels were still present in the area, as the terms of the agreement also included an amnesty, a security source said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, rebels and regime loyalists have even set up joint checkpoints in some areas such as Qudsaya.

Syria’s nearly three-year war is estimated to have killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions more to flee their homes.

An activist from Damascus said the local ceasefires are strongly backed by people who lost their homes and are paying exorbitant prices for basic daily needs, amid skyrocketing inflation and corruption.

Just two key rebel bastions in the Damascus area remain in open conflict with the regime: Douma to the northeast and Daraya to the southwest.

Both are besieged and being shelled daily.

Activists say the wave of truces comes after the army turned to siege tactics after being unable to take and neutralize pockets of resistance near the capital, and as rebels failed to achieve their goal of breaking into Damascus proper.

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The new media spin on terrorism in Syria

Posted on February 13, 2014 by fatherdave

Reprinted below is an extract from an excellent article by investigative journalist, Robert Parry.

Parry begins by demonstrating the spin Western media put on the Iranian nuclear program. He notes that mainline media articles that refer to Israel’s fear of a nuclear-capable Iran are never accompanied by the obvious disclaimer – namely, that Israel itself already has its own massive stockpile of nuclear weapons! Parry sees similar acts of journalistic conjuring going on in the coverage of terrorism in Syria.

It seems that the latest arguments being pushed around the US in favour of military intervention are concerned with stamping out terrorism in Syria before it washes back on to US soil!

As I’ve said before, the logic of this equation escapes me. How could anyone think that killing Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria will make Al Qaeda affiliates in the US less likely to cause trouble at home? Parry makes an additional point – that the persons the US wants to silence are the same people Bashar Al Assad is fighting against. If terrorism was the real concern, the US would be looking to work with Assad and not against him!

“if preventing al-Qaeda from establishing a safe haven in Syria is now the top U.S. concern … then a more logical approach might be to seek a power-sharing arrangement between Assad’s government and the more moderate opposition, creating a united front against the jihadists.”

It is astonishing that so few Western commentators on Syria seem to pick up on the nonsensical nature of John Kerry’s recent arguments, such that he ends up putting forward a case to arm and fund the very terrorists that he says he wants to eliminate!

Perhaps Kerry should just stick to Israel/Palestine. He might not be doing any good there but perhaps he has less potential to do real damage (perhaps).

Father Dave

Yarmouk, Damascus

Yarmouk, Damascus (photo: Free Palestine Movement)

source: consortiumnews.com…

An extract from “Big Media Again Pumps for Mideast Wars” by Robert Parry

On Tuesday, the argument was that Obama must intervene militarily to prevent Syria from becoming a base for al-Qaeda militants to plot attacks against the American “homeland.”

“Once again, terrorists linked to al-Qaeda may be using territory they control to plot attacks against the United States, even as [Secretary of State John] Kerry pursues his long-shot diplomacy and Mr. Obama offers excuses for inaction,” the [Washington] Post’s editorial read.

…

Of course, a big part of the Syrian problem is that al-Qaeda-connected extremists are fighting as part of the rebel coalition against Assad’s army. Indeed, the jihadists are considered, by far, the most effective part of the rebel force. To a significant degree, the Sunni jihadists – funded and armed by Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states – are the rebel army.

In other words, the semantic trick that the Post is pulling off is to conflate the existence of al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria with the Syrian government when they are actually on opposite sides, bitterly fighting one another. The Post’s argument is a bit like blaming Fidel Castro for harboring al-Qaeda operatives in Cuba without mentioning that they are locked up at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo and thus outside Castro’s control.

Currently, the Syrian government is engaged in a brutal campaign to root out these “terrorists” – as well as other armed rebels – and is killing lots of civilians in the process. While there may be no easy solution to this catastrophe, the idea of another U.S. military intervention could easily lead to even more death and destruction.

As Hiatt noted, “Obama has doubted that the United States could intervene in such a messy conflict without making things worse. He reportedly worries that even a limited commitment would inexorably suck the nation into something deeper. There certainly is no public clamor to intervene.”

But lack of public support for another Mideast war is no concern to Hiatt and other Post editors who have never really apologized for helping to mislead the American people into the Iraq invasion which resulted in the deaths of nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Indeed, the Iraqi bloodbath — initiated by President Bush and promoted by the neocons — has already been forgotten, as the Post cited the Syrian civil war as the worst humanitarian disaster since the Rwanda genocide in the 1990s, jumping over the Iraqi carnage of the past decade.

Now, Hiatt and the other neocons are promoting “themes” designed to maneuver Obama into another Mideast conflict, pushing the hot button of al-Qaeda “refuges” as if Assad is protecting the extremists, not trying to kill them.

Yet, if preventing al-Qaeda from establishing a safe haven in Syria is now the top U.S. concern – and not just the latest neocon excuse for another U.S. invasion of a Muslim country – then a more logical approach might be to seek a power-sharing arrangement between Assad’s government and the more moderate opposition, creating a united front against the jihadists.

Such an agreement could be followed by a coordinated strategy to rid Syria of these extremists. Obama also might put the squeeze on the Saudis and other oil-rich sheiks to stop funding the Sunni jihad inside Syria.

But the U.S. insistence that Assad negotiate his own surrender – especially when his forces have gained the upper hand militarily – will simply ensure more fighting and killing, while the neocons ramp up their pressure on Obama for one more “regime change.”

read the rest of this article here

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Syrian Christian leaders create a stir in Washington!

Posted on February 8, 2014 by fatherdave

It’s not often that Christian bishops have US politicians walking out on them and shouting! According to the Judicial Watch blog though this is exactly the treatment visiting Syrian church leaders received from one US Senator in a recent briefing held in Washington D.C.!  And perhaps the most disturbing thing is that the tantrum wasn’t thrown by some naive hillbilly senator who couldn’t be expected to know any better. It was Senator John McCain – the Republican Presidential candidate of 2008!

Senator John McCain was not smiling when he met Syrian Church leaders

Senator John McCain was not smiling when he met Syrian Church leaders

What was it that so upset McCain that he allegedly marched into the committee room yelling and then quickly stormed out?  One can only assume that the Syrian clerics were saying things that McCain didn’t want to hear. It seems that the church in Syria is united in their desire to put an end to foreign intervention in their country and to allow Syrians to determine the future of Syria. This is evidently completely unacceptable to McCain and his colleagues who want to pour more arms into the country.

I’ve included below a video of a presentation of the visiting churchmen in Washington. It’s a long piece, going for more than an hour. Even so, I’d encourage you to listen to each of these Syrian Christian leaders and see if you can hear anything obviously inflammatory in what they say. There is one reference made to their refusal to accept foreign mercenaries in their country, sent in by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Apart from that there is very little of an overtly political nature mentioned at all.

Perhaps what McCain finds hard to swallow is simply the fact that there are evidently plenty of good men (and women and children) who are a part of his own religious tribe who are being targeted by the weapons he is pouring into Syria. It’s always easier to live with what you’re doing if you can’t see the faces of the persons you’re killing.

Apparently other senators apologised to the visiting church leaders for McCain’s behavior. That’s encouraging but I’d sooner see the US apologise for its role in the destruction of their homeland.

Father Dave

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Syrian Christian leaders plead with the USA to stop arming the rebels!

Posted on February 5, 2014 by fatherdave

The US policy in Syria is in tatters. Apparently John Kerry admitted as much in a recent closed-door meeting with Senators and said he would prefer giving direct military aid to the so-called ‘moderate rebels’. Meanwhile a team of Syrian Bishops and other church leaders visit the US to plead with the government NOT to arm the rebels!

What is the real US agenda? Kerry says his concern is unless he arms the ‘moderate rebels’ that the more ‘extreme rebels’ will soon turn on the US and make trouble at home! I can’t believe that any man in his right mind could believe that killing more Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria will make other Al Qaeda affiliates less hostile towards the US!

Whatever the real agenda of Kerry and the USA, the voice of Syrian Christians pleading for peace is not likely to be heard above the war-drums.

Father Dave

with Syrian church leaders in the home of Ananias in Damascus, praying for peace

with Syrian church leaders in the home of Ananias in Damascus, praying for peace

source: swampland.time.com…

Syrian Christian Leaders Call On U.S. To End Support For Anti-Assad Rebels

The stories told by five top Syrian Christian leaders about the horrors their churches are experiencing at the hands of Islamist extremists are biblical in their brutality.

Bishop Elias Toumeh, representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, tells of the funeral he led ten days ago for the headless body of one of his parishioners in Marmarita. Rev. Adeeb Awad, vice moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, explains how the rebels blew up his church and then pointed the finger at the regime. Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus, says he received word on Facebook from a fellow bishop in Aleppo that two congregants were traveling when opposition fighters stopped their bus, made them present their Armenian IDs, and then took them away. The fighters, Nalbandian recounts, returned to the fellow passengers a few hours later with a box, which they said were cakes. Inside were the two Armenian heads.

The bishops’ stories are difficult to independently verify, and the war’s death toll goes far beyond just Christian communities in Syria–more than 130,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, and at least two million others have fled the country. But they are emerging as part of a concerted push by Syrian Christians to get the U.S. to stop its support for rebel groups fighting Syrian president Bashar al Assad. “The US must change its politics and must choose the way of diplomacy and dialogue, not supporting rebels and calling them freedom fighters,” says Nalbandian.

The group is the first delegation of its kind to visit Washington since the crisis began three years ago, and its five members represent key different Christian communities in the country. Awad, Toumeh, and Nalbandian were joined by Rev. Riad Jarjour, Presbyterian pastor from Homs, and Bishop Dionysius Jean Kawak, Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church. The Westminster Institute and Barnabas Aid, two groups that focus on religious freedom and relief for threatened faith communities, sponsored their trip.

Given the United States’ increased support for non-terrorist rebel groups in the wake of the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, the religious leaders’ mission is a long shot. The bishops are asking the United States to exert pressure on countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to stop supporting and sending terrorist fighters to Syria. “The real problem is that the strong military opposition on the ground is a foreign opposition,” Awad explains, arguing that US support of opposition groups means support for foreign terrorist fighters. “They are the ones killing and attacking churches and clergy and nuns and burning houses and eating human livers and hearts and cutting heads,” Awad says.

The Syrian Christian churches are not publicly calling for outright support of the Assad regime. Doing so would further endanger their followers and hurt the moral component of their case, given the regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. Instead, they’re meeting privately with law makers, diplomats and think tanks.

read the rest of this story here.

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Mairead Maguire pleads for Syria

Posted on January 29, 2014 by fatherdave

The following remarks were made by Nobel peace laureate, Mairead Maguire, at the “Women Lead to Peace summit for Syria” in Montreux, Switzerland, which was held between January 20th and 22nd, 2014. 

Mairead Maguire weaing Father Dave's hat! :-)

Mairead Maguire

Dear friends,

The people of Syria are crying out for peace and they have a right to peace,
and all other rights.

As the human family we have developed many individual and collective rights. As a prerequisite for many of these rights, is the right to peace.

In article 28 of the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human rights) it states ‘everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration can be fully realized.’ They also have the right not to be tortured, or killed or brutalized and made refugees from their own homes and country.

All participants at the forthcoming Geneva II talks have a legal responsibility to dialogue with each other and all parties to the conflict, on the way forward to peace for the Syrian people. It is important that the voice of Syrian women be heard and that Syrian women are full participants at the Geneva II talks as stipulated under UN Resolutions. Women are great peacemakers and mediators and their talent for dialogue, etc., will bring wider perspectives and more concrete solutions to the peace process. (Women played an important role in both ending the violence and the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland).

It must be acknowledged that Syrian society, which has been so traumatized by brutal violence, needs space to be healed and recover. They too need time to dialogue to determine what they want for their children, their country. The people of Syria have a right to self-determination and no outsiders, or country, have a right to determine their cultural/social/political choices. Change and reform can only evolve from within Syrian Society itself. The process of change is as important as the outcome, and will determine the end result.

Violence therefore from both Syrian State and national and foreign armed fighters must stop to allow the long journey of reform and reconciliation, development and progress towards forthcoming elections in Syria.

I have visited Syria and have witnessed their sorrow and their joy. During my visit to syria, I was inspired by many peace activists, including Mother Agnes Mariam and Mussalaha reconciliation movement, and many other people from both the religious and civil communities. The Government and opposition forces need to talk, but the missing link in the middle (as happened in Northern Ireland) is the civil community who at the grassroots help reunite and reknit Communities, so dangerously, through fear and violence, pushed towards igniting ethic and religious conflict.

In Northern Ireland we learned that no conflict is ever solved without ending rivalries, talking to enemies, and beginning the process of disarmament. All those courageous enough to engage in this work should not be ostracised or marginalized but rather supported in taking such necessary steps in conflict resolution and confidence building.

I met many Syrian women, calling for an end to all violence, real democracy, women’s rights, the lifting of economic sanctions, the Syrian people’s right to self-determination and
an end to the presence of foreign fighters in their country.

We can all support their efforts by affirming we stand in friendship, love and solidarity as members of the Human Family, united in our binding desire to protect all Syrian children, our children everywhere, and to save our world from violence and war.

In Northern Ireland we lived for almost 40 years with deep ethnic/political conflict until people came to their good sense and agreed that there would not be a military/paramilitary solution, but only through nonkilling, nonviolence and dialogue could we build peace and find a political solution to the conflict.

I appeal to all those using violence, both inside Syrian and outside forces and governments who are funding a proxy war and foreign fighters in order to destabilize Syria, to stop the violence, support fully a Syrian ceasefire and peace process and work for reform and human rights including rights of women. We, in the international community have a responsibility to increase aid to refugees, support dialogue, and women at the peace table, and join the Syrian people in rejecting the bomb and bullet and all the technique of violence for the sake of Syria, and the human family many of whom wish to move beyond militarism and war to peace, friendship, and love.

Mairead Maguire – Nobel peace laureate
www.peacepeople.com… 2lst January, 2014

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