Iraqi Prelate Tells of the Good Going On
"The Press Has Been Backward-looking," Says Chaldean Bishop 

ROME, JULY 19, 2004 (Zenit.org).- 

Iraq can now lay the foundations for the country's reconstruction, says Chaldean Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of Amadiyah. 

On a visit to Italy in search of aid to help rebuild Iraq, the 
prelate pointed to the International School in his diocese as a sign 
of the country's resurgence. 

It is the first English-speaking school to be opened after the fall 
of Saddam Hussein. It is being built with a capacity for 500 
students, "Christians and Muslims, Yazidis and Arabs" and 
designed "to offer student housing to young people from the 
neighboring villages," he explained. 

"Our school is an attempt to invigorate scientific education, 
surmounting the obstacles and controls of Saddam's old regime," the 
prelate added. "This is also the new Iraq. Our goal is to provide 
free education to all, placing our hopes in God's hands and those of 
people of good will." 

In an interview with AsiaNews, the bishop said that "since June 28 
our situation has changed. We have a new government under the 
auspices of the U.N. I disagree with those who think the 'occupation 
is over.'" 

"I believe that what the Americans did was truly a liberation, the 
liberation of Iraq. And on this basis the new Iraq shall emerge," 
the bishop continued. 

"The Western press has been unjust toward Iraq. It has focused only 
on the dark side, on terrorism, killings, car bombs, the cruel 
images of decapitation," he explained. 

"Some went as far as saying violence was justified because it was 
aimed at the occupiers," the Chaldean bishop said. "Unfortunately, 
ordinary people are the ones who paid a high price, Muslims and 
Christians working for the Americans or finding themselves at the 
wrong place at the wrong time when some car explodes." 

For Bishop Al-Qas, opposition "should mean defending the rights of 
the people, not killing them. If you strike and kill fellow 
countrymen and women, you are not a resistance fighter; you are a 
destroyer, a bearer of death." 

"The press has been backward-looking, focusing on the negative side 
of the situation, never talking about the positive things the former 
Provisional Council did and the present interim government is 
doing," he said. 

"No one showed that, despite the political upheaval, the 
uncertainties and lack of security, schools reopened" and "the 
normal academic year ended as one would expect," he added. 

Bishop Al-Qas continued: "Under Saddam there was only poverty. Now 
the economy is slowly reviving thanks to what the government and the 
Americans are doing. New building sites are opening, new 
construction is going on. All this is going on in spite of terrorist 
attacks. How many people paid in blood their commitment to rebuild 
Iraq? Italians, Japanese, French, Americans, Koreans." 

"No one talks about power plants restarting, oil wells reopening, 
agricultural programs being launched, roads being rebuilt" not to 
mention the "150 daily newspapers in the country" and the 
demonstrations which were banned under Saddam, he said. 

"Western Europe and pacifists have been blinded to what is going on 
in our country," the prelate said. 

In fact, "something new is sprouting here, a democracy, young, but 
real, and in need of help," he said. "Now there is no excuse not to 
help us. Before it could be argued that everything was under U.S. 
control. Now there is a U.N. resolution and power is in the hands of 
the Iraqi government." 

Still, the "international community must work with us in a concerted 
way to broaden our political and commercial ties," he stressed. 

Asked about the situation of the Church in the new Iraq, the bishop 
said: "We Christians want to live as full citizens in a secular 
Iraq. For this reason we are in favor of Iraq's new Constitution. 
The Shiites back us." 

The "overwhelming majority of Shiites, including the grand mullahs 
of Iraq, do not want an Iranian-style government," he said. "Only 
one Shiite in four wants an ayatollah-dominated state, one governed 
by the clergy." 

In the present context, the "Church must be forthright and 
unambiguous," Bishop Al-Qas said. "She must be pro-active and judge 
things as they happen. As Christians, we are not second-class 
citizens; we are part and parcel of the nation. Today we must live 
as Iraqis, work with the government, and work in freedom." 

"Under Saddam there were laws that treated Christian unjustly. Yet 
we were silent, sorry for ourselves and our minority condition," he 
recalled. "For example, although children born to a Christian mother 
were automatically considered Muslim, we said nothing. When our 
schools were confiscated, we just put up with it and taught in 
churches. It is high time to call what is bad, bad, and what is 
good, good." 

He concluded: "It is most urgent that we bear witness, not only in 
words, but also in deeds, by living our Christian identity and 
expressing our Christian values." 

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