Catholic priest shot dead in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Source: AFP

Catholic priest shot dead in Iraq
by Mujahed Mohammed
Sun Jun 3, 2:16 PM ET

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - A Chaldaean Catholic priest and three of his assistants were shot dead on Sunday outside a church in northern Iraq, the local police commander said.

Brigadier General Mohammed al-Wagaa, police chief in the divided northern city of Mosul, told AFP that the cleric and his colleagues had been shot dead outside the Holy Spirit church in the Nur district.

"They finished mass at 7.30 pm (1530 GMT) tonight, and the four of them got into the priest's car to drive away. After they had gone about 100 metres (yards) a car cut them off. Four armed men got out and shot them dead," he said.

The Catholic news agency Asianews identified the victims as 31-year-old Father Ragheed Ganni and his three assistants.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070603/wl_mideast_afp/iraqreligionviolence

[Tom Joad]

1. When Catholic Priests were killed in El Salvador, reagan increased aid to the death squads

so i would find it damn hypocritical now if the Republican party tried to capitalize on this.

Condolences to the friends of this priest and the parish.

[dailykoff]

2. Wonder which faction assassinated them

the CIA or the Pentagon?

[KoKo]

13. One of Bush's Stops on his trip to the G-8 is to meet with Ratzinger....

Kissinger met with Pope Ratzinger last fall. Wolf Blitzer made a BIG DEAL in an interview with Kissinger about his meeting with the Pope. It seemed odd ...but perhaps all roads still lead to Rome.

Perhaps there's always a "blessing needed" before actions are taken.

It will be interesting to see if Ratzinger speaks out about this. It would seem to be his moral duty to. Especially since this happened just before Bush's visit. :shrug:

[dailykoff]

14. They're warning him to keep his opinions of the surge

and other ME misadventures to himself unless he wants another "Moslem" protest against him like that one the CIA ginned up last fall:

Pope decries 'slaughter' in Iraq
Sunday, 8 April 2007
BBC News

Pope Benedict XVI has lamented that "nothing positive comes from Iraq", in his Easter message in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

In a live televised address, the pontiff said Iraq was being "torn apart by continual slaughter".

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6536773.stm

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. The US Catholic church was solidly behind bush in '04 & '00

It was all about abortion & gay stuff. It was an abortion alright.

[formercia]

7. The chickenhawk Crusaders

were hiding in their bunker at the time, so the insurgents took their vengeance out on an innocent bystander.

[saigon68]

17. Yes , they still love the War Criminal

[billyoc]

4. General al-Wagaa then excused himself

to clean his pistol. :eyes:

[MidwestTransplant]

5. No wonder most Christians have fled the country since Mar. 03.

[Kibitzer 2006]

6. Sometimes formatting is everything

Not to detract from the horror of what happened, I can't resist noting the irony of how it showed up on the DU front page (at least in my browser):

3 hours ago · Catholic priest shot dead in Iraq by Mujahed Mohammed Sun Jun 3, 2:16 PM ET MOSUL, Iraq (AFP)

Of course the target of the link is formatted somewhat differently:

Catholic priest shot dead in Iraq
by Mujahed Mohammed
Sun Jun 3, 2:16 PM ET

I guess Mujahed Mohammed is not the culprit.

--Kibitzer

[crim son]

8. And in other news,

Twenty-five Iraqis were killed by a car bomb. No disrespect to the good Fr. but he's just another casualty.

[JNelson6563]

9. Ok, correct me if I'm wrong here

but didn't Christians exist in peace, unmolested, in Iraq before the US occupation?

Julie

[The Stranger]

10. No, you are quite correct here. Christians did live in peace until the U.S. Neocon invasion.

[JNelson6563]

11. Good thing it's so much better now

:eyes:

[CBHagman]

12. That actually came up during the pre-war vigils.

I remember going to a vigil for peace in DC and hearing a clergyman (his name escapes me now) discuss a visit to Iraq's Christian community and how they were pretty much left alone. Many commentators have mentioned that Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, is an Iraqi Christian. The appellation is no evaluation on his personal behavior, merely his affiliation.

So it isn't as though no one saw the upheaval coming.

[Critters2]

18. Yes. Saddam used to make public addresses on Christmas

and Easter. And by law, Christian holy days were days off for Christian employees of any business. It was perfectly legal and safe to be a Christian--well, as safe as any Iraqi citizen.

[Hekate]

15. Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees; Chaldean Christians are native to the region...how sad. nt

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

16. I first read about this priest's death yesterday in the Irish News

from Belfast. According to that paper, Fr. Ganni spent quite a bit of time in Ireland. He spoke 6 different languages and his English had a distinct Irish "flavor" to it. I'd link to the story from yesterday's Irish News, but you have to have a subscription to read it.

BTW, is Tariq Aziz still among the living? Is he in US custody or what? Just wondering, he kinda fell off the radar after the invasion.