Ah, the Good Old Days for Christians in Iraq....Under Saddam

Posted by GottaLaff , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 3:04 PM on December 22, 2007.

Remember how life for Christians used to be in Iraq, before Bush decided to impose a military occupation on a country that never invaded us?

Life was "better" for Christians in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein than it is today, according to the only Anglican vicar working in Baghdad.

Canon Andrew White, vicar of St George's Church in the capital of Iraq told Times Online that day-to-day life was 'a lot easier' for Christians when the vicious dictator Saddam Hussein was President of the country. [...] "It is still very difficult," he said . "Not like it was under Saddam, it was a lot easier just day-to-day living. There are threats to these our people all the time. They know who the Christians are."

Canon White, who leads a church of more than 1000 people in the war-torn city and travels to work in an armoured vehicle accompanied by 30 armed guards, had to leave Iraq in July because of death threats against him. He returned in October but says police in Britain warned his family they should move out of their home in Hampshire for fear of attacks. Their family home is now equipped with panic alarms with direct links to the local police.

The vicar says the British Embassy in Iraq often forbids him from leaving the International Zone in Baghdad because of the number of threats against his life. Canon White has lost eleven staff because of sectarian violence since the start of the conflict.

There are moments, you know the ones, when it's under 125 degrees outside, and the family can stretch out on a rooftop, soak in those balmy Iraq evenings that are punctuated by the familiar jarring boom of IEDs and suicide bombers exploding, and dream of the days when water and electricity weren't so scarce, and when wading through sewage after being terrorized by Blackwater joy riders was only a twinkle in Bush's eye. Mmmmm.

"It was better for Christians under Saddam. Now life is bad for everybody but it will change. Our hope has to be in God more than politics. I believe that's the answer."

Tagged as: religion, iraq, saddam, christians

GottaLaff is a regular blogger for Cliff Schecter's Blog