Mar 13 2008

Iraqi archbishop murdered by Al Qaeda

Posted by Neocon in Iraq, Perspective Alert, Religion, Terrorism

Sad news to report from the New York Times.

BAGHDAD — The body of the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Mosul late last month as he drove home after afternoon mass, was discovered in an area south of the city, church officials and Iraqi police said Thursday.

From the Jawa Report:

3 others who were with Rahho were also murdered by al Qaeda.

…

Howie asked whether or not we knew who had kidnapped the Archbishop. Since Mosul is really the only major city left with a major al Qaeda influence, you can bet it was them.

What’s interesting is that the AFP is reporting that the kidnappers claim Rahho died of natural causes. So, maybe they didn’t shoot him, but if the Archbishop was already sick prior to being taken hostage then the kidnapping was most likely the proximate cause of death. That makes it murder.

Yes, it’s murder. The very act of kidnapping someone makes the assailant culpable for whatever fate befalls the hostage. Time for another perspective alert for our liberal readers.

PERSPECTIVE ALERT

Terrorists who kidnap peaceful religious leaders and indiscriminately shoot up those in their way are not sympathetic figures who were spurred on by an unfair occupation or any other excuse fairy tale. The United States does not take innocent elderly old men of the cloth hostage as a means of coercing a population, while Al Qaeda is happy to cut the throat of as many innocent people as it can to subjugate others to its fanatical will. One side endorses religious freedom, the other buries it.

Ed over at Hot Air makes another point, illustrating the lack of common decency among the kidnappers. Wow, as I write this, it doesn’t even look right to have ‘common decency’ in the same post as the term Al Qaeda.

The abduction of Rahho seems particularly heartless, considering his health and his mission in Iraq. Once his poor health had become known, one would have expected the kidnappers to have understood the liability of holding him for any time at all.