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| The Arabic letter "n" (inside red circle), signifying "Nasrani" (Christian), on an Assyrian home in Mosul. |
The
following excerpts are from AINA.org:
(AINA)
-- Consider this imaginary situation. Hundreds of British citizens
are kidnapped while travelling in the Middle East by a Muslim jihadi
militia. The kidnappers hold the victims in an unknown and lawless
location in a failed state and demand a ransom of one million dollars
per person for their release. When no ransom is forthcoming, the
kidnappers take three males, dress them in orange jumpsuits, make
them kneel and, after they say their names, they are shot in the back
of the head while being filmed. The kidnappers then threaten to
similarly execute the remaining captives if the ransom is not paid.
Consider
another imaginary scenario. Some 5000 American women and girls are
kidnapped by the same Muslim jihadi militia. They are turned into sex
slaves, servicing the jihadi soldiers who consider the whole process
to be an act of worship of their God. The women are sold for a few
dollars in open markets and are subjected to an ongoing nightmare of
exploitation, humiliation and terror.
If
both of the above imaginary situations came to pass, it is highly
likely that the British and American governments would bring the full
force of their military power to bear on the perpetrators of such
mediaeval barbarism. And they would be right to act in the interests
of their citizens in this way, providing the protection that
governments should provide to their own.
The
subtext in the above scenarios is that in fact the situations
described are going on as we speak. The hundreds of citizens who have
been put up for ransom, with some being killed on camera, are not
British but rather Assyrians, kidnapped in February from dozens of
predominantly Christian towns and villages in the Khabur river valley
in northern Syria. The exorbitant ransom demanded is far beyond the
financial capacity of the local Assyrian community.
The
thousands of women and girls, some pre-pubescent, serving as sex
slaves are not Americans but mostly non-Muslim Yazidis, kidnapped in
Sinjar in northern Iraq late last year. Some Christian women are also
being held in the same manner. The perpetrators are, of course, the
soldiers and leaders of the Islamic State, who have established rules
of trade that include allowing an individual jihadi to purchase up to
three female concubines. The captured woman are reportedly considered
by their captors to have become Muslim if they are raped by ten ISIS
fighters.
The
significant difference between the above imaginary situations and the
reality is that neither Assyrians nor Yazidis are citizens of
powerful nations. Those currently held in captivity cannot hope for
their armed compatriots to come to their rescue. In such a context,
their nightmare must be even darker and full of greater despair,
enveloped within a sense of absolute hopelessness. It is little
wonder that a number of the Yazidi women are committing suicide,
according to reports provided by some lucky women who have escaped
their captors.
And
as these appalling situations continue day after day, leaders of the
powerful nations do express concern and meet to confer about ways of
gradually "degrading" the capacity of the Islamic State. A
group of nine nations led by the USA have been conducting bombing
raids from the air on Islamic State targets since August 2014, with
mixed results. But while the discussions and the bombing raids take
place, days become months and months become years, and the Assyrian
and Yazidi hostages remain in their situations of terror, with little
hope of rescue.
Two
thoughts come to mind. Firstly, the great nations of the world that
are mulling over ways of dealing with the Islamic State in a
step-by-step fashion would do well to act as if the kidnapped
hostages are indeed British and American. Images of British citizens
being executed on mass and American women being sold at sex-slave
markets may well succeed in breaking the paralysis that has beset
Western action over the problem of the Islamic State.
Second,
the tragic situation raises the issue of the future viability of
religious minorities in the Middle East. The best solution would
probably be for Assyrians and Yazidis to migrate to the West. Many
will do this, but many will remain in their ancestral homelands.
Read
more by clicking below:
A Future for Minorities in the Middle East?
