Prelate: US bears ‘moral responsibility’ toward Iraq

October 26, 2016

The Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Erbil said that the United States government bears a moral responsibility towards Christians and other minorities in Iraq.

Over 100,000 Christians fled to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, as the Islamic State advanced on Mosul in 2014.

Calling for American aid to the Mosul region as it is liberated from the Islamic State, Archbishop Bashar Warda said that the US government should “play a role in protecting the minorities, because we’ve seen that, due to this American intervention in 2003, they have a moral responsibility, really, to finish the whole job in a decent and a dignified way.”

“Minorities have suffered a lot because of all this intervention,” he said in an interview with Catholic News Service. “I’m not blaming (the US) directly, but ... they are responsible, morally responsible for what happened.”

 

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Further information:

• Once Iraq recaptures Mosul, people will still need help, says archbishop (CNS)