Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, ``Imagine if a fundamentalist Christian sect captured the French city of Lyon and began a systematic purge of Muslims. Their mosques were destroyed, their crescents defaced, the Koran burned, and then all Muslims forced to flee or face execution. Such an event would be unthinkable today, and if it did occur, Pope Francis and all other Christian leaders would denounce it and support efforts by governments to stop it. Yet that is essentially what is happening in reverse now in Mosul, as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham drives all signs of Christianity from the ancient city. Christians have lived in Mosul for nearly 2,000 years, and today they are reliving the Muslim religious wars of the Middle Ages.'' These are not my words. These are the words of the first two paragraphs of an editorial from The Wall Street Journal earlier this week. Now, I want to read parts of an email I received yesterday from someone on the ground in Iraq: All Mosul churches and monasteries are being seized by ISIS. There are around 30. The cross is being removed from all of them. Many of them are burned or destroyed and looted. Many of them are used as ISIS centers. The religious Sunni, Shiite, and Christian tombs are being destroyed in Mosul. This destruction is endangering the very ancient sites, including Jonah's tomb. It has been widely reported that the ISIS soldiers have painted ``N'' on the doors of Christians to signify that they are ``Nasara,'' the word for Christians.…”