By Hussein Al-alak – UK
 
We are often told, that the British presence in Iraq is to help bring about ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ to assist the fundamentalist Iranian aligned ‘Iraqi government’ bring about ‘stability’ but these brave words are spoken only by politicians whose only action witnessed inside of occupied Mesopotamia, is cowering behind the backs of soldiers.
 
Recently speaking to a Sergeant in the British army, he informed me that he was going to be sent back to Iraq, to continue action in a war which has already killed over one million Iraqi’s and hundreds of British soldiers, but like a growing trend among soldiers and their families, it is becoming increasingly hard to find many who actually wish to be there or any who know the reasons why they are still on Iraqi soil.
 
The Sergeant informed me that he had no wish to serve a third term in Iraq and wondered why the British Government continued to keep troops there, when it was blatantly obvious that the continuing presence was not wanted and the present Green Zone regime seemed to be incapable of bringing about any type of civil order to the country, as he said “all you have to do is look around” to see that “freedom and democracy” simply do not work inside of Iraq.
 
In a recent interview with one newspaper, Nouri Al-Maliki said that the British are “not necessary for maintaining security and control,” in Iraq but then claimed that "There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues,” which to many soldiers and their families is Maliki biting the hand that feeds him, but with the devastation which the occupation has brought to the people of Iraq, it is obvious that no one can have any confidence in the regime of Nouri Al-Maliki.
 
This perspective would not come as a shock for realists outside of Downing Street, who have been oblivious to the five million child orphans inside of Iraq and appear to have even gone so far as to pander to sectarian death squads, by allowing representatives such as one for Muqtada Al-Sadr to enter into Britain and even speak on public platforms at one Stop the War Coalition rally.
 
But then again, a growing anger is mounting, as many in Britain view the silence of the Brown Government and their desire to maintain a presence of British soldiers in Iraq, as also playing a role which is standing back while ethnic cleansing is taking place, such as that against the Christians, who have witnessed a never ending stream of violent attacks since the occupation began in 2003.
 
If the British media was to be believed, you wouldn’t even know that a child had been crucified, or that priests are being kidnapped, beheaded, along with women being forced into wearing the veil, raped and claims that businesses owned by Christians are being made the targets of extremists, in an attempt to force them to flee Iraq. Even US soldiers have noted their concern over the persecution of Christians in Iraq, that one serving soldier even wrote in response to my article “The War Against Christianity“, that “I know from experience that what he (Hussein al-alak) says about what’s going on in Iraq is accurate.”
 
How can either the British or Iraqi regimes be treated with any credibility, when the talk of “progress” is constantly being discredited by facts, when Asia News reported recently that “a Christian of the Chaldean rite, was recently shot dead in front of his home in the neighbourhood of Nor, the same neighbourhood where Fr. Ragweed Gani and three deacons were killed in 2007, and where Archbishop Paulo Farj Rahho was kidnapped and killed” only this year.
 
The threats against the community and the inability of either the Iraqi government or occupation forces to protect them have become so dire, that the Christians of Iraq have been forced to establish their own “militia“, so “armed with heavy machine guns and assault rifles,” according to one member, who spoke to Islam Online in August, such a move "was the only way to protect our families and friends from attacks because we are tired of waiting on action from the “Iraqi” government which is preoccupied with politics and never look after us."
 
Reasons why the Iraqi Government have chosen to ignore the plight, which must be added never occurred under the government of Saddam Hussain, is because the British and American “trained” Police force have decided to turn a blind eye, as one senior Police Office even admitted, "Sometimes it is better to close your eyes towards some facts”; but Iraqi’s are not closing their eyes and are uniting with Iraq’s Christians against this ethnic cleansing.
 
In a recent appeal, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq stated that attacking Christians “are not approved by Islam and its tolerant teachings under which Muslims and other religions lived in tolerance, peace and security”, such as before the occupation began but also warned that such attacks were “inconsistent with the requirements of true national unity” and urged Iraq’s “Christian citizens to not weaken their moral and national position” in bringing about an end to these hostilities.
 
These sentiments were also echoed by a schoolteacher, who speaking to Islam Online earlier this year stated, "During the years we lived in peace in this land where I was born. All Muslims were happy to be part of our lives, share our thoughts and respect our decisions," which is the common experience for the majority of people from before 2003.
 
As a child, born and raised in what would now be called a “Shi’ite family”, like many Iraqi children, we never questioned the religion or ethnicity of our friends and family and it was considered to be discourteous to even ask and now, the quisling Maliki and his occupation masters expect us to believe that Iraq is built along ethnic or sect lines, lines drawn up by himself and the US/UK and expect us to stand back while our neighbours are ethnically cleansed from our country. Hear this, “an injury to one, is an injury to us all!”

– Hussein Al-alak lives in the UK. He ccntributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.