Iraq’s Christian population has been plummeting for more than a decade. Thousands have fled the country since 2014, with the rise of the Islamic State.
Kirkuk’s Archbishop Yousif Mirkis, who during a visit to France, has called for an initiative for Iraq, similar to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II.
He said the effort and money Western countries spend in taking in refugees would be more wisely targeted in Iraq and channelled into projects such as building hospitals.
Archbishop Mirkis also described the dynamism Iraqi Christians have traditionally contributed to the economy of their country, where many had dominated the engineering and medical fields.
Mirkis spoke of how one Iraqi medical student turned down a visa to France. There are many others like her, he said — youngsters who have decided to stay and build their future in Iraq.
Building a secure future, with lessons from history
In November 2016, Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra) reminded it’s readers, that by the very nature of the Mosul Operations, Iraq is under going change and with it, the Iraqi people are again changing.
While many now debate a post-ISIS Iraq, what is actually being faced, is a period which echoes Britain and Europe in the wake of World Wars One and Two.
Stating that A Welfare State is life after the Mosul Ops, it was not until after the Second World War that the British Welfare state took form.
In a climate of relief after the war, a climate diffused with an idealism for a new, more just society.
For it to happen, there had to be employment.
The government would give top priority to the rebuilding of a strong, peacetime economy and the redeployment of troops into civilian work.
Not only does Iraq have to confront questions of security but Iraq must face the concrete realities of Army, its Veterans and each of the concerns, which have befallen its people.
by Hussein Al-alak, editor of Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)
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