Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) – “We do not want Iraq to be another Palestine! No state, a nation left at the mercy of terrorist groups and its people dying of hunger!”. This was the heartfelt plea launched by Father Denka H. Toma, Superior General of the Antonian Order of St. Ormizda of the Chaldeans, a Chaldean religious order in Iraq founded in the 7th century
Father Denka H. Toma, aged 42, is head of a community which in Iraq counts 45 monks devoted to religious contemplative and active life and also pastoral duties. In an exclusive conversation with Fides, he comments the situation in Iraq the day after the car-bomb attack in Nassirya: “Today I cannot be optimistic. Everything depends on the United States who have absolute power for the good or the worse of our nation. We are uncertain, we stand at the centre of a ford: the dictatorship is ended we have yet to enter a new political season. We must find the way out of this tragic situation in which terrorism and insecurity move freely. We pray that nothing worse will happen ”.
With regard to the death of the Italian soldiers the Superior affirms: “We are deeply grieved. In Nassirya the Italians are playing an important role, they are working to restore order and peace in the territory. Their relation with the local people is good. We have no idea who carried out the attack, but I think they are people loyal to Saddam or terrorists infiltrated in Iraq after the war, because the frontiers were open for a long time”.
After all these attacks what should change in the US policy in Iraq? The Superior tells Fides: “The United States, after demobilising the Iraqi police force, should put security into the hands of Iraqis or at least involve them, they are close to the local mentality, they know the people and the places. Most people are not satisfied with the situation: they are grateful to the Americans for liberating Iraq from the dictatorship, but today, six months after the war ended, the people lament lack of social, civil and economic reconstruction. They beginning to think that the real aim of the Americans was to take control of Iraq’s oil. The people are exhausted by three wars in twenty years and 12 years of sanctions ”.
Some observers say the American administration should hand power over to the Temporary Iraqi Government Council. But Father P. Denka H. Toma says: “The Council cannot do much because it is under the control of the US. Its members obey the Americans and they are Iraqi businessmen who have lived abroad. For the people they are ‘foreigners. In this situation it will be difficult for the Council to assume full power and succeed in governing the country.”.
Hope in the tragic situation in which Iraq finds itself is offered by the Chaldean Catholic Church: “In all these years of war, violence, hunger– concludes Father Toma speaking to Fides – we have remained at the side of the people and we remain today. The Chaldean Catholic Church is support and comfort for all, also for many non Christians. Today the Chaldean monks are a real consolation for the people: without them many more would have emigrated. The monks visit families, they pray with the young people, the teach children, giving great testimony of faith. Every Chaldean Christian family prays every day that God will grant our country a future of peace ”. (PA) (Fides Service 14/11/2003 Lines: 53 Words:595)
