Lowest of King David's soldiers would be ashamed

If we told the lowest of the foot soldiers in the army of King David about how their descendants are conducting themselves, they would be in disbelief and in shame.

It's not like they would have dropped a bomb or a shell on a gathering place of frightened refugees at a school even if there were enemy firing on them from behind. I guess the only place that honorable hand to hand combat exists is in your filthy video games.

The lowest of the lowest soldier of King David or Solomon's time would spit on all of you today.

Continued thanks to Syria for Iraqi refuge

I continue to be very grateful that Syria has helped the best that it can the many Christian refugees who had to flee Iraq and who are now in Syria. I also thank the UN for their help and attention, even as I'm disappointed the rest of the world, including the US, has been insensitive to the plight and sadness of Iraqi Christians.

I hope that they find homes where they feel safe, and perhaps many of them will stay in Syria. Just as the wave of immigrants refreshed and built the American economy a hundred years ago, I hope that educational institutions and entrepreneurs will invest in Syria with a mind toward expanding job opportunities for Syrians and the immigrant Iraqis alike.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805970.htm

Jewish WWII rescue group finally recognized

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330982174&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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Read this very inspiring and important story about the Bergson Group and its pressure to create the War Refugee Board... and ponder with me why sometimes it seems so difficult to get recognition from mainstream groups of the very ones you would most expect to applaud.

Syria Hosts more than 1.3 million Iraqi refugees

I am amazed that Syria does not get more credit for taking in over 1.3 million refugees from the Iraq conflict. However else one might feel about history or politics, I ask people to consider for a moment what an achievement this is. Talk about Biblical hospitality in the Middle East.... over one and a third million refugees arriving in a span of only a few years in a country of Syria's size. Yet you do not hear whining from Syria, and remember, they already host several hundred thousand Palestinians over various periods of time since 1948.

Now, put this number and hospitality in the context of Syria's population and income levels:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=82773

snip

Syria's population has grown to more than 19 million residents although the annual birth rate has slipped to 2.5 percent, the government daily Tishrin reported on Tuesday. "The Syrian population has crossed the 19 million mark in 2007, from 17.9 million residents in 2004," it said, citing figures from the country's central statistics bureau. The figure was only 4.5 million in 1960 and 13.8 million in 1994. "This growth rate represents the greatest challenge for development plans," it said. The birth rate, however, was as high as 3.3 percent between 1981 and 1994, easing to 2.7 percent between 1995 and 2000, before falling to the current rate of 2.5 percent. Syria forecasts an economic growth rate of 5.6 percent for this year, with a target of seven percent by the end of a 2006-2010 five-year development plan. Per capita income has risen to $1,056 a year, from $756 in 2000. - AFP

snip


Can you imagine the achievement that it is to host 1.3 million Iraqi refugees when you are a country of 19 million population?

I think the only parallel that the USA can imagine is the generosity of Texas, much of it unsung, who took in so many people who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and the levee damage in New Orleans.

Still, the proportions of Syria's kindness toward Iraqi refugees is amazing, and worthy of recognition.