There is no future for the Christians in Iraq, Anglican vicar warns

Terrorist fighters from the Islamic State are almost ready to enter the capital of Iraq, the vicar of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad warned on Facebook.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Rev. Canon Andrew White posted that "the Islamic State are on the verge of entering Baghdad," on September 29.

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"The Islamic State are now less than (1.2 miles) away from entering Baghdad. They said it could never happen and now it almost has," said an updated post on the Facebook page of White's organization, the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.

"We do not really know what is happening all we know is that people are very afraid we know that civilians have been killed in air strikes we know that there are huge battles with ISIS and we know that our army is not very efficient," the vicar's Facebook page continued.

"President Obama is saying that he overestimated the ability of the Iraqi Army. It is so clear they have no ability. A hard thing to say but its true," he said.

White had returned to Baghdad after he was in the United States and the U.K. for brief medical treatment.

"To be honest, every single Christian wants to leave," he said.

"I used to say to my people: 'Don't you leave. I'm not going to leave you, don't leave me,'" he said. "But now every one of them wants to leave and the ones who are left tend to be the poorer ones who couldn't get away earlier."

He added that more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers have been killed by Islamic State militants.

"As I said all the military air strikes are doing nothing. If ever we needed your prayer it is now."

While the Islamic State is on the verge of taking the city, White talked about the region's Christian population, many of whom are terrified that the Islamic State will force them to flee or execute them, like they did to the Christian communities in northern Iraq.

"Some have relatives who have lost everything: their homes, furniture, cars. They have nothing left at all," he said.

White explained that Iraqi's are torn over the use of airstrikes, fearing civilian casualties. They would prefer boots on the ground to replace the ineffective Iraq army units that have so far failed to protect them or halt the Islamic State's conquest.

"From the Iraqi point of view, the only way we can gain some kind of real safety and real removal of the Islamic State, as they call themselves, would be by having troops on the ground. But from a British point of view, I wouldn't want our troops in Iraq, where they could be killed. So it is a difficult situation all round."

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Right now many Christians in Iraq have been displaced, executed, or have fled into Kurd controlled territory in the north, or farther into more sympathetic countries if the people could afford to.

"There were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq, and now we're down to 300,000," White said during an address in New York City.

"They have been killed, beaten, and harassed, their houses have been defaced, their churches vandalized. What is happening now is worse than anything that has happened before," he continued.

White painted a horrifying picture of the future of Iraq, regardless if the Islamic State is stopped.

"I don't think there will be any Christians in Iraq. Even if ISIS is defeated, Christians probably won't go back because their neighbors didn't defend them."

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