Chaldean Patriarch says war against Syria would be disaster

August 30, 2013 - Like several other Church leaders in the Middle East, the head of Chaldean Catholics is expressing fear that a possible US-led military intervention against Syria would be a disaster like a volcano erupting with an explosion meant to destroy Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, Louis Raphaël I Sako, based in Baghdad, spoke to Vatican’s Fides news agency about his fears about the West’s attack against the regime of Assad. The head of Iraq’s prominent Christian community recalled that the invasion of Iraq 10 years ago on the ground Sadam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction was totally misled. His country, he said, continues to be battered by bombs, security problems and economic crisis. In the Syrian case, the Chaldean Patriarch noted, the situation is already complicated and difficult with a long–drawn civil war. The opposition to Assad is fractious and fraught with jihadist militias. The Patriarch said that military action by the West appears instrumental and confused, as democracy and freedom cannot be imposed on Syria in a mechanical way but can be brought about through political solutions.