The American people — and President Barack Obama — need to stand up for Christians and other minority groups in Iraq who have no voice, former Boston mayor and ambassador to the Holy See Raymond Flynn said Monday on
Newsmax TV on "America’s Forum."
"The international community is silent," Flynn said. "The White House is silent. The media is silent. What has happened to the conscience of the American government that one time they were in the forefront of these kind of issues? I thought we learned our lesson from Rwanda, Bosnia, and certainly from the Holocaust, but apparently those horrendous lessons that we should've learned, we haven't learned yet. America, this is a great shame, and we’ve got to speak out."
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"Don't depend on your politicians to do it. You speak out and demand that the president and the Congress address this issue in a forthright, direct way."
He said there is a "deafening silence" around the world regarding the slaughter of Christians in Iraq. Pope Francis and other high-ranking Catholic officials have spoken out about it, and Obama needs to follow suit, Flynn said.
"The people have to mobilize now and contact their elected officials, particularly the White House," he said. "There's no reason in the world why the president should've been on 'Meet the Press' yesterday, having this very important discussion with the people, and not mention religious persecution and genocide that is taking place in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
"This I put the responsibility into the political hands of the moral conscience of the American people. They must let their government know this is supposed to be a government for and by the people."
"Moral and political leadership" must be interjected into the national agenda, he said, predicting that history will say people had a responsibility to do so.
"Genocide means the systematic killing of people on the basis of their race, color, religion, and ethnicity," Flynn said. "This is … mandated in the Geneva conference, which is being ignored."
Flynn criticized Obama for not mentioning religious persecution during his Sunday appearance on NBC News’ "Meet the Press."
"I wish I were on "Meet the Press" yesterday because when the people would've heard that, there would've been a call to action," he said. "I hope there is a call to action by the president in his national address on Wednesday. I hope the national media will listen to the suffering people of Iraq who don't have a voice, but they do that through the conscience of the people of the United States.
"The people are there. The political support is there. The White House and the Congress are stone deaf. They are not listening to it, and so is the international community. Let it begin now. Injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice in our own back yard."
Obama must address the genocide taking place in his
Wednesday night speech to the American people, he said, and Americans must demand that the genocide be stopped.
"If everybody picks up their phone and calls their congressman and tells them that they want to contact the White House, I bet you two donuts that the president will address this issue on Wednesday," Flynn said.
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