Small Wars Journal

U.S. to Cooperate With Investigations Into Genocide by Islamic State

Fri, 03/18/2016 - 2:51am

U.S. to Cooperate With Investigations Into Genocide by Islamic State - Reuters

The United States will cooperate with independent efforts to investigate acts of genocide committed by Islamic State and do all it can to bring perpetrators to justice, the White House said on Thursday.

The finding announced earlier on Thursday by Secretary of State John Kerry that the militant group has committed genocide against minority Christians, Yazidis and Shi'ite Muslims "reflects the gravity of the situation," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing.

He said the atrocities committed by the Sunni Muslim group in Syria and Iraq are troubling and "an affront to every person of faith."

U.S. to Cooperate With Investigations Into Genocide by Islamic State

Comments

How far out of the loop am I?
The House passed a bill to this effect this week and pressed Kerry and the Obama administration to come to this point, dragging their feet. Until this declaration in Reuters, (why Reuters?) they have omitted "Christians" at all, claiming there wasn't any evidence they were being persecuted and murdered systematically, just others. It has lead my to wonder if they accept the Christian definition of the faith put forward by most mainstream Christian organizations or an Islamic one that is exclusive of Christianity as practiced. The exclusion of "Christians" is or at the very least bordered on bigotry.
All I can write is; finally. How many years, lives ruined, or ended?
Did they finally decide enough Christians had been killed to make them of lesser consequence or pushed into refugee camps? This is both good news and abhorrent at the same time.