WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO IRAQ?

I mean, it's still there, as far as I know but it appears to have disappeared from the pages of the British press.
I am sure it is still a front page item in the USA. Yesterday, three more US soldiers were killed. Two when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on them at Ghazlani Training Centre and the third soldier was killed in a separate incident but details, so far, are being witheld.
Of course, 'our' troops are, largely out of the arena of warfare but, even so, we need to be reminded of the trials that are still taking place and we need to pray for a cessation of the violence against Allied troops.

The war continues in Iraq

Now we have more news of a fresh wave of Iraqi Christian refugeees forced to flee across the border into Turkey. Some are just sending their children with echoes of the wartime  evacuees. Over 600 Chaldean Christians arrived in Turkey during December 2010 and the trend is set to continue as terrorism against Christians spreads from the South of Iraq to the Kurdish North, previously a secure stronghold against the Muslim fanatics.

Without wishing to stir up unjust feelings of resentment, it does appear as if the Islamic world has declared violent action against all Christians: Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia - wherever one looks in the world terrible murders of the faithful and burning of churches is taking place.
We can offer our support to Allied troops and to those suffering from these persecutions by praying for a cessation of aggression -

O God, Who bringest wars to nought and shieldest by Thy power all who hope in Thee, overthrowing those that assail them; help Thy servants who implore Thy mercy; so that the fierce might of their enemies may be brought low and we may never cease to praise and thank Thee. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen

When we remember, let's also remember US Forces

The citizens of the USA seem to come in for a lot of criticism these days, often from young people and often from ethnic minorities who have settled in Great Britain. Some of the criticism may hit a mark but all of it fails to recall the almighty debt we owe to America for their efforts in the Second World War. We can carp about their late entry and other issues but we cannot remove the fact that we are free today because of the USA.
If you doubt these words, take a trip to Normandy and visit the American war cemeteries. you will find rank upon rank of headstones of young men barely old enough to go into a pub and order a beer.
I also include Canadians and other forces here but I am highlighting the US troops because today, many British Jews and Muslims, students, homosexuals, gypsies, immigrants and others, would not be here but for our American friends and allies.

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat

The soldier's last tattoo;

No more on life's parade shall meet

That brave and fallen few.

On fame's eternal camping ground

Their silent tents are spread,

And glory guards, with solemn round,

The bivouac of the dead.

Theodore O'Hara (1820-67)

American Poet and Soldier