Vicar: Iraq Now Has 1,000 Saddams, Thanks to US
12-31-1969
Canon Andrew White, the Anglican priest known as the Vicar of Baghdad, says he predicted the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq would bring disaster.
"I sat down with all my staff when the U.S. was withdrawing and I said, 'Give it three years and we will be in Hell.' And we are," the pastor of St. George's Church in downtown Baghdad recently told USA Today columnist Kirstin Powers.
White, who supported the invasion in 2003, says the country is "literally 5,000 time worse than before....we used to have one Saddam. Now we have thousands."
He says he used to tell his congregation not to leave, but he can't anymore because, "If they stay, they might not be alive much longer."
