.Last month, the U.S. admitted one immigrant from Iraq, meanwhile we’re forsaking Iraqis who aided our cause
WASHINGTON - Just about every American serving or working in Iraq knows Iraqis who have been loyal to the United States, have risked their lives for Americans and are in danger of being killed if they stay in Iraq.
Thousands of Iraqis have fled their country, trying to escape civil war. Many of them have lost relatives and have been threatened with rape, torture or death if they continue to work with Americans.
Many of the Iraqis who welcomed U.S. soldiers after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein live in hiding because they can’t support themselves and can’t get out of the country. If they have Sunni names, they are frightened of Shiites. If they have Shiite names, they are afraid of Sunnis.
Last month, the United States admitted one immigrant from Iraq.
As Congress ties itself up in knots wrangling with the White House over what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants already here, it is an absolute scandal that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refuge in America.
Last year, a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was leaked to a reporter, revealing that the United States has no contingency plans to help Iraqis if there is a withdrawal. Apparently, we learned little from the evacuation of Saigon. Even Iraqis who have been physically threatened for helping top U.S. government officials or translating for the military are not being given visas.
(Last Thursday night the U.S. Senate approved a tenfold increase in visas for Iraqi and Afghan translaters and interpreters that will allow 500 to enter the country for each of the next two years.)
Americans are dying every day in Iraq, ostensibly to help that country be free, yet Iraqis make up less than 1 percent of the total foreign-born population in the United States. Only about 90,000 people born in Iraq live in the United States, and nearly all of them were in the United States before the war began.
President Bush, determined to stay the course in Iraq, has never spoken publicly about the problem of what is happening to Iraqis loyal to the Americans but caught in the deadly crossfire.
Bush wants immigrants here illegally to have a process to gain citizenship, but he has done nothing to help Iraqis endangered because they have helped us after we invaded their country.
The United Nations reports that 40,000 Iraqis every month are becoming refugees. This has become the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the upheaval that greeted the creation of Israel nearly 60 years ago. There may be as many as 3.7 million Iraqis made homeless inside and outside the country by the violence. Some are being compensated by their losses if the U.S. military is responsible; most flee with nothing.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, acutely aware of criticism from other countries over America’s closed-door policy for Iraqis, is working on a plan that would permit up to 20,000 Iraqis into the country. But Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 would spend only $35 million on the entire problem of Iraqi refugees, one-seventh of the amount refugee experts say is needed.
The United States is afraid that letting fleeing Iraqis into the country would let in some terrorists as well, although there are many new post-9/11 precautions in place. The damage to the U.S. reputation as millions see a cold shoulder turned to those who tried to help is just as dangerous.
Word is spreading among Iraqis that if you help Americans, your days may be numbered and your death will be painful because the Americans will not help you in return.
Boston Herald
Thousands of Iraqis have fled their country, trying to escape civil war. Many of them have lost relatives and have been threatened with rape, torture or death if they continue to work with Americans.
Many of the Iraqis who welcomed U.S. soldiers after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein live in hiding because they can’t support themselves and can’t get out of the country. If they have Sunni names, they are frightened of Shiites. If they have Shiite names, they are afraid of Sunnis.
Last month, the United States admitted one immigrant from Iraq.
As Congress ties itself up in knots wrangling with the White House over what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants already here, it is an absolute scandal that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refuge in America.
Last year, a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was leaked to a reporter, revealing that the United States has no contingency plans to help Iraqis if there is a withdrawal. Apparently, we learned little from the evacuation of Saigon. Even Iraqis who have been physically threatened for helping top U.S. government officials or translating for the military are not being given visas.
(Last Thursday night the U.S. Senate approved a tenfold increase in visas for Iraqi and Afghan translaters and interpreters that will allow 500 to enter the country for each of the next two years.)
Americans are dying every day in Iraq, ostensibly to help that country be free, yet Iraqis make up less than 1 percent of the total foreign-born population in the United States. Only about 90,000 people born in Iraq live in the United States, and nearly all of them were in the United States before the war began.
President Bush, determined to stay the course in Iraq, has never spoken publicly about the problem of what is happening to Iraqis loyal to the Americans but caught in the deadly crossfire.
Bush wants immigrants here illegally to have a process to gain citizenship, but he has done nothing to help Iraqis endangered because they have helped us after we invaded their country.
The United Nations reports that 40,000 Iraqis every month are becoming refugees. This has become the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the upheaval that greeted the creation of Israel nearly 60 years ago. There may be as many as 3.7 million Iraqis made homeless inside and outside the country by the violence. Some are being compensated by their losses if the U.S. military is responsible; most flee with nothing.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, acutely aware of criticism from other countries over America’s closed-door policy for Iraqis, is working on a plan that would permit up to 20,000 Iraqis into the country. But Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 would spend only $35 million on the entire problem of Iraqi refugees, one-seventh of the amount refugee experts say is needed.
The United States is afraid that letting fleeing Iraqis into the country would let in some terrorists as well, although there are many new post-9/11 precautions in place. The damage to the U.S. reputation as millions see a cold shoulder turned to those who tried to help is just as dangerous.
Word is spreading among Iraqis that if you help Americans, your days may be numbered and your death will be painful because the Americans will not help you in return.
Boston Herald
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