We Broke It
January 15th, 2007 by 
Steven Gould
Warning, Will Robinson–Political Post.
One in eight of Iraqis have now left their homes, with up to 50,000 people leaving each month, the UNHCR said.
It said the exodus was the largest long-term movement since the displacement of the Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon are hosting most of the country’s refugees.
Okay, here’s what’s really chapping my ass.
Of the 700,000 refugees from Iraq in Jordan alone, there’s a sizable number who ended up fleeing after it became known they were working with the U.S. They were working on bases, doing construction, support services, some translation, etc, but when it became known that they were working for the US, the phone calls began and, knowing the fate of others who went that route, they made the decision to leave the country rather than be kidnapped, tortured, and killed (with their families sharing their fate.)
Now, you’d think that a person that’s in danger of their lives because they worked with the US would be looked upon favorably by the US for immigration into our country. However, when these individuals show up at the US Embassy in Amman they’re told, “I’m sorry. We don’t process refugee visas at this embassy. To apply, you have to travel to Turkey or Greece.”
Here’s the catch. Iraqi’s are not allowed to work in Jordan. They invariably don’t have the money to travel to Turkey or Geece because if they did, they wouldn’t have fled to Jordan in the first place!
When Saigon fell, Gerald Ford moved heaven and earth to expedite the immigration of over 135,000 refugees into the US almost immediately, followed by hundreds of thousands more in the following years. It was the right thing to do. Today there are aproximately 995,000 Vietmanese Americans–comprising the refugees and their descendents.
To be honest, some portion of these Iraqi refugees existed before we attacked Iraq but the major percentage is the result of our war.
We broke it. We don’t know how to fix it. Bush says he knows how to fix it, but he also said it wouldn’t get broken in the first place so I’m not holding my breath.
But we sure as hell can do something to help those displaced by it. As Senator Kennedy said this last week, we’re spending two billion dollars a week in Iraq, surely we can come up with some aid for the displaced.
And some responsibility.
Posted in History, Horror, People, Politics, Steve | 
17 Comments »
January 15th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
So much for the ‘Compassionate Conservative,’ eh? Sadly, I don’t really believe he cares if it gets fixed. Per a Washington Post Sunday editorial entitled: “The Imperial Presidency”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011201952.html
it appears the only prize Dubya has his eye on—other than a face (legacy) saving ‘win’ in Iraq—is maximum expansion of executive power. Talk about your full-court press on Constitutional rule.
Besides, he has no other political capital to draw on.
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm
January 16th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Nice link, LDA–well worth reading. Particularly hated this:
January 16th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Worthy of much loathing.
January 16th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
That is just plain stomach-churningly gaudy, isn’t it?
January 16th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
That’s a weird way to put it, now that I look at my post. Guess what I mean by gaudy is, it’s like they are drunk. Drunk on power.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Payback. Many of the people who serve in this administration were part of the power elite when Nixon was forced to resign. They never admitted they were wrong then; they’re not now. Ronnie Reagan and George Senior wouldn’t go along with their grand plans for executive domination. But Junior is another story. (Paint me cynical!)
January 18th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Ronnie certainly did his share of Executive Power Grab. What is the whole IranContra thing if not a “The President doesn’t have to pay attention to what Congress and the Courts think.”
January 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Granted, but it wasn’t wholesale like this cabal. Perhaps Nancy The Life Like had a say…
January 18th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Or perhaps it’s wholesale hysterical power grabbing because they didn’t get everything the first time round.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:56 am
True. Just seems this gaggle has no impulse control.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Sad. Poor impulse control is the phrase we use for toddlers, kids with extreme ADHD, and psychopaths.
None of these are how you want to think of your own government.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Something the Iraqi gov’t and U.S. Religious Right can agree on?
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid41204.asp
February 11th, 2007 at 9:49 am
bullshit. We are not the world’s policeman. Nor the world’s nursemaid. Whether from the left or the right. Things happen and we do not control nor are responsible for all that happens.
US should leave Iraq on a timetable (or retire to the North and defined bases). The Sunnis that are leaving are feeling the pushback from the Shia. And Sunnis have done much more to the Shia (and to us) than the reverse (90% of US and Iraqi deaths). Perhaps the individual Sunnis that leave are not the ones causing the problem. No matter. WE DON’T POLICE the world!
March 7th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Arab refugees have been streaming out of Iraq over the last few years. This is a sad realization on how the war has effected the population. While the story of the Muslim refugees of Iraq is certainly compelling, the plight of the Jews of Iraq who were made refugees is also compelling and must also be acknowledged.
Prior to 1948, Iraqi society was one with a business community that was made up in large part by Jews—Jews that had lived in Iraq for over 2,600 years. However, after the establishment of Israel in 1948, Zionism became a capital crime and attacks and hatred toward the Jews mounted. Jewish property was expropriated; Jewish bank accounts were frozen; Jews were dismissed from public posts; businesses were shut; pensions were confiscated; trading permits were cancelled.
Jewish life and society in Mosul, Iraq of 1940, was not unlike the Jewish life and society of New York City of the same era. These were not poor people, these were Jews that owned business, buildings, commercial warehouses filled with merchandise, hospitals, synagogues, cars and homes. Over 100,000 Jews were displaced between 1949-1951, taking nothing with them. Jews wanting to leave could do so after having their citizenship revoked. Another 20,000 were smuggled out through Iran. Iraq’s government issued multiple discriminatory decrees and perpetrated violations of human rights against the Jews through a series of laws that expanded on the confiscation of assets and property of Jews. Because of repressive measures against them, and fearing for their lives, Jews fled Iraq as refugees taking nothing with them.
On two separate occasions the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ruled that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were ‘bona fide’ refugees who “fall within the mandate of (the UNHCR) office”. Yet, there was virtually no international response to the plight of close to 900,000 Jews who, since 1948, have been displaced from Arab countries such as Iraq.
Little has been heard about these Jewish refugees that resettled around the world, and there was never any compensation provided by the Arab governments that confiscated their possessions. We must remember, that as a matter of law and equity, no just, comprehensive Middle East peace can be reached without recognition of, and redress for, the uprooting, under Islamic regimes, of centuries-old Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa.
Shelomo Alfassa
Director, US Campaign
Justice for Jews from Arab Countries
http://www.justiceforjews.com
March 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Shelomo,
Thanks you for the informative and thought provoking post. Allow me to point out, however, that there is no such thing as “justice for jews”. Just as there is no such thing as “justice for palestenians”. Justice is justice; if it doesn’t apply to all, then it isn’t justice. You are an advocate for your community – there is nothing wrong with that. However, your goal is not justice.
Shed tears for victims of ethnic violence and hatred everywhere, and be thankful that you have been spared. And then, pick up the uzi and go do your duty in the IDF. Or failing that, pick up your pen, and do what you can in the blogosphere.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Shelomo, Ma shlomkha?
I’m angry at all of these injustices, but my post in particular was about my current anger against my own government for its role in the current mess, and its hypocrisy in dealing with some of the consequences.
Justice for all is part of the American pledge of allegiance. I would like it to be part of our practice, too.
Shalom,
Steve
March 7th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I’m very much about justice for all, too.
But I also get the concept that, at some point, you put energy into taking care of whatever tribe(s) you identify with. The world is so large, the issues so many, that you end up having to focus on smaller pieces to have any hope of making any difference.
With a little luck, your small improvement will have wider implications. This gets into the whole ‘Think globally, act locally’ idea.
Sometimes, how well that works out has to do with who you consider your tribe.
Jews, for instance, are in one sense mine, because my daughter is ethnically Jewish.
I’d also like Texas to return to some semblance of sanity (if indeed it ever had one) and prosperity, because my home state feels broken, and I’m Texan in the blood.
But, honestly, mostly these days, I put energy into the welfare of my closer beloved ones, the family here at EOB, my own daughter, and so on. This is at least in part a result of my feelings of helplessness as I watched my country slide into madness this century. At least I can have a chance of taking care of the hurts of the people I can touch directly.
This feels like a narrowed-down philosophy, and I’m not particularly proud of it. But it’s the best I can do right now.