Iraqi Refugees

Daisy · Feb 19, 2007

Iraq refugee crisis exploding
40% of middle class believed to have fled crumbling nation
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Iraq is in the throes of the largest refugee crisis in the Middle East since the Palestinian exodus from Israel in 1948, a mass flight out of and within the country that is ravaging basic services and commerce, swamping neighboring nations with nearly 2 million refugees and building intense pressure for emigration to Europe and the United States, according to the United Nations and refugee experts.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which appealed for $60 million in emergency aid last week, believes 1.7 million Iraqis are displaced inside Iraq, whose prewar population was 21 million. About 50,000 Iraqis are fleeing inside Iraq each month, the United Nations said, and 500,000 have been displaced since last February's bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra. These figures are as of January 2007.

*snip*

All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by militias, insurgents and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of last year, according to Human Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Business owners are especially prone to extortion.

*snip*

Iraqis who work for the U.S. government or any Western group, such as nongovernmental organizations and the news media, are especially vulnerable.

"People are targeted in extremely direct ways -- kidnapping, killings, rapes," Younes said. "Every single family we interviewed had gone through such an ordeal, and the tribal system in Iraq is such that revenge is carried out generation to generation, so they feel ... return to Iraq would be tantamount to a death sentence."

*snip*

Despite terrorism concerns, some predict the United States eventually will admit several hundred thousand Iraqi refugees, as it has after most military conflicts.

"Is it going to be one of the unintended consequences of our invasion and occupation of Iraq that we may end up taking hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in this country?" said James Hollifield, an expert in international migration and director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University. "I think there's a high probability of that, which is what we saw after Vietnam."

*snip*

The reality is that refugee flows are really tied to foreign policy," said David Reimers, a historian emeritus at New York University. "It's perfectly possible that we could wind up with a couple hundred thousand Iraqi refugees.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle: (linkie)
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What should we do about the refugees?

The Galatian · Feb 19, 2007

When Vietnam fell to the communists, we got a large proportion of their best and brightest as refugees. Today, they and their children are Americans, and are enriching our nation culturally and economically.

If we see a similar exodus from Iraq, it will be good for us in the long run, but one more disaster for Iraq, which sorely needs such people.

Daisy · Feb 19, 2007

There's a lot of resistance to accepting them in so far. The US has less than 500 since the war began and we have just pledged to receive 7,000 more.

Meanwhile Jordan has about 750,000 - but without refugee status (they have to renew their tourist visas every six months). Our 7,000 is 1% of their total and they are a whole lot poorer and smaller.

Syria has about 1,000,000. Egypt anywhere from 80,000 to 130,000. Our Saudi & Kuwaiti friends have taken 0.

Linky to BBC on Iraqi Refugees

Pastor Larry · Feb 19, 2007

We win the war by defeating the insurgents. We refuse the misguided political idea of withdrawal until victory is secure. Nothing keeps people at home like a safe city to live in.

Daisy · Feb 19, 2007

Pastor Larry said:

We win the war by defeating the insurgents.
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That would be nice. Do you think the remaining Sunnis would be safe from the government goon squads? Or will they flee and stay flown?

PL said:

We refuse the misguided political idea of withdrawal until victory is secure.
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Supposing it possible, yes.

PL said:

Nothing keeps people at home like a safe city to live in.
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That's water under the bridge.

Magnetic Poles · Feb 19, 2007

The face of the US is changed by refugees from every war we get ourselves into. When last visiting Houston, I was surprised to find a large Vietnamese Buddhist temple hear my relatives' home. Flags of the defunct South Vietnam are all around. Street signs in parts of Downtown have streets named after Texian heroes like Travis, Milam, and others, translitterated into the Vietnamese language.

I imagine in 20 years, there will be much the same with Iraqis in this country. We stick our noses where they don't belong, and we have a responsibility to deal with the outcome. Like the administration said, it's the Pottery Barn rule...you break it, you own it.

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