Weary and dazed, few Iraqi refugees reach US soil
By Nicole Belle Sunday Oct 14, 2007 11:02am
(slide show available here) They arrive exhausted and stunned, having seen their homes smashed to rubble, and relatives beaten or shot to death.
They've made their way to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon or the Gulf states where, as "guests," they cannot work.
They plead for help from refugee workers, and few find a country willing to admit them.
The war has chased more than 4 million Iraqis from their homes, the United Nations has reported. The number is expected to reach 5.5 million by the end of this year.
The United States admitted 1,608 -- instead of the promised 7,000 -- in the past fiscal year and says it is preparing to increase the flow. It committed in April to take 25,000 Iraqi refugees altogether.
Recent arrivals to the East Bay tell stories of misery and endless waiting.
Just more and more damage we heap upon those for whom George Bush was "concerned". The Bashirs, featured in the slideshow, are a Christian family who waited years for approval to come to the U.S. Read their account of pre-invasion Iraq...doesn't sound like the human rights violation that the Bush administration claimed, does it?
When these refugees look back home now, they see a beloved country torn by harsh ethnic and religious rifts.[..]
Although they were Christians in a conservative Muslim neighborhood, they enjoyed mutual respect.
"Christmas, we set up our Christmas tree," Hana Toma said. "At Easter, mother would color eggs.
"Until 2003, nobody knew who was living next to you religionwise. After 2003, everything just fell apart."
As the bombs began falling, the minority Wahhabis -- a Sunni revivalist sect that advocates separation of the sexes and other fundamentalist mores, enforced by a cultural police -- began asserting themselves. Other Wahhabis began pouring into the city.
"It was a catastrophe," Hana Toma said. "People thought there would be democracy and freedom. Those terms are comparative. How can you apply them when everything collapses?"
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Give us your tired your weary your homeless and we will give you the number of someone that might give half a shit, or not........... Good job America, stand proud!!
Give us your weary your tired your homeless, and we will give them to someone else that could give two shits :) yey America we are so cool
Can they ever forgive us? Were I in their shoes, I would find it almost impossible.
Give us your weary your tired your homeless, your christian.
welcome to the country who caused your misery!!!!as barbra bush would say , well isnt this working out so well for these people! oh my mind !my beautiyful mind!!it hurts ! wont some one make it stop hurting?
This is unimaginable that i'm living to witness the most disasterous, murderous war waged on a country that had nothing to do with 9-11.
I cant imagine what those poor humans are going thru, none of us will unless you are at the forefront.
Evil lives everywhere, but it truly is been displayed in full living colour before our eyes
The Wahhabi's come from our dear friends and allies, Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Ladin is Wahhabi, IIRC.
Just imagine the culture shock these refugees are going to experience when they see the abundance they see on their first visit to an American shopping mall or a Wal*Mart.
And then how stunned they are going to be at just how crappy our public schools are for their kids.
~nwa
I wonder how many of the refugees that we have admitted are Christian like this family. I would like to see data on those that are admitted and see if there is a trend that shows that Muslims have a harder time being admitted. Not to minimize the trauma to any family. I am happy when I hear that any family makes it out of the mess we created.
Consistent with compassionate conservatism, 5.5 million refugees created by the uber-compassionate conservative, are invisible people to be ignored. I'm sure Condi is on her knees(not for that, she is a dyke) praying for them to evaporate. Our State Dept has a ignoble history of handling refugees. That certainly wont change with the heartless thugs that pretend to be our leaders.
Cheney has been planning this invasion long before Bush stole the Oval Office. It was greed not Freedom the US wanted for Iraqis. The Iraq people that were able to get away are educated and their children will remember who invaded their homeland. Americans may think Bush/Cheney words but their actions were that of Satan. Who can trust the United States?
We torture men/woman/children while Bush lies about it. We kidnap innocent people ship them off to be tortured and even when there's proof Bush still lies. The Middle East countries that allowed millions of Iraqi to come and live will remember who helped them in their hour of need and who didn't. Those Iraq men who risk their lives helping the US with the word from General Petraeus that the US would protect them find out now that was a lie to. Now the Bush Administration is trying to assassinate President Putin. Why would Iran or Turkey try to harm Putin with the sweet deals in the making. But the look on Connie Rice's face as Putin bitch slapped her twice and even acted like Gates wasn't there was enough for the White House to attack. Somebody was right when they said if Bush's brain was gone there would be nothing in the White House. Every World Leader should arm themselves from the Axis of Evil Bush Administration. The US/Israel play to draw out Syria didn't work notice how attacking other countries is ok now that the US illegally attacked Iraq.
I know the UN will get Justice for the Iraq people. Many US Leaders will be on trial for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. This mess and chaos the Bush Administration has caused will cost Americans alot. Our economy is broke and foreign investors are buying up the US as fast as they can with the money the White House gave them. Americans didn't want Dubai to have the New York Port even when the deal was signed already. To make up for the delay in solving the problem Dubai now has one of the largest hotel in New York. Say the NY Port got a different name but with the same owners. Even former President George H. Bush has shares in the deal. No worries George W. Bush learned about the deal like the rest of Americans from the news paper.
Darth Cheney knew exactly what would happen when the US toppled Saddam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I
Historically, the man is capable of telling the truth. WTF happened between now and then?
Although I loudly protested this from the outset, I am nevertheless so freaking ashamed. I can hardly stand to look at the redneck fools with their Bush/Cheney bumper stickers that surround me. Damned authoritarian idiots who, to this day, still defend these filthly corrupt husks of humanity.
The before and pictures need to be labeled;
Saddam Oppression and Bush Liberation.
The before and after pictures need to be labeled;
Saddam Oppression and Bush Liberation.
Oh, but they're less of them dying in Iraq now!
Now
Now
Now...
Kevin Good @ 13:
Dont'cha mean the Bush Libation?
If you do not feel shame at being an American right now, you do not love your country.
Even if you disagreed with the war from the beginning, it is now your war and my war.
Somehow we need to correct the wrongs inflicted on the Iraqi people by our nation.
Hell, we need to correct the wrongs inflicted on our own nation as well.
In 1993 Dick Cheney said that going into Bagdad and taking out Sadam Hussein would be the start of a civil war, all the neighboring countries would want their share of it, and the country would be split into several pieces. I wonder when he forgot that statement.
He's not exactly standing there screaming:"I TOLD YOU SO!!!!"
As for the 1600 refugees admitted to the US: That's disgracefull!
Even the promised 7000 that was later increased to 25000 is a drop in the ocean compared to 5.5 million. It means that for every refugee the US admits, 219 are NOT, even though they in fact are the responsability of the US according to the Geneva Convention, which last I checked, the US ratified.
We all know that 25000 will never come to the US. It's something they say to the media, the media conveys it, and it's forgotten. Some may remember the number 25000, but that is not a fact untill it happens.
But, like, the rest of the country is just like a marketplace in Indiana ... when you can afford a 100-man escort, air support, and a four-star general as your tour guide.
Our treatment of Iraqi refugees is just one more reason for the rest of the world to wonder what has happenned to the U.S.A. This administration contiunes to puff its chest out and say "We are number one!". This is true but not in a positive sense. We appear to the rest of the world as the number one bully. George W. Bush will go down in history as the worst president ever because of his foreign policy.
If you've noticed, not one of our leading Democratic Presidential Candidates offers us, the Voting Citizenry, an alternative to this Endless Occupation, not one! The Leading Candidates (Made that by $$$ figures and NOT purely on desires of the electorate) will not commit to being gone before the end of they're first term, how could they with increasing numbers of PERMANENT Military Bases in Iraq?
They're NOT offering us anymore choice than Bush offered Iraqi Citizens before destroying their lives and homes, none.
WE HAVE NO MORE OPTIONS THAN THEY DO AND WE SUPPOSEDLY HAVE A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT!
I had a conversation with a young hispanic man on the train today.
He's a software engineer and is thinking about applying for work in Iraq. The money is the big enticement for him. I argued that the money is good if you don't die, but he likes the odds.
I left him with the question as to whether Jesus would take such a job and whether St Peter would understand that the money was worth supporting the occupation. He didn't say anything. He may have just thought I was a religious nut at that point.
Though I no longer identify with any religion, I believe that this war is completely immoral and stands as a monument to Mammon.
I am so ashamed of my country.
I don't think it matters much whether these people are Christians or Muslims.
Bush doesn't want hordes of Iraqis of any kind washing up here because he doesn't want to call attention to the refugee crisis he created. He's having a hard enough trying to sell his disastrous war -- the last thing he wants is a flood of Iraqis fleeing the "free and democratic" utopia he built for them.
Check out Ron Paul, Hawk. He is the US' last hope. ALL of the other candidates are CFR and the intl' bankers' puppets. They will ALL cater to THEIR interrests, regardless of what's best for the US as a nation.
Bearoverthere @ 24:
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich won't survive the primaries.
And that is a shame.
bobsf @ 17:
And the sad thing is that the media has reduced this to 'Hillary in 2008'.
We need leaders who have done something other than flap their gums for a few decades. Teachers, farmers, engineers, doctors. Not faux-Texas fratboys who couldn't run any business he was gifted with, not advisors who have oil tankers named after them.
And we need to rethink a system where candidacy is cash-driven - meaning the folks who can outspend the others become the most visible, regardless of the sensibility of their ideas. It's possible that the internet and the blogosphere could revolutionize that process, bringing campaigning as close as having a web server and a decent service provider. (This is why they want to spike net neutrality so badly, and indemnify the telcos for aiding in the illegal wiretapping program.)
One of the more disturbing things for me as a Catholic/Christian is that the antics of the faith-based brigade and the nuts waiting for the Rapture Bus have a very good chance of resulting in bringing about a religious backlash. It wasn't so long ago that the Republicans were worried about having a Catholic president (JFK) ... yet now, the GOP is desperate for the endorsement of theocratic thugs like James Dobson and the late Jerry Falwell.
This is the problem we are facing in Iraq. Freedom isn't free, people. Clearly this family isn't willing to pay the price. Yes. I'm. Being. Sarcastic.
rend @ 3:
...but YOU keep the rest.
ysbaddaden @ 16:
Whacha takin bout (hic)? Sadm had nuklr maz dustruction weapons and we hava (hic) strajidy.
Let me assure you weasledog: The pain and sympathy everybody in the whole world felt post 9/11 with EVERY American, is now reserved for the minority of which you are a part. It is sad to see a great country like the US, being trashed by a few hundred greedy fools, with total disregard for anyone but themselves.
You mean NUCULAR, doncha Kevin? LOL
Weaseldog @ 22:
Or perhaps Cthulu, since the more closely you look at it, the more insane the world seems to be.
Shadowgm @ 32:
Yeah, if I were to try to look at it all at one time, complete, I'd probably go mad.
Although I feel horrible about these poor people, one can't help but question the wisdom from a strategic stand point, of letting any people into this country who, surely by now, have every reason in the world to hate the U.S.
You cannot at the same time commit genocide against a people and then pretend to somehow be compassionate and care about their well being.
richard roe @ 34:
If we were really trying to bring them freedom, then we wouldn't worry, right? As it is the hypocrisy shines with it's own light.
Weaseldog @ 33:
Hmmm. I wonder if Cheney's 'undisclosed location' is really a basement lab at Miskatonic University ...
We had very large numbers of Vietnamese come into this country after that War. Same thing can heppen here. Won't of course cause we're in the NWO!
Bearoverthere @ 31:
No, Kevin means NUCLEAR.
My Bush impersonation and you say NUCLR or NUCULAR.
Just another reason I'm ashamed to be an American. Bush and his criminal cabal need to be subjected to an international war crimes tribunal and hopefully get life in prison!
The shame and scorn on this country will never be erased!
Shadowgm @ 36:
I heard that his body armor is made from pages torn from the Necronomicon.
Moondancer, please don't cheapen your otherwise clear & heart-felt comment with a cheap shot. When someone can demonstrate that part of what you say is not correct, your entire message is at risk.
Concern troll repubs pretended they cared about the Iraqis but wouldn't want them marrying their daughters or living next door
So if 20% of the population of Iraq have left their homes if not their country, it makes sense that the civilian death rate has gone down. Most of those who left would have been the targets of sectarian violence. Ethnic cleansing isn't just about Sunnis vs. Shiites, it's about removing everyone who is different. Creating pockets of pure cultures. Not just Sunni neighborhoods but Wahhabi Sunni neighborhoods.
Our generals in Iraq want to declare victory over al-Qaeda, but Bush will never do that because then he would have to acknowledge the real problems in Iraq.
And when they flee to a neighboring country, Israel is there to bomb the hell out that country. Israel has a nuke so should all other nations.
Dustin de Wynde @ 7:
These people aren't from the stoneage. They know what abundance is. This is the problem. They know what a good education is. I bet they will more involved than most US citizens.
tHeGaMeOfLiFe @ 45:
jr @ 42:
I knew some Iraqis at my college back in the 1980s. They were excited about gaining an education that would help them rebuild their country when they returned. The Iraqi State was paying all of their education fees.
Kevin Good @ 14:
Excellent!
When it comes time to convict bushifa, what will be their excuse for invading and occupying Iran? Remember they only get one shot for an answer not the 2 dozen or so bs excuses.
Kevin Good @ 38:
Of course. I KNOW the difference. I WAS making fun of all the uneducated people that can't pronounce it correctly. The president, for instance......
Weaseldog @ 46:
That is cool.
Bearoverthere @ 24:
Please go to a repug site and spew the ron paul lies or STFU.
JAG @ 39:
Life in prison? They should get exactly what they give Hussein and his group and what they gave our finest.
tHeGaMeOfLiFe @ 44:
Yes, Israel has nukes. Two or more wrongs do NOT nake a right. Thanx to the neo-cons we now have a new arms race.
No country, especially any country willing to use nuclear weapons to attack, should have them. The US is the only country that has ever used nukes in a conflict.
I personally think Israel will use nukes before Iran will. Israel IS capable, I'm not sure about Iran.
Why do you think we don't want them here?
"Recent arrivals to the East Bay tell stories of misery and endless waiting."
...
"After 2003, everything just fell apart."
...
"It was a catastrophe... when everything collapses?"
A. They're ingrates.
B. They will give comfort to the enemy.
C. A & B
D. The administration doesn't want our fellow citizens to be distracted by first-person accounts of how well the democracy domino is working out in practice.
tHeGaMeOfLiFe @ 50:
Who died and made YOU the king of internet?
Add this to the list of atrocities that the totality of the Bush regime must answer to before an international war crimes tribunal.
Bearoverthere @ 56:
I guess you missed the ron paul thread. Who died? ron paul's racist bs.
Bearoverthere @ 54:
Two wrongs does make it right. The playing field must be leveled. I too believe Israel will use whatever possible to subjugate other nations.
[...] Weary and dazed, few Iraqi refugees reach US soil [...]
This is not the beginning of the story but if we pick it up at 9/11: We were attacked by Wahhabis so we retaliated in Afghanistan and overthrough the Taliban. This was at least logical, they were defending Bin Laden. Then we attacked a secular Sunni state under Saddam for completely separate reasons. Now we are threatening the Shiia in Iran. We seem to be trying to goad all of Islam into a fight. Are we being lead by people who are trying to start an all out war with Islam?
tHeGaMeOfLiFe @ 53:
As much as I understand your sentiments, my personal beliefs go against the death penalty. All life is precious, even the likes of Bush and his criminal element deserve some form of humanity.
An "Eye For An Eye" can also be with a life behind bars. Trust me.....the prison cell's I have in mind for these bastards would make them wish they were dead!
The only problem I foresee........is not enough cells to pack all these republican crooks in.
Give me a break. These aren't real people. First off they aren't even Christian. Secondly, they aren't white. Thirdly they can't vote republican, so what good are they? Just a bunch of sand monkeys looking for Uncle $am to give them a hand out. They are deserters as well. How does the democrat party expect Pres. Bush to win this war if all the targets keep leaving the country?
This message brought to you be Red Necks for Amerikkka. Now you know why they are called red states.
JustSickOfIt @ 62:
You need two things; (1) An Education. (2) Serious Psychiatric Counseling!
It's people like you that Bush and his criminal gang count on for power. The uneducated and weak-minded.
Bearoverthere @ 54:
Would any Muslim country want to vaporize the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where Muhammad rose to heaven? Imagine the reaction of the rest of the Muslim world if they did.
Why would a Muslim country nuke Israel when they are trying to return the land to the Palestinians who they believe to be the rightful owners? That would be throwing that baby out with the bathwater. The country would be unlivable after a nuclear attack.
How many Palestinians would be killed if Israel was nuked? They don't all live in Gaza and the West Bank, and a nuclear attack on Israel would also effect those who do.
I think the notion of a Muslim country using nuclear weapons against Israel is pretty much a red herring.
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