This is a statement telling the US government what it needs to do about Iraq’s displaced people (and our 213th post on Iraqi refugees) signed by groups, many of which will financially benefit from the flood of Iraqis they want to bring here. Read it all and note signatures.
The primary author is Refugees International, read my earlier post about how their chairman of the Board, Farooq Kathwari, is involved in various Arab groups in the US and is also mucking around in the Muslim separatist movement in Kashmir. Oh, and Refugees International has testified to Congress that we should bring Rohingya Muslims to the US.
This “statement” does do one good service, it helps clarify all the numbers floating out there about how many refugees are here and expected this year.
Besides the “drumbeat” issue (bring more Iraqis now), I suspect this statement has a twofold purpose. First, it is the season of the year for drafting the annual Presidential Determination Letter (see 2008 letter here) in which the President sets a ceiling for refugees for the next fiscal year, so they are getting their licks (lobbying) in now. And, secondly, the refugees are the last thing these anti-war folks (George Soros and friends) have to wrap around the Bush Administration’s neck leading up to the Presidential elections this fall. Afterall, if Iraqis can’t go home then Iraq is still a mess.
So below is some of the information about numbers of Iraqis here now and how many might come if these groups have their way (I take back what I said above about this document clarifying the numbers, they are still confusing!):
The United States Government has since made some progress in addressing the crisis. To date around 10,000 refugees have been resettled into the U.S.
While the U.S. may achieve its goal of resettling 12,000 Iraqi refugees here in the current fiscal year, the needs are much greater. We ask the U.S. to reconsider resettling 105,500 refugees from Iraq and, if necessary, to reassess this number for the next few years. As part of that request, we ask for U.S. government support, including financial support, to enable the U.S. to build the international and domestic capacity necessary to quickly resettle this substantially larger number of Iraqi refugees.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 88,000 Iraqi refugees need immediate protection through resettlement next year. The U.S. generally resettles 50% of all refugees resettled in the world each year, bringing in the U.S. share for 2009 to: 44,000.
Oh, and here is a good suggestion (not!)! Lets process refugees on American bases, territories, or even on our soil. Aside from the security issues can you see the publicity advantage to airlifting thousands of Iraqis to someplace like Guam.
….such as processing Iraqis with US affiliations at a U.S. base or an alternative location in the region or even further away. In the past the U.S. has moved large numbers of refugees to Guam or even to the continental U.S. for processing.
The statement also calls for the US to up its support for the displaced Iraqis (including all those that were escaping the Saddam Hussein regime) and for rebuilding Iraq while Iraq has a budget surplus according to recent reports.
We recommend that the U.S. commit $1.35 billion in 2009 to help meet the basic needs of Iraqis in Iraq and sanctuary countries as long as the displaced population stays at the current level.
This NGO statement is so chock full of interesting stuff I could go on and on, so please go read the whole thing. Note they are trying to head off the international enthusiasm for Iraqis returning home, saying its not safe yet.
P.S. There are some Iraqi Christians in serious need of help, but these groups are not focusing on the Christians.