No surprise here. Human Rights First wanted an Iraqi refugee czar in the White House way back even before Obama was inaugurated. They said then they wanted 60,000 Iraqis to come to the US within two years. We probably have reached our goal of 17,000 for this year and many are angry and unhappy because they have few jobs and live in substandard housing, but that’s o.k. with the folks fighting for Human Rights I guess.
This is how they praise one more Obama move to take power from the US State Department that we told you about here, yesterday.
Human Rights First welcomes Friday’s White House announcement that the administration will appoint Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the National Security Council, to coordinate the work of the many U.S. agencies engaged on issues that affect Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons.
In its blueprint “How to Confront the Iraqi Refugee Crisis,” issued last December, Human Rights First urged the incoming Obama administration to appoint a White House coordinator to ensure that plans to assist Iraqi refugees and IDPs were integrated into broader policy and strategy in Iraq and implemented across all relevant federal agencies. Ms. Power’s extensive experience with refugee and humanitarian issues and her deep commitment to these issues make her an excellent pick. We look forward to working with her in this new capacity.
One of Ms. Power’s first responsibilities will be to implement reforms to improve the resettlement process for vulnerable Iraqi refugees, including those who have been at risk because of their ties to the United States.
You know when you check out some of these non-profits you realize they really aren’t huge, just a gaggle of activists with a couple of high salaried people at the top (like Michael Posner). They mostly agitate and lobby and everyone thinks they somehow represent masses of people. They don’t. Check out Human Rights First’s Form 990, there isn’t much there.