Associated Press does yet another ‘same old story’ about Iraqi refugees struggling in the US

If you are interested, go here and read the story.  But, I assure you it’s the same story we have been writing about for more than a year in our Iraqi refugee category (with 425 posts!).

These are the basic points the reports always include:

*Iraqis suffered because of the US invasion of Iraq, so we owe them bigtime.

*US was slow to help Iraqi refugees.

*Iraqi refugees are arriving in larger numbers in the US now and have been told their lives will be wonderful.

*But, now they discover there are no jobs and most of the Iraqis were rich professionals in Iraq and are disgruntled by low level jobs, or none at all.  No one ever raises the issue of slowing the flow of refugees during the recession.

*Refugee agencies place them in either expensive apartments they can’t afford for long, or lousy stinky ones.

*Bob Carey of the International Rescue Committee is always quoted about how rotten our refugee program is now and we need more taxpayer money allocated to refugee welfare, but no one ever asks how much money he makes and how rich the IRC is.

*Iraqis have doubts about staying here at all, but  most say they want the safety even if life is rotten right now and that they miss their former lifestyle.

Ho hum!  That’s it in a nutshell. Can’t you reporters find some new angle?  Makes me wonder if the IRC is driving these stories.  I wonder if they even send out little press kits and tell reporters exactly what to cover and who to interview.

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