Category: Iraqi refugees

Sauerbrey: Refugees become terrorists if we don’t bring them here

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Oh brother!     A couple of days ago we reported to you that Asst. Sec. of State Ellen Sauerbrey visited Louisville, KY, the city that lures refugees.   We’ve heard many explanations about why we are the largest refugee resettlement country in the world, but this is the biggest stretch I’ve seen (so far)!   She told audiences in Louisville that we are bringing them to keep them from becoming terrorists!

We do it because it’s the right thing to do, but we also do it because it is in our national interest,” Assistant Secretary of State Ellen R. Sauerbrey said, telling of how many refugees languish for years in crude camps.

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“When you have people in these hopeless situations, this is where terrorism breeds, this is where failed states come from,” she said.

What kind of terrorists Asst. Sec. Sauerbrey?  Christian terrorists?  How about those potential Buddhist terrorists?  Or, could she possibly mean Islamic terrorists?    This idea that the economic plight of Muslims is what drives them to become the world’s leading terrorists is B.S.  This is what is wrong with the entire Bush Administration, Sec. of State Rice and right up to the President himself, they do not understand the imperative of Islam!

Then she made this interesting comment:

Among the most recent waves of refugees: a growing influx of Iraqi refugees, including a disproportionate number of Iraq’s minority Christian population who fear persecution. Sauerbrey said Sunni and Shiite Muslim refugees — who also are coming to the United States and Louisville — face similar fears.

Really?  We have not heard that we are bringing a “disproportionate number” of Christian refugees to America.

Back in October we heard quite the opposite, that Muslim UN employees were ‘discouraging’ applications for resettlement from the desperate Christian Iraqis.   See our post here.

So, what is it?   Give us the numbers Asst. Sec. Sauerbrey!   How many Christian Iraqis have we resettled and how many “persecuted” Muslims have we brought to America?  How many of each are in the pipeline?  Everyone should e-mail the Asst. Secretary and politely ask for the answer.   And, if anyone gets the numbers we will post them here.    Her e-mail address is SauerbreyER@state.gov

Further analysis of Iraqi refugee press conference at ‘Us or Them’

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The blog Us or Them has made some additional good points on the lengthy press conference report that both Judy and I posted on earlier today.    One of his points is also one I’m wondering about.  Just a couple of days ago it appeared that the Bush Administration pot was boiling over the security issue regarding these refugees, so much so that the controversy was going to be settled by the National Security Council. 

Then, in a press conference between State Department and DHS Officials, (a transcript of a press conference was released and is here) , all seems to be peachy-keen, hunky doory, and tikity-boo with no mention of any referral to the NSC..

One explanation I’ll throw out is that those reporters asking questions did not want to hear about a national security controversy.  They have their template story to write—Bush Administration dragging its feet, people suffering—and didn’t want to contemplate any messy ideas like terrorist infiltration through the program.  I noticed that not one of those reporters asked about the security controversy and the NSC.

More on Bush Administration Iraqi refugee brouhaha

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I missed the earth-shattering AP news on Friday night when the end-of-month numbers came out (I caught the drumbeat sooner last month)—the Bush Administration admitted a smaller number of Iraqi refugees in November than in October.   Wailing and knashing of teeth, the refugee industry and its minions in the press want to know how we are possibly going to reach the magic (albeit low still according to them) 12,000 Iraqi refugees to be admitted in this fiscal year.

WASHINGTON – The United States admitted only 362 Iraqi refugees in November, almost 100 fewer than in October, and far less than half the number it needs per month to meet a goal of 12,000 by the end of this budget year, according to State Department statistics obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.

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In the first two months — October and November — of fiscal 2008, only 812 Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the country, meaning the Bush administration must now accept more than 11,000 over the coming 10 months to reach the target it has set for itself, the figures show. 

You can almost hear the gasps of indignation and outrage.

The slow pace of admissions has sparked criticism from refugee advocacy groups and lawmakers.

[read Ted (bring’em to Hyannis) Kennedy]

Also on Friday, and missed by most, was a press statement released by the US State Department, a lengthy transcript of a press conferance jointly held by the State Department and Homeland Security in which the key players from each department lay out the the problems with identifying and processing Iraqis.  See our previous post on the on-going controversy here.

The transcript is very long but I highly recommend reading the entire document to get a better feel for the issue.   Although most of the press conferance focused on why the US government is not getting their admission numbers up,  one stunning problem is with all the yapping about the millions of Iraqi refugees in desparate need, we are having problems finding enough cases to process and are going to do a “public information campaign” to find people to bring here according to Ambassador James Foley, Senior Coordinator on Iraqi Refugee Issues at the US State Dept.:

But just to say this is not snap your fingers and here’s 12,000, let alone more. It is going to be a — it will require a concerted effort month in, month out between now and the end of the fiscal year to reach our goal.

There was only sketchy information on the issue of security screening that is also slowing things down according to the refugee industry.  But, here is what Foley had to say at one point:

…..we have an obligation, especially since September 11th, to apply rigorous screening, security screening to any refugees who aim to enter the United States. This is an obligation we have to the American people so that they have confidence in this program, because their support is critical to this program. Their welcome in communities around America is critical to this program. So that requires a very rigorous and yet streamlined procedure that we have now put in place.

So, Ambassador Foley, what is that “rigorous and yet streamlined” security screening?   The communities receiving these refugees would sure like to know.

Iraqi refugees as potential terrorists, hints of internal conflict

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This AP story has been all over the news in the last couple of days.  The title here is “Many Iraqis who aided US barred from refugee immigration program. ”      So, if you just read the headline and read it through quickly you might conclude it’s your typical drumbeat story about getting Iraqi refugees here, now, and as fast as you can because it’s our duty (‘we broke it, we fix it’ story).   

However, read more carefully, it turns out that there is a huge internal battle going on in the Bush Administration between the US State Dept. on the side of bring’em here now, and in large numbers, and Homeland Security that wants to make sure terrorists can’t get in as refugees.

Homeland Security is effectively blocking contract employees, like drivers, translators, technicians, from benefiting from the initiative by insisting they provide official U.S. references and sponsors before applying for resettlement, a more stringent standard than for direct hires and even those in the U.N. system, according to the officials.

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Meeting that higher bar will be almost impossible for many whose work for private U.S. employers in Iraq ended months or years ago, the officials said.

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The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations between Homeland Security, which must vet all would-be Iraqi refugees, and the State Department, which wants to widen resettlement opportunities for Iraqi refugees.

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The two agencies have been unable to reach a compromise and the issue has been referred to the National Security Council, although the matter may be resolved before that happens through legislation pending in Congress.

The reference here to legislation is the Kennedy sponsored “Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act” making its way through Congress attached to a Defense authorization bill.   The issue has received much coverage and if you want to understand this potentially explosive issue, read our entire Iraqi Refugee category here.

Endnote:   Reform idea!  The concept mentioned above of finding sponsors and getting references for refugees is a wonderful idea for all those admitted from all Muslim countries, not just those from Iraq.  How about if the “church” groups individually sponsored the Muslim refugees and worked to assimilate them to American culture.

Europe is in deep trouble, will America follow or stand alone?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think anyone who has followed recent events in Europe regarding the expansion of Islam would disagree that Europe has a likely tragedy of historic proportions on its horizon.  The crux of the coming nightmare is that for decades European nations have fallen for that old saw that importing cheap labor will save them and their floundering social welfare system.    Predictions are that a combination of rapid and unchecked Muslim immigration and the high birthrates encouraged by adherents of the fundamentalist strain of Islam will be responsible for death-by-demographics for most ethnic Europeans.  The numbers indicate this will be accomplished by mid-century.

What put me in such a pessimistic mood is this lengthy post at Gates of Vienna blog from earlier this week.  It’s an imaginary outline of a civil war in Denmark in the year 2013.   It’s long, but I encourage you all to take the time over this weekend to read and think about it.   You might also run out and get Mark Steyn’s scary (but written with humor, if that is possible), America Alone.

So on that cheerful note, I ask our readers to contemplate the wisdom of our US State Department and their helpers in the volags (non-profit groups) importing large numbers of Somali Muslims, Bosnian/Albanian Muslims, Iranian and Syrian Muslims, Russian Muslims and now Iraqi Muslims.

And, I am going to keep harping on this (I might even put it in every post!), the influential Imam of Georgetown University told a Saudi audience this past summer that he predicts America will have 30 Muslim mayors by 2015.    See our top 10 Countries Hit Parade of Muslim refugees entering the US between 1988 and 2003 here.   (E-mail me for this document, address at right of this page.)

Read our other posts on Europe here, here,  here, and here.