Oh brother!  Every day there are mainstream media articles throwing out arguments about why we have to bring tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands, millions) of Iraqis to America this instant.  Quick, get them here, get them on the good old American welfare system and save them from the inevitable consequences of becoming religious Islamic fanatic killers.  One gets the feeling that the refugee industry just throws out theories in hopes that one will stick.   Here is today’s from Reuters (who else!):

Islamist militancy could also take root if the crisis is allowed to spawn an underclass of poorly educated, poorly integrated Iraqi youths.

We aren’t falling for the bull poopy anymore.  I know a lot of you leftwingers fell for it with the Palestinians but all the evidence points to the fact that militant Islamists are educated middle and upper class people often with professional careers (remember the UK doctors?) and nice families.    Jihad Watch just addressed this a couple of days ago in a post entitled, “Wealthy Syrians Head to Iraq for Jihad.”   Check it out here.

In a sneaky manuever last Friday night, Senator Ted Kennedy attached the “Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act” to the National Defense Authorization bill— a bill which has fast become a Christmas tree adorned with assorted and unrelated ornaments.  No hearings, no discussion, no chance for the public to comment, no wonder Congress’ approval rating is at its lowest point in history. 

As we have previously said, the State Department has all the authority it needs to bring Iraqi refugees to our cities and towns within its annual quota for FY 2008.   In fact, just yesterday Asst. Sec. of State Ellen Sauerbrey speaking at a meeting of the UNHCR–United Nations Refugee Agency–in Geneva, Switzerland, reiterated the US position that we need to care for the refugees in the region.  As for resettlement, she said the Administration was proposing a hefty number of Iraqis be admitted to the US:

…..we have a goal of resettling 12,000 [as part of the 70,000 overall resettlement quota for the year] Iraqi refugees in 2008 for whom that durable solution is most appropriate.

Senator Kennedy’s original bill (analysis here) called for 15,000 Iraqis per year for 4 years over and above the annual overall quota.  I was told on Saturday night by Senator Sessions (R-AL) that they held the number to 5000 and that Kennedy promised his colleagues he would not increase the numbers in conferance committee (the House passed the bill without the Iraqi refugee amendment back in May).

Here are a few reasons among many for this late night manuever.  Because of security concerns the public would go ballistic if there was any real and open discussion about bringing thousands of Muslim Iraqis to America in a crisis fashion presumably with little time to scrutinize documents in countries such as Syria and Jordan.    Look out Harrisonburg, VA,  Warren, MI, and Denver, CO among other cities. 

As we have said before, while our brave men and women are dying for Iraq’s future are we willing to open our arms to Muslim Iraqis who didn’t have the guts to stay and fight for their own country?  Kennedy and his buddies at the UN have sissified the world.  How about if those “millions” of  refugees who have run to Syria went back to Iraq and threw out the insurgents?

And finally,  Senator Ted Kennedy is pushing this “crisis” bill  to send a signal to the public that the war is lost–with help from his friends in the mainstream media.   See this Time Magazine article last week with its punch line:  “US lost the war in Iraq.”   Really?  I guess if Time and Teddy say so, it must be so.

Senator Ted Kennedy is the author of the Refugee Act of 1980 which has to date brought over 2 million refugees to live in America, more than 20,000 of those are Iraqi Muslims. Gee, I wonder how many were resettled on Nantucket?  How many third-worlders are playing touch football on the lawns of Hyannisport?   Guesses anyone?

We have extensively followed the Iraqi refugee issue, go here to see our entire coverage.

End note:  Our buddies at Church World Service have been lobbying for Kennedy’s bill.

A reader sent me today’s Washington Post article about our “heroic” efforts to pluck Iraqi refugees out of Syria and bring them to America…..and, sent some probing questions.

“We had to literally build programs in Syria and Jordan,” said Terry Rusch, who directs the office of admissions in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. She added that the refugee program has “accelerated dramatically” now that resources are in place.

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Of the 4,300 Iraqi refugees interviewed by his department this fiscal year, he said, 753 have been rejected for reasons including criminal records and inconsistencies in their stories.

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The officials conceded continued difficulty in processing cases in Syria, where a number of U.S. officials have been denied entry visas.

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“Not only has DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) not been able to get in to do more adjudications, but we have not been able to expand our own processing staff at the pace we would normally have done because of restrictions by the government of Syria,” Rusch said.

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Syria has absorbed 1.5 million Iraqi refugees — by far the most of any nation. But since September 2006, only 208 have been admitted to the United States after being processed in that country.

Here is what our reader asks:

Why are we “building programs” in an enemy country, Syria? If refugees were safe in Syria, why are we helping them? (Why were they safe?) Are we giving money to Syria for refugee camps? If so, how much?

And here is what I want to know:   If we can’t get enough of the proper personel into Syria in the first place, how are we going to adequately screen large numbers of refugees to be sure they aren’t criminals or terrorists?  

Answer?  We have completely lost it!

And, by the way, Terry Rusch (above) is the State Department representative who came to Hagerstown just this week.   The recent uproar over some proposed Burmese refugees is nothing compared to the outcry that will ensue if Shiia Iraqis from Syria were to be resettled in Hagerstown!  I’ll be selling tickets for ring side seats!