Oh geez, this is an idea that the Far Left at John Podesta’s Center for American Progress was floating awhile back—airlifting tens of thousands of Iraqis to the US (with a Guam stopover for processing and a security check), see here. Now it appears that the idea is still being discussed. Here is my question, if there is going to be a bloodbath as we begin to pull our troops out of Iraq later this summer, should we be leaving? Is Obama going to make sure we do have another Vietnam?
This is Travis Wheeler writing at Change.org (where else!):
The withdrawal of some 50,000 U.S. troops from Iraq is underway, and expected to wrap up by summer’s end. While a lighter U.S. military footprint in Iraq is a welcome development, it’s likely to leave thousands of American-affiliated Iraqis — the interpreters, engineers, economic experts, and others who’ve lent a hand to security and reconstruction efforts — even more vulnerable to Islamic extremists who’ve promised “nine bullets for the traitors.”
At this late stage, drastic measures are probably needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Yet, by their nature, eleventh-hour efforts can only bear modest fruit. Without a doubt, many U.S.-affiliated Iraqis will be overlooked in the rush to save even a few, while others — those understandably unenthusiastic about the prospect of leaving their homeland, friends, and family behind — will gamble that their already star-crossed fortunes won’t take yet another turn for the worse with the departure of American soldiers, contractors, and aid workers.
The upshot of these realities is that many American-affiliated Iraqis won’t benefit from, for instance, a last-ditch airlift operation to the Pacific island of Guam. These people will be forced to navigate the non-emergency resettlement channels that have managed to resettle precious few of their fellow Iraqis. Why is the United States doing such a poor job of getting its Iraqi allies out of harm’s way and resettling them?
List Project report cited
Wheeler directs readers to this report from The List Project, “Tragedy on the Horizon.” I haven’t read it but I sure hope they too aren’t looking to airlift tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees to the US because they know full well how screwed up the Refugee Resettlement program is right now. They know that we don’t have the resources in our floundering economy to do the job. They know that some Iraqis who have been resettled want to go back to the Middle East and their own culture.
Incidentally while you are visiting The List Project, note the map of the Middle East showing where Iraqi refugees have resettled and make note of a fact we have reported many times at RRW—rich Muslim Saudi Arabia takes no refugees! So much for Muslim charity.
Leave no Iraqi ally behind
That is the name of the political campaign Change.org is kicking off with this news. They want people to sign their petition (in sidebar) and thus build momentum for more Iraqis to be resettled here, and likely build momentum for a crisis airlift at some point.
As of April 30th (FY2010) we have resettled 10,201 Iraqis, the highest number of any ethnic group of refugees this year so far. Our overall ceiling for refugees from the whole world is 80,000 for FY 2010. If that number is reached it will be the highest number we have taken since before 9/11. Meanwhile jobs are few and some refugees have been evicted from their apartments, others have returned to the Middle East…..and the beat goes on.