Today the Herald Net announced that Everett will likely be an Iraqi receiving area in the new year.   The story pretty much starts out in the usual template format for feel-good refugee stories, like this standard pitch about the plight of the Iraqis who worked for us.

“One of the most vulnerable groups is those people who have worked for the United States,” said Jacob Kurtzer, a congressional advocate for Refugees International in Washington, D.C. “If a man has been embedded with our troops, how can he then be a security risk?”

First, I just loved this newfangled terminology “congressional advocate”.   Mr. Kurtzer is obviously a lobbyist for Refugees International whose job it is to keep the refugee flow flowing into US and thus keep the refugee industry alive.  He is throwing out what he considers the most appealing argument to get ’em here soon, but the actual number of Iraqis “embedded with our troops” and seeking resettlement is minuscule, probably numbering less than 1000. 

Every refugee, whether a teenager from Myanmar or an adult from Afghanistan, undergoes a strict screening process, Kurtzer said. The federal government’s claim that additional security measures were needed reflected a lack of political will to remove Iraqis from danger, he said.

Mr. Kurtzer, if we call your office in Washington, will you tell us exactly what the “strict screening process” is? We would really like to know!

I’m no fan of the the Bush Administration, but this statement suggesting that the Administration has some irrational “lack of political will” to resettle refugees demonstrates that Mr. Kurtzer does not know or is not saying that there has been an on-going internal battle within the government between the US State Department and Homeland Security on the security question.  We reported this to you last week.   It is not in Mr. Kurtzer’s best interests to let the citizens of Everett in on this bit of information.

This is what really caught my attention in the Everett news story:

It’s unclear how many Iraqis live in Western Washington, but those who live in Everett say their community numbers nearly 1,000 people and is one of the largest and most close-knit in the western U.S. Many of Everett’s Iraqis came here from Basra in the early 1990s, after they resisted Saddam Hussein during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, and more trickled in early this century.

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If more Iraqis come to Everett, the Iraqis who already live here will welcome them only if they have never been connected to Hussein’s Baathist government, al Ali said. “We have a good life here,” al Ali said. “If we know that somebody worked for Saddam, we’ll tell the FBI.”

We have asked in many previous posts in our Iraqi refugee category if we are just going to import thousand- year-old Middle East problems to America.  Sooner or later we are going to find out.

By the way, Washington State has received 89,719 refugees between 1983-2005 according to Appendix A of the 2005 Annual Report to Congress.  A quick look confirms that Washington State is the 4th largest refugee resettlement state in the US.

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