Iraqi Refugees

This week, I decided to write my post based on the editorial piece I covered earlier in the week. The New York Times opinion piece "No Way Out" discussed the huge problem of Iraqis who are trying to leave their home country and become American citizens. This is especially unfortunate for those Iraqis considered traitors because they assisted America's war effort. The Bush Administration refuses to accept this problem as their responsibility. There are nearly ten thousand identified Iraqi refugees in desperate need of resettlement in the United States. American officials initially promised in February of 2007 to process seven thousand refugess by September of 2007. September is here and only nine hundred out of the ten thousand have made it to the United States, no where near the initial goal.

Applying for refugee status is expensive, risky, and there is no gurantee of success. One other option for refugees is to apply at the American Embassy in Jordan, but the officials located there are limited and the process is demanding. There is an estimated time of eight to ten months before Iraqi's can hope to arrive in the United States after they have referred to American authorities.

One solution the author gave in this editorial piece is that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should give a senior member of her starff responsibility for helping this cause and speeding up the process.

In my opinion, America has a moral obligation to help these Iraqi's who risked their lives to help us. I can understand how it is hard to choose who to help out of those ten thousand refugees, but America needs to take responsibility for destroying Iraq. A way our country can redeem itself is to help those people and families we hurt along the way.

Also, as much as I understand and respect the many countries who decided not to be involved in this war, that does not mean they should not have a sense to help humanity. Why should it only be America's job to open themselves up as a home for these refugees? There probablly are some countries like England and so on that are accepting these people, but there should be alot more going out of their way to help these damaged lives. It is hard for the United States to take in all ten thousand due to immigration quota, but if countries around Iraq and in Europe stepped in, and those ten thousand could be spread out among those many countries, then it would not be a burden at all. I do not understand how I could be a neighbor of Iraq and just stand there and see all those helpless, homeless, and vulnerable people begging for help due to war without doing anything I could to help them. Helping people in need (even if it is just being welcoming) is not political and countries should be able to do this without involving themselves with the war.