NYT: Iraqi Boy, After Dream Trip to U.S., Hates to Go Home

[Pirate Smile]

Iraqi Boy, After Dream Trip to U.S., Hates to Go Home

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: July 28, 2005

After two fairy-tale weeks of pampering, shopping, top-notch medical care and limitless Pepsi, Ayad al-Sirowiy, the 13-year-old Iraqi boy who came to the United States to get the tattoo of war removed from his disfigured face, is going home.

And - no surprise - he really doesn't want to.

-snip-
Ayad has been quite a project. He was injured at the beginning of the Iraq war after his cow accidentally set off an American cluster bomb, which drilled tiny pieces of shrapnel into his face, blinding him in one eye and printing a map of pin-prick scars across his skin. The boys in Ayad's village call him "Mr. Gunpowder," and he was so ashamed that he dropped out of school.

-snip-
But the miracle metamorphosis didn't happen. Ayad thought he was going to get a new eye; instead he got a contact lens. And the laser surgery that was promised to erase his facial scars will only lighten them, unless he can receive follow-up treatment in the United States or another modern country, which is highly unlikely once he leaves behind the silky sheets and first-class hotels for his mud hut.

Just the sight of an Iraqi flag yesterday, at the Iraqi mission to the United Nations, jolted his father back to reality.

"Can't I stay here and work?" he asked Ambassador Samir Shakir M. Sumaida'ie, Iraq's permanent representative to the United Nations.

When the ambassador gently shook his head, Ayad's father covered his face and cried.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/national/28boy.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1122519664-Yep3eowqQLdLObpMsvfKuQ

[Pirate Smile]

1. Leahy visited ...

"Then came the V.I.P. treatment. Ayad and his father met Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who has worked to increase financing for civilian casualties.

Mr. Leahy told Ayad that he is blind in one eye, too.

"If I can be a senator with one eye, you can be prime minister," Mr. Leahy said. Ayad beamed."

[Roland99]

2. See? Democracy is already flourishing in Iraq.

[anotherdrew]

3. my god, what sick style that's written in, such perky glibness

why can't he be a refugee? He has every reason to think the insugrents might kill the family when they get back.

[anotherdrew]

4. are we not taking ANY refugees from Iraq?

[Pirate Smile]

5. Good question. I don't know the answer. So sad.

:-(

[anotherdrew]

8. we've never even heard the phrase "Iraqi Refugees" once... odd...

Do I even need to point out that there are legal international treaty obligation to consider? But I wonder... what about other countries? Is anyone taking refugees from Iraq? and if not why not?

Well, hmm... this seems to need some research...

[Roland99]

13. Sure have been plenty. Remember the stories of lines for exit visas?

[anotherdrew]

14. ummm, no I don't

How many civilains have fled Iraq then I wonder? going to unhcr.org ...

[anotherdrew]

16. it seems some refugees are being returned to Iraq

Still, it seems to me that any Iraqi with a link to the US has a case to be made for asylum outside Iraq.

[Roland99]

19. Here are a few articles:

Iraq’s Christian community flees violence
Thousands flee terror; ‘we cannot live in this country anymore’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6501943

Fear is forcing many Iraqis — of all backgrounds — to flee. Every morning a heaving crowd pushes toward the front window of the Baghdad passport office. It seems like anyone who can afford it is applying for a passport and trying to leave. A half million passports have been issued since June.

In Iraq, the Most Coveted Item Now Is a Passport
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/16/international/middleeast/16pass.html?hp

On a recent morning in front of the newly reopened passport office, bodies pressed on bodies for a chance to get inside. Pink and yellow files, each containing a precious passport application, waved in the air, as a young man tried to climb onto a rust-orange gate to get the attention of the bureaucrats inside. In the chaos, a sign that hung above the front door toppled to the floor.

At one point, Iraqi policemen charged at the crowd, wielding batons. A couple of shots were fired in the air. The line, if it can be called that, disintegrated and the crowd retreated toward a barbed wire fence before lunging forward again.

<...>

Today, the fervor with which Iraqis crave a passport, and with it a chance to escape, speaks volumes about their frustration with the existing order. At this passport line, one of five in the capital, patience wears thin, and melts again to frustration. It is a grim portrait of this fledgling government coming face to face with its constituents.

"It's a disaster," muttered Mr. Kadhum. "An Iraqi disaster." He watched the chaos from the sidelines and decided to come back another day. He said he wanted to go to Germany. He admitted it was a dream.

[zippy890]

23. We should be allowing refugees status to Iraqis

I'm sure they would meet the definition of 'refugees' at the INS -

oh, wait, they are Arab muslims, no chance.
:(

[mitchtv]

6. Hey, where's his trip to Disney world?

and all the toys Elian couldn't keep? At least he got a good Dem senator to visit, contrary to characters who visited Elian

[daleo]

7. It sounds like his value as a propaganda asset is used up.

He has to go back to Bush's war now.

[anotherdrew]

9. remember the armless boy they took to England?

I wonder what's became of him?

[Pirate Smile]

10. At least his father's is used up. Look at this:

"They had lunch at the Pentagon with Robert Reilly, a Defense Department adviser who helped smooth the way for the visit. Ayad saluted a picture of the president, saying in English, "Bush, very, very good."

Meanwhile, his father was boiling inside. During an interview with an Arab television network, he went into a tirade about being promised money and gifts.

"I demand to face George W. Bush, and I have some things to say straight to him," he said."

[anotherdrew]

12. uh oh, sounds like he's got a whole bag of Pretzels for georgie

[Pirate Smile]

17. I wonder if we aren't taking refugees because insurgents could try

to get into the US through that access?

Even many of the Iraqi's who initially liked the USA may now hate us if we have killed or "Abu Ghraib'ed" some of their family members?

[anotherdrew]

18. no doubt this is a big part of it, but...

insurgents can walk in from mexico at will so...

[DBoon]

20. We aren't taking refugees because that would admit we failed...

in Iraq. After all, we have liberated the country - why would anyone want to leave now that the US has graciously freed them from Saddam?

[Lorien]

21. The kid is 13; he's been saluting dictators

his entire life. Go along to get along; that's always been the name of the game.

[anotherdrew]

11. IF someone in the right position could talk to this father...

I think he could run to the nearest civilized nation's embassy or consulate and file for refugee status. Bushco is intentionally keeping this family ignorant of their rights.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. Eliachmed Gonzales?

[SoCalDem]

22. How "kind"...

Bring them to the buffet, let them load up their plates, and instead of taking them to the table so they can eat it, grab the plates and shove them out into the alley with the trash..

Hey, y'all have a nice day, y'hear"..:puke: