Iraqi Exodus Draws Senate's Attention

[ck4829]

A Senate hearing Tuesday called attention to the growing plight of Iraqi refugees. An estimated 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing their violence-wracked nation each month.

On Tuesday, Sami (not his real name), testified before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, using a screen to protect his identity. He was a translator for the U.S. military in Iraq until he heard that his name had been posted on the walls of mosques, labeling him a traitor. And then came the attack:

"I was in a car traveling through a Mosul neighborhood when a suicide bomber in a car directly behind me blew himself up," Sami said. "I was hit by shrapnel in the face. Bloodied and dazed, I am fortunate to be alive. Following this brush with death, I fled Iraq."

But translators and other Iraqis who have worked for the U.S. are hardly the only ones who have left. According to Kenneth Bacon, who heads the group Refugees International, some 1.7 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes but remain in Iraq. Another 2 million Iraqis have fled the country, settling mainly in the neighboring states of Jordan and Syria.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6881291

[lligrd]

1. The Slow Awakening

all I can say is, 'huh, wtf took you so long'?

[Kurovski]

2. K&R(nt)

[magellan]

3. Even worse

Most of the professionals -- teachers, doctors, engineers, etc -- have either fled or been killed. And of those who remain, the women can't work or do so at great personal risk from the fundamentalists.

We've succeeded in creating a fractious third world country whose next generation is doomed to poverty and strife. Forget oil; Iraq's greatest export in coming decades will be terrorism.

[sam sarrha]

4. the Mexicans are going to be pissed when they show up here an take their jobs..

once again we F up the world for millions of people and and make a bunch of Billionaires in the process... this will F up the world for decades..if not centuries. the suffering for women and minorities is Titanic in Iraq.. not to ignore the birth defects and disease from heavy metal poisoning of 1000 tons of highly toxic uranium we let the nuclear industry dump there in the form of weapons.. they must have made some serious campaign contributions to get that done..

the problem with corporate Fascism is that the most money you can make manipulating the government is in war against small 3rd world defenseless countries.. so in a Fascist state war against civilians is inevitable, and proof of Fascism is in control.. or a wet brain alcoholic drug addict psychotic narcissistic moran