RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month!
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/27/2007 2:22:57 AM
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Mout Ahmar
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sweden is no1 for this refugee problem. they r making us scandanvian ppl very proud. now time fr the big countrys like uk & usa to help with this crisis. also france & germany.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/27/2007 2:08:58 PM
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azinorum
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Hi Mout long time no see. Whats the Finish governments policy towards accepting Iraqi refugees? Do you have any idea?
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/28/2007 8:10:15 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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A good article from a respected US journalist and the headline tells the whole story. I have nothing more to add.
U.S. policy on Iraqi refugees is a scandal
WASHINGTON - Just about every American serving or working in Iraq knows Iraqis who have been loyal to the United States, have risked their lives for Americans, and are in serious danger of being killed if they stay in Iraq. Thousands of Iraqis have fled their country, trying to escape the escalating civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. Many of them have lost close relatives and have been threatened with rape, torture, or death if they continue to work with Americans. U.S. journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to interview Iraqis, terrified they will be targeted by death squads for even talking to Americans. Journalists count on Iraqi citizens to translate and to arrange interviews in hotel rooms or in secret locations. If found out, the translators and facilitators face torture or death. Yet, still they have continued to help, sometimes because of the money, but just as frequently because they are grateful to the United States.
Many Iraqis who welcomed U.S. soldiers after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein live in hiding because they can't support themselves and can't get out of the country. Many are terrified of being betrayed by neighbors. If they have Sunni names, they are frightened of Shiites. If they have Shiite names they are afraid of Sunnis. Last month the United States admitted one immigrant from Iraq. As Congress ties itself up in knots wrangling with the Bush Administration over what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, it is an absolute scandal that in the past seven months, only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refuge in America.
Last year a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was leaked to a reporter, revealing that the United States has no contingency plans to help Iraqis if there is a withdrawal. Apparently, we learned little from the evacuation of Saigon. Not even Iraqis who have been physically threatened for helping top U.S. government officials or translating for the military are being given visas. Americans are dying every day in Iraq, ostensibly to help that country be free, yet Iraqis make up less than 1 percent of the total foreign-born population in the United States. Only about 90,000 people born in Iraq live in the United States, and nearly all of them were in the United States before the current war began.
President Bush, determined to stay the course in Iraq, has never spoken publicly about the problem of what is happening to Iraqis loyal to the Americans but caught in the deadly crossfire. He has never spoken of our responsibility to help them. Mr. Bush wants immigrants here illegally to have a process to gain citizenship, but he has done nothing to help Iraqis endangered because they have helped us after we invaded their country. He has not even ordered American consul officials in Baghdad to grant visas to Iraqis most at risk. If they can get out of Iraq, they have a better chance of going to London than of going to New York. The United Nations reports that 40,000 Iraqis every month are losing their homes and becoming refugees. This has become the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the upheaval that greeted the creation of Israel nearly 60 years ago. According to U.N. estimates, there may be as many as 3.7 million Iraqis made homeless inside and outside the country by the violence. Some are being compensated for their losses if the U.S. military is responsible; most flee with nothing.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, acutely aware of criticism from other countries over America's closed-door policy for Iraqis, is working on a plan that would permit up to 20,000 Iraqis into the country. But Mr. Bush's proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 would spend only $35 million on the entire problem of Iraqi refugees, one-seventh of the amount refugee experts say is needed. The United States is afraid that letting fleeing Iraqis into the country would let in some terrorists as well, although there are many precautions and verification measures in place aimed at preventing that. But the damage to the U.S. reputation as millions see a cold shoulder turned to those who tried to help is just as dangerous.
Word is spreading quickly that in Iraq, if you help Americans, your days may well be numbered and your death will be a painful one because America will not help you in return.
Scripps Howard columnist Ann McFeatters has covered the White House and national politics since 1986.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070527/OPINION04/705260320
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/29/2007 2:55:39 AM
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azinorum
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Here are some statistics on Iraqi refugees from 2001 - 2003.
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The countries reporting the highest number of Iraqi refugees are Denmark (12,000), Norway (15,000), Sweden (60-70,000), and Germany (150,000) . However, these numbers are not directly comparable as some take into account only recognised refugees (Sweden), while others include estimates of Iraqis with and without a legal status, eg Germany. -
With the exception of just three countries (Germany, The Netherlands, and Australia), Iraqi asylum applications are being processed, in many cases after a period of suspension established during the run-up to the war in the beginning of 2003. -
Overall, fewer applications have been received in the last year, yet applications from Kurdish asylum seekers remain a significant portion of the total asylum applications from Iraqis received in those countries where such statistics are available. -
In the majority of cases where statistics are available, fewer Iraqis were granted asylum or a subsidiary form of protection in 2003 than in the previous two years. -
The vastly different asylum procedures and policies of the eighteen different countries surveyed makes it difficult to highlight any overall pattern regarding the proportion of Iraqi applicants that are receiving some kind of status. For example, in Greece, where Iraqis make up almost half the number of the 6,791 asylum applications received from 2001 to 2003, none were recognised as refugees at the first instance, while in France about one-third of the 246 Iraqi applicants were granted asylum at the first instance. -
At the moment, the United Kingdom is the only country that has officially announced a program for the forced return of Iraqi asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected. In several other countries, return is not officially under moratorium, but due to logistical difficulties (eg the inability to secure transit visas) forced return is not practised. -
In some countries, policy towards Iraqis from northern Iraq and those from central and southern Iraq differ. In Lithuania, deportation to northern Iraq is now legal but not enforced because it is under appeal. In the Netherlands, northern Iraqis are more likely to have their asylum applications rejected and the return moratorium to northern Iraq has been lifted. The Swedish Migration Board has also given indications that it believes the northern part of Iraq is a safe place to return. However, deportations have not yet occurred, again probably because of logistical reasons. - Scant benefits exist for those Iraqi asylum seekers whose applications are rejected. In Sweden, Finland, and Belgium reduced benefits are offered, while in Greece, Iraqis whose applications are rejected are left with no access to social welfare systems and, in France, they are allowed to stay but not given any papers. In Norway, asylum seekers whose applications have not succeeded but who meet certain deadlines are offered a financial aid package contingent on their selecting to return to Iraq.
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Religion + Politics = disaster
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/30/2007 5:16:10 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Thanks azi. Do you know where we can get hold of the new statistics 2003-2007? Tried googling but found nothing. 
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 5/31/2007 10:42:27 AM
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azinorum
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I'll give it a go later. This one was sent to me earlier today:
U.S. to admit Iraqi refugees
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Thursday, May 31, 2007
WASHINGTON – The United States will soon begin admitting a bigger trickle of the more than 2 million refugees who have fled Iraq, acknowledging for the first time the country may never be safe for some who have helped the U.S. there. After months of agonizing delays and withering criticism from advocacy groups and lawmakers, the Bush administration has finalized new guidelines to screen Iraqi refugees, including those seeking asylum because helping the Americans has put them at huge risk.
The 2 million-plus people – the fastest growing refugee population in the world – have left Iraq, but Washington has balked at allowing them into the United States for security reasons. Under enhanced screening measures aimed at weeding out potential terrorists – announced this week by the Department of Homeland Security – the administration plans to allow nearly 7,000 Iraqis to resettle in the United States by the end of September.
An initial group of 59, including former U.S. government employees and their families, should arrive in the coming weeks, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. As with incoming refugees from other countries, Iraqis accepted for resettlement in the U.S. will be given assistance from both government and private aid agencies, including language and job training in the communities that will be their new homes, officials said.
“America’s tradition of welcoming international refugees and responding to humanitarian emergencies is unrivaled,” he said in a statement. “Yet we also must be mindful of the security risks associated with admitting refugees from war-torn countries – especially countries infiltrated by large numbers of terrorists.”
The 59 Iraqis who will arrive soon are among a group of more than 700 considered to be the most vulnerable and for whom resettlement interviews have already been conducted, the department said. They include “persons whose lives may be in jeopardy because they worked for coalition forces,” it said, without giving specific numbers of former U.S. employees.
_____________________________
Religion + Politics = disaster
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/10/2007 12:22:00 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Number of Iraqi displaced tops 4.2 million; Shanty towns mushroom
http://www.alertnet.org/
http://news.google.com/
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/10/2007 12:49:32 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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These people are suffering in misery beyond imagination. Where is our democratically elected government? Why aren’t they doing more to help these poor Iraqis? I’ll tell you why…because they are too busy lining their pockets and helping Militias carry out their assassinations. Some of the refugees who are displaced in Najaf have been kicked out of their tents because the local government wants to build a hotel for the tourists, the stories are both sickening and heartbreaking. I hope Bush, Maliki, Jafari and the dirty Mullas of Iraq burn in hell…..slowly!
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/10/2007 12:52:38 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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From the UNHCR:-
GENEVA, June 5 (UNHCR) – The situation in Iraq continues to worsen, with more than 2 million Iraqis now believed to be displaced inside the country and another 2.2 million sheltering in neighbouring states. Calls for increased international support for governments in the region have so far brought few results, and access to social services for Iraqis remains limited. Most of the burden is being carried by Jordan and Syria.
Inside Iraq, some 85 percent of the displaced are in the central and southern regions. Most of those displaced are from Baghdad and surrounding districts. Since February last year, an estimated 820,000 people have been displaced, including 15,000 Palestinians who have nowhere to go.
"Individual governorates inside Iraq are becoming overwhelmed by the needs of the displaced. At least 10 out of the 18 governates have closed their borders or are restricting access to new arrivals," UNHCR spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
"UNHCR is receiving disturbing reports of regional authorities refusing to register new arrivals, including single women, and denying access to government services. Many displaced have been evicted from public buildings," she added.
Combined with the general lack of resources, this has led to a growing number of impoverished shanty towns. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq and the World Food Programme indicate that at least 47 percent of the displaced have no access to official food distribution channels.
The number of Iraqis fleeing to neighbouring countries remains high. According to government figures, some 1.4 million Iraqis are now displaced in Syria, up to 750,000 in Jordan, 80,000 in Egypt and some 200,000 in the Gulf region. Syria alone receives a minimum of 30,000 Iraqis a month.
Pagonis noted that recognition rates of Iraqis in various countries outside the region, particularly in Europe, remained low. "UNHCR repeats its call for all borders to remain open to those in need of protection," she said.
UNHCR is rapidly expanding its operations and presence in the region, but the magnitude of the crisis is staggering, the spokesperson said. "We now have 300 staff working full time on Iraqi displacement. They are based in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Geneva and in Iraq itself.
"Since the beginning of the year, our offices in surrounding countries have registered more than 130,000 Iraqi refugees. By the end of May, UNHCR had interviewed some 7,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqis and sent their dossiers to potential resettlement countries for their further assessment and action," Pagonis added.
She said UNHCR urged these countries to make rapid decisions and facilitate the departure of those most in need. Resettlement, however, remains an option for only a few of the most vulnerable Iraqis. UNHCR's goal is to provide up to 20,000 Iraqi resettlement cases to governments this year.
Analysis of detailed statistics show that in Syria alone, about 47,000 of the 88,447 refugees registered since the beginning of this year are in need of special assistance. Of them, about a quarter require legal or protection assistance, including many victims of torture.
Nearly 19 percent have serious medical conditions. UNHCR has opened two community outreach centres in Damascus and will shortly open two more. Food and medical aid is being provided to the most vulnerable. The agency is also working with an increasing number of local and international partners, who are helping with health, education, counselling and vocational training.
Two international UNHCR staff members are working in Erbil and another is scheduled to go to Baghdad when the security situation permits. These international staff are reinforcing more than 20 local UNHCR staff in seven locations in Iraq. The goal is to provide basic assistance and shelter to some 300,000 uprooted Iraqis inside the country by the end of this year.
This, however, is just a fraction of the overall needs. UNHCR legal aid centres in all 18 governorates have provided advice to more than 10,700 displaced Iraqis. By the end of 2007, UNHCR also plans to provide essential medical, health, food and individual assistance to 50,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqis in neighbouring countries.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/11/2007 3:13:05 AM
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azinorum
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lion of Babylon
These people are suffering in misery beyond imagination. Where is our democratically elected government? Why aren’t they doing more to help these poor Iraqis? I’ll tell you why…because they are too busy lining their pockets and helping Militias carry out their assassinations. Some of the refugees who are displaced in Najaf have been kicked out of their tents because the local government wants to build a hotel for the tourists, the stories are both sickening and heartbreaking. I hope Bush, Maliki, Jafari and the dirty Mullas of Iraq burn in hell…..slowly!
Its a disgrace and those responsible will one day meet their deserved fate.....in hell insha allah.
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Religion + Politics = disaster
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/11/2007 11:09:29 PM
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Lion of Babylon
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Dude, I have asked a friend who works for the UN to send details about the number of academics who have been killed or forced to flee Iraq. Ill post it as soon as I get it. Peace.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/13/2007 1:02:18 PM
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azinorum
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Cheers LOB. I've been trying to find some figures but no success. Keep up the good work.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/14/2007 10:20:07 AM
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Mout Ahmar
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hi azi LOB. i check with my embassy about refugees for finland. they say they do not have policy 4 this @ the moment but they r studying the possibilty 4 the future. i would love 2 c iraqis come 2 my country. they r all welcome.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/20/2007 3:23:22 AM
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azinorum
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Hi Guys. I managed to locate some recent figures for you. You can view the full report by clicking the following link http://www.naba.org.uk/content/articles/HR/IraqHRM/Jalili_Reprt2007_Iraq_LostGeneration.pdf
Here is a brief summary:
Over 830 assassinations have been documented, victims killed along with their families. Numbers includes: 380 university academics and doctors, 210 lawyers and judges, and 243 journalists/media workers but not other experts, school teachers or students; neither professionals displaced internally and externally. All aspects of life are affected.
The victims are often highly qualified, PhD or equivalent. Assassinations are not specific to sect or gender but victims are predominantly Arab.
Hundreds of legal workers have left Iraq in addition to those already killed and injured, thereby denying thousands of Iraqis their legal rights. Working lawyers numbers have decreased by at least 40% in the past year alone and hundreds of
cases shelved.
Neither has sports escaped; the President and 36 member National Iraqi Olympic Committee were kidnapped in July 2006; the majority are thought to be dead. These were the only democratically elected Olympic representatives in the region.
The reported incidents are only the tip of an iceberg; many cases go unreported. This is in addition to the huge exodus to neighbouring countries and, for the lucky few, to Europe.
Unless urgent action is taken to redress this situation, it will be too late to save Iraq's intelligentsia for the immediate and foreseeable future; a disastrous situation for Iraq."
Iraq's Lost Generation: Impact and Implications
Ismail Jalili, June 15, 2007
_____________________________
Religion + Politics = disaster
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/20/2007 1:47:01 PM
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Lion of Babylon
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Dude, you are the man. But these figures seem a little on the conservative side to me.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/21/2007 12:22:17 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Report about the current refugee status in Jordan. Dudes, most people think Iraqis living in Jordan are loaded but its just not true. If you go to Sahat Al Hashimi you will see hundereds of beggars and street sellers living day by day. All are Iraqi and the Palestinians from the camps hate them.
Iraq war refugees– Undocumented in Jordan
Kathleen McQuillen, Iowa Program Director
June 20, 2007
"There are 750,000 Iraqis living in Jordan with all of the horrors of refugees – and none of the benefits." Noah Merrill, consultant to AFSC's Middle East Task Force, spoke to audiences in Des Moines and Iowa City recently about the people and the stories he encountered during the six weeks he spent with refugees from the Iraq war who are now living in Jordan.
"Undocumented," we know from our own work with immigrants arriving in this country without legal status, means they live in the shadows; no legal work, no access to healthcare, and education is a risk. Forced by war (note Lee Searles' letter, page 4) out of their own country, the displaced Iraqis are without welcome in neighboring countries.
"Before pointing your finger at Jordan, understand the US role in all of this," Noah cautioned. "The US knows how to tear things down—we just don't know how to build them back up. After the US invasion, passports were declared obsolete, and the system put in place has been an abysmal failure. Further complicating the situation is the international communities' refusal to declare those displaced by the Iraq war as refugees."
With a hint of sarcasm in his voice, Noah noted, "Refugees do not come from democracies...The Iraqi refugee crisis is our responsibility. An earthquake did not hit Iraq. This is a political disease with a political solution." The solution is not more rockets and tanks. "We have," Noah said, "a responsibility to rebuild and pay reparations and create a space for a diplomatic process with all the players in the region."
Voices of the Iraqis
"I am here because they cannot be," Noah told a quiet audience. He held up a scarf given to him by a young child as she asked him to share it with the people of the US as a gesture of friendship from the children of Iraq. "Please tell them about us," she said. "I think they will help us." Noah shared two stories.
Saidy was a Sunni child of the sanctions imposed on Iraq throughout the 90s. Her family relocated to Baghdad for healthcare. However, following the US invasion in 2003, the family left Baghdad for their home in Fallujah, where they hoped it would be safer. After the destruction of Fallujah, the family moved back to Baghdad where they were welcomed by Shiite neighbors and given food and shelter.
Saidy's mother tells the story with tears. "That can't happen now because of the divisions," another fallout from the US war. As the situation worsened inside Iraq, the family fled to Jordan. In the absence of healthcare, Saidy's health deteriorated. Noah struggled to tell of Saidy's death after his departure.
Mustaffa was 25 years old when the power from the cluster bombs knocked him off the roof he was working on. It was as if "I was kicked by the air" he told Noah, the blast knocking him to the ground and breaking two bones in his back. His 12-year-old brother became his caretaker and was able to get him to the hospital.
Since this was at the beginning of the war the hospital was still functioning and doctors were still available (2000 Iraqi doctors have since died and 12,000 are now "disappeared".) However, the years of sanctions limited the medical supplies available, and the steel screws used to repair Mustaffa's back eventually led to infection.
Mustaffa is confined to a wheelchair. His brother, now 15, continues to be his support, though the future is questionable because the brothers are undocumented and without work permits in Jordan.
"Mustaffa is an inspiration to me, he gives me hope," Noah told those gathered. Mustaffa has not given up. He is certain he will get to the US where the Mayo Clinic will treat him and he will walk again."
Fifty thousand Iraqis are fleeing their homeland each month. The US is discussing allowing between 2,500 and 7,000 into this country.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/21/2007 3:20:46 PM
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sadiq2006
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i think the american government do not care nor the american people cares also it is just a game for them and for theother nations to wipe the mesopotamians, why the arabs and the world want to destroy mesopotamia for what for fake believing as a holy war to them andsome stupid fake news about iraq why is that.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/23/2007 4:08:29 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Why dont you tell us? Your an American....right?
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/23/2007 6:40:49 AM
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salim
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i will write to u from damascus and tell u what it like for iraqis. thank u.
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/23/2007 8:28:40 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Good luck bro. Dont forget to let us know how things go. You should start a blog and write a daily report. 
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/23/2007 8:36:18 AM
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Lion of Babylon
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Azi. Here is a cool story about how Iraqis are coping in Amman. I think its a fair assesment and reflects the general feeling and reality of the situation. Refugees dont always live in tents.
Amman; July 22, 2005 – Hisham Jamil is unequivocal when asked why he and his wife have chosen a life of unemployment in a foreign country over the life they built together in Baghdad.
You know why we left," he said as he walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Hamsa, down a busy street here in Jordan’s capital. "The whole world knows why we left. We can’t live in Baghdad anymore; it is as simple as that. Life is impossible."
Jamil, a fashion designer in his now-former life in Baghdad, said his family’s home was destroyed in March 2004 by a massive car bomb that targeted Baghdad’s popular Mount Lebanon Hotel. "Our home was adjacent to the Hotel. It has been structurally damaged to such a degree that selling it is impossible; so too is living in it," Jamil said.
Transcending economic and social class, religion and hometown, the principal reason Iraqis living in Jordan cite for fleeing their country is the ubiquitous violence and instability that has engulfed and suffocated Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion of their country. Rather than focusing on a grand political narrative, Jamil, like virtually all Iraqis who spoke to The NewStandard, stressed the lack of electricity, sanitation, potable water and absense of security that plagues daily life in Iraq. Because of this, he said, "life is impossible on the most basic level."
Carol, a middle-aged beautician and salon owner in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, left Iraq in June. She is equally blunt in explaining why she left.
The violence is, of course, not a mysterious phenomenon to Iraqis
"We are full of frustration and angst," she said over dinner with several Iraqi friends. "No one in the world would leave their home willingly, unless it was under such circumstances." The violence is, of course, not a mysterious phenomenon to Iraqis. They see it as a direct result of the ongoing occupation.
"At first we believed that America has come to save us from a cursed situation under Saddam Hussein," said Carol. "But in fact they have given us an even greater curse. We have no dignity; we are humiliated. We have no water, no electricity, and no security. We don’t understand. We know the Americans can make the situation better, but they are not."
Popular accounts on the streets of Amman place the number of Iraqis in Jordan seeking refuge from the war at 500,000 and higher, though only a tiny fraction of these people are officially categorized as refugees. Jordanian Interior Ministry General Secretary Mukhaimer Abu Jamous told TNS that the accepted number of Iraqis in Jordan is more like 300,000 – though he was quick to claim that these are not refugees, but rather people on personal business or vacation. An official at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Amman said that 15,000 Iraqis had received temporary protection for asylum-seekers pending official refugee status. Only 800 Iraqis have received official refugee status in Jordan, she added, almost all of whom fled during the Saddam Hussein regime. The official refused to allow TNS to report her name, claiming it is UNHCR policy for spokespeople not to be identified in news stories.
Popular accounts on the streets of Amman place the number of Iraqis in Jordan seeking refuge from the war at 500,000 and higher, though only a tiny fraction of these people are officially categorized as refugees.
According to the official, "only in the rarest of occasions" have those who fled after March 2003 received official designation, and therefore the attendant compensation from UNHCR. All such rare cases are characterized as the "most vulnerable" – primarily the elderly or ill.
A lack of resources makes outreach to those Iraqis who have fled the war impossible for the UNHCR, the official said, and only those who approach the offices are able to navigate the necessary bureaucratic machinations in order to qualify as recognized refugees. Both the Interior Ministry and the UN agency said that, although they had expected one, there was no influx of Iraqis as a result of the war, and that the flow across the border has been steady but unchanged by the conditions in Iraq. "Influx is a big word, we cannot say that that is what has happened," said Adel Al-Hadid, director of international organizations at the Interior Ministry. Yet, on the streets of Amman, popular sentiment is that "influx" is exactly the word for it. Whether in the malls, parks, or simply on the street, Iraqis are everywhere in Amman.
Work permits are very difficult to obtain for Iraqis in Jordan, and their cost is often prohibitive.
While most Iraqis living in Jordan were able to successfully escape the violence of their home country, others, like Suasan Shakir, were not so lucky. Shakir left the violence of Iraq overland on a makeshift gurney in the collapsed back seat of an SUV. A terrorist attack left her paralyzed in November 2004. A man trying to sneak a bomb into the bank where Shakir worked detonated his deadly burden early when police stopped him at a checkpoint. His payload of explosives killed two officers and sprayed shrapnel throughout the immediate area.
Along with about two-dozen other bank employees being shuttled to work on a minibus, Shakir was waiting at the same checkpoint. Five pieces of shrapnel embedded in her spine, and one penetrated the base of her skull, coming to rest in her brain. She fell paralyzed instantly, losing her ability to see or speak. The staff at a Baghdad hospital was able to stabilize Shakir’s condition, but her husband says a lack of resources and medicines robbed her of the chance to improve in her home country. Doraid Kadhim Abd-al Hameed took the opportunity to move his wife to Amman in search of better care, presently unavailable in Iraq after fifteen years of sanctions, war and occupation. In the more than three months since Shakir arrived in Amman, her husband reported, their family has spent upward of $25,000 USD on her care, with no help from any government.
Abd-al Hameed says he has sold everything of value to pay for his wife’s care: his bookstore, a building he rented-out and his car. "I bought my bookstore in 1996 for $10,000," Abd-al Hameed recalled. "Because of the situation in Iraq, I received only $2,000 when I sold it one month ago," he said. His modest monthly income of $200 has been all but eliminated by the sale of his store and the building he owned in Baghdad. The substantial income they claim now is the $125 USD per month Shakir receives from her former employer. "If we were to take legal action against the British and the Americans – who created this catastrophe for all Iraqis – the problem would be how to even imagine what degree of compensation to ask for," Abd-al Hameed added. "We have lost everything: our future, our families’ future…" His voice trailed off as he choked-back tears. Shakir’s condition has improved since coming to the Ibn Al-Haytham Hospital in Amman. Last month she began to see for the first time since the accident and her speech is slowly returning, though during a bedside interview, her enunciation was limited, her words slurred.
Yet, in a day or so, Shakir will return to Iraq, the family unable to sustain the costs of treatment in Amman.
"Please, I ask that you put more pressure on the American government – on the Western governments – to pull out of Iraq, immediately," said Abd-al Hameed as Shakir wept.
The Poverty of Diaspora
The package of twelve kitchen sponges with scouring-pads cost pennies each, but for Thayla Kareem they represent hope that she will someday return to her family in southern Iraq. Kareem is one of thousands of Iraqi refugees struggling to make ends meet on the streets of Amman.
Known as the basta – an Arabic term that describes their simple existence, whereby their goods are spread out on cardboard or small mats placed on the ground, rather than in proper market stalls – Iraqi women such as Kareem are fixtures on streets throughout the city. Dressed from head to toe in traditional, flowing black abaayas, these women sell everything from sponges and toothbrushes to individual cigarettes -- anything that comes cheap and can be resold at a modest profit.
Because of debt incurred starting her small street enterprise, and the meager revenues it brings in, Kareem is stuck in Jordan, hundreds of miles away from her family in Amara, in southern Iraq. "The work is not good enough," Kareem said, squatting in the hot midday sun on the marble steps of a grocery store. "I pay 30 [Jordanian dinars] every month for rent, electricity and water," noted Kareem. Thirty JD is about $42 USD, a substantial burden on her monthly take. She shares an apartment with seven other Iraqi women – all of them street vendors. The economic difficulties affect a large swath of the Iraqi refugee population in Jordan. On any given day the downtown parks of Amman are a haven for unemployed Iraqi men, ranging in age from late teens to elders.
Ziad, a 25-year-old originally from Baghdad, now spends his afternoons sitting listlessly in the park beside the Roman Amphitheatre in Amman’s downtown core, along with dozens of other Iraqis.
"I have been here for eighteen months," Ziad said. "I left Iraq after the war, as the resistance began to escalate. I could no longer get to work safely; car bombs and American attacks made such a simple task a gamble for your life."
In the summer of 2003, Ziad said he began to line up for the newly opening positions in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and police forces. "But how many bombs exploding in the line-ups would it take before you decided to stop?" Ziad asked rhetorically.
"I would rather be unemployed in Jordan than dead in Iraq," he added flatly.
Ziad said he has had several odd jobs since arriving in Jordan, including one in a restaurant, where his salary was one-half that of his Jordanian coworkers. He quit, frustrated at the wage discrimination.
"I search each day for work," Ziad insisted, "but everyone says the same thing: ‘I’ll call you back.’ They never do."
There is a degree of resentment, simmering just below the surface, toward the Iraqis living among Jordanians, believing their arrival has driven prices up dramatically. A Jordanian taxi driver put the common nationalist perspective in plain terms: "You see, they sold their country and came here to buy ours."
The competition for "unskilled" labor has become fierce as well, as so-called "illegal" Iraqi refugees have allegedly driven wages down across the board by working for significantly less than the previously prevailing rate. Meanwhile, signs can be spotted in Amman that advertise "Jordanian workers wanted," a not-so-subtle reference to the developing segregation. Work permits are very difficult to obtain for Iraqis in Jordan, and their cost is often prohibitive. At approximately $225 each, a one-year permit costs more than most "unskilled" jobs pay in a month. "I have tried so hard to get a work permit," said Hisham Jamil, the former fashion designer. "It seems that it isn’t possible for Iraqis."
Abu Jamous of the Interior Ministry explained that this obstacle is a natural step in protecting Jordanian workers. Salah, a Shia Muslim from the southern city of Hilla, has been living in Jordan since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. At 27, Salah said he possesses a degree in Computer Science, which should render him a hot resource in Iraq, a country that has experienced a relative boom in Internet access and the spread of technology since the fall of Saddam. Instead, Salah, spray bottle hanging from his pocket, pushes a broom through the Mecca Mall, collecting fallen ketchup packages and random French fries strewn about the bustling food court.
In Amman, Salah lives like many refugees who do not have the support of a wealthy family; that is, in a small apartment that he shares with 15 other Iraqis. He pays only $25 USD a month for his accommodations, "which means I can send the rest home to my family in Hilla," he said.
"I came here for work, to feed my family," he said. His family in Hilla has 20 members dependent almost solely on Salah’s modest wages. Salah said he is the only one of them with work. Salah works in the mall from 7 a.m. until the mall’s midnight closing, seven days a week. His monthly pay of about $160 USD constitutes significantly less than the $200-plus made by Jordanians for the same work.
This discrimination is simply the reality for most Iraqis who are fortunate enough to find work in Jordan. Salah obtained his job in housekeeping in April 2003. "Back then, it was relatively easy for Iraqis to work," he said. "But I fear my time is running out. My contract ends at the end of the year." he lamented. When his contract expires, so too does his work permit. As he sees it, when that happens, Salah will have two options: either obtain an extension on his work permit -- virtually impossible for Iraqis working in the general labor sector unless their employers vouch for them -- or else live illegally and likely unemployed in Jordan, facing the possibility of sanction and deportation. Abu Jamous said that the Jordanian Public Security Department is "proactive" in working with inspectors from the Department of Labor in seeking out "illegals," as he referred to undocumented immigrants, be they Iraqi or otherwise.
If workers are caught in violation of the typical three-month visas or year-long work permits, Abu Jamous added, they are detained in police custody for seven days before being deported to the third country of their choice. According to the Interior Ministry, immigrants generally choose expulsion to a country like Yemen, which does not require a visa.
"For humanitarian reasons, we cannot deport them back to Iraq if their life is deemed to be in danger there," said Abu Jamous.
Still, that does little to quell Salah’s anxiety about his soon-to-expire permit. "I have to support my family," he said. "I do not know what I will do."
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RE: 100,000 fleeing Iraq every month! - 6/26/2007 10:08:01 AM
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azinorum
Posts: 1823
Score: 51
Joined: 8/25/2006
From: Baghdad Iraq
Status: offline
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Hi LOB. Heres a report on Iraqi refugees from Al Jazeera English.
People & Power - Iraqi refugees - 27 Apr 07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OqgJjGzxP8
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Religion + Politics = disaster
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