Crocker On Iraqi Refugee Resettlement: 'Can We Speed It Up?'

Washington Post:

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks.

In a bluntly worded State Department cable titled "Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?" Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker noted that the Department of Homeland Security had only a handful of officers in Jordan to vet the refugees.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Grannysue]

05:49 PM on 09/17/2007

Just pack them all up and send them to Mexico, they will be in our country in no time, no strings, no lines, no paperwork. That's how the rest of them get in.
But if things are going so well over there that were going to STAY UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER, why would these people want to leave paradise???

[Podewumun]

09:33 PM on 09/17/2007

Good point.

You know what really chaps my tookcus - the folks who are going to go bat-shit, barking mad about accepting refugees from a country that we've just bombed back to the stone age are the same muthas that voted for the asshole responsible for bombing that country back to the stone age in the first place!

Whew. That winded me.

[kmccaskill]

04:21 PM on 09/17/2007

Does Experience Matter? (Clinton and JFK didn't think so)

This Video Is Showing That Obama can be president because two fmr presidents were
where he is right now, history proves experience makes an either worse president( nixon, bush, vp dick cheney, defense sec.rumsfeld)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBy3AKn_2Fk

[mrcontinental]

04:10 PM on 09/17/2007

The reason so many have been targeted is because we still insist on paying these people in dollars instead of kuwati dinars. It's a major pain in the ass for these people to convert dollars on the black market not to mention the fact that brand new dollars mark you as traitor and is a death sentence.

I personally had input on the "nation building" of Iraq and you would not believe the lives that were lost because the army finance command was to lazy to provide currency exchange for the commanders in the field who needed these funds to pay informants and compensate the locals for any damages that may have occured during a "sweep" for insurgents.

It took a two star general to listen to my proposal after 7 months in theater to get any dinars for this purpose, even though countless iraqi locals were dying the entire time because we were to stupid and couldn't see the big picture.

Some of these people risked and lost their lives to assist us because they believed that we where there to help their country and now that it's gotten too hot for them to remain our first reaction is to hell with them.

Contrary to Fox News not all Iraqis are terrorist, nor are all muslims dangerous and many of these people are now in mortal danger because they did nothing more that help the US military survive in a hostile country.

There are countless missions and tasks that we would not be able to do effectively or at all without iraqi help. And many of you cowards are ready to leave them to die now that we have destroyed their country and way of life.

I'm ashamed of everyone of you. Never have I seen such selfish, uncaring, cowardly, chickenhawk assclowns.

America truly has no soul any longer.

[ajax2]

02:37 PM on 09/17/2007

I'm thinking, Georgetown, Kenenbunkport, Jackson Hole and Aspen.

[larry278]

02:30 PM on 09/17/2007

It isn't a crock. There is a tradition of the USA giving refuge to those who have helped the USA when the USA bugs out of a country. Good or bad-it's our tradition. We're obliged to admit the Iraqi's who've fled to Syria, Jordan & where-ever because they were seen as US agents. By & large the Chinese refugees from Mao & the VietNamese refugees from Uncle Ho have become good Americans; some have even become progressive liberals.
We're obliged to admit the Iraqi refugees as a humanitarian, humanist gesture since W, Cheney & the religious right ignored their Christian duty to the refugees. It is no longer a rightist vs leftist thing; it's bigger than that; it's a matter of humanitarian compassion for wronged people who need refuge. These refugees were wronged by both the Baathists [sic] & the American imperialists.

[MissingAmerica]

11:01 AM on 09/17/2007

Whoa! Is this a mess or what? First, I see one concern in inviting these people to live in this country, and it is not them, it is this country. They are having to flee their country because the leader of this one has destroyed their homes and shattered their lives? Chances are they'd love a chance to get here and take it out on all of us. Secondly, why are we not helping these people find homes? We are allow Mexicans to cross our borders in the dark of night to establish new lives here, yet their country is still in tact. It just doesn't make sense.

[OlongapoEd]

09:30 AM on 09/17/2007

Oh, sure, speed up the process of getting them into the USA so they can all be rounded up in internment camps. Never underestimate the number of those on the right who just love the idea of internment camps.

www.amazon.com/Defense-Internment-Round-Up-Americas-Terror/dp/0895260514

Also, never underestimate the vulnerability of the American public in general to such xenophobic hysteria.

[gakabani]

09:30 AM on 09/17/2007

Crocker has the mentality of a Nazi concentration guard camp. Syria has received more than 1.2 million Iraqi refugees in less than 2 years; however, the most powerful nation on earth can not even process 20,000 applications. Bullshit, the US government is a Nazi government. Bush is the new Hitler. and by the way the war is about oil for those idiotic defenders of Bush.

We americans are becoming 'good Germans'.

[Podewumun]

09:28 PM on 09/17/2007

Not all of that 1.2 million came into Syria by the front door, if you comprende? And they have no services, no jobs because they're not allowed to work. Just an observation.

[Ammobob]

09:10 AM on 09/17/2007

We can just drop them south of the border with about $5k and they'll be here shortly. What's Crocker's problem? Have them migrate to SF, and get the city I.D. card to receive social services. Come to NC and get a driver's license. Vote. No problemo.

[bluesnot]

08:52 AM on 09/17/2007

"U.S. government's halting response to Iraq's refugee crisis"

It's as if the Republicans just now realize there is a problem.

If there isn't a money angle, some way to rip off the taxpayer, fuhgeddaboutit, it won't get done.

[Purple Girl]

08:49 AM on 09/17/2007

It's been 4 yrs and WE'RE Just hearing about the problems of relocating Refugees? How many more are tucked away,dying ? I'm having a bout of Terret syndrome- please hold...........
Okay
We must immediately remove this adminisrtation and anyone who is stupid enough to support it. Sounds like W. state about Terroists and any countries that harbor them ah? If this administration is not absolutely corrupt it is unreparably incompetent, and if it's not incompetent, then it has the WORST LUCK EVER IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. There is nothing good going to come from leaving them in power (Iran around the corner?) I have no idea what this administration , nor congress think is the mission- but I know their logic is fundementally flawed. Might does not mean right- ever ! Only Heretics believe such self righteous doctrine.Read History

[godlessclif]

10:36 AM on 09/17/2007

Send a million Iraqi refugees to Israel.

[Destin]

12:19 PM on 09/17/2007

I agree, let's see how big their hearts are. ;)

[Podewumun]

09:24 PM on 09/17/2007

bush...unlucky...you decide.

9/11, shuttle explodes, can't find osama, Katrina...iraq...iran...world hatred.

Unlucky or just plain fucking stupid?

[lookingAhead]

08:34 AM on 09/17/2007

With the contempt these people have for their jobs it make one think what is the other motivator. Most of these people have a lot of contempt for what they do. Petraeus is guarded by blackwater, the Ambassador wants more refuges settled outside their own state. Makes one wonder just what the F*ck they are really up to.

[konchster]

07:39 AM on 09/17/2007

I hope our next President makes sure those Bushie assholes in Crawford Tx get an abundance of these refugees They love Bush's policies so much

[Podewumun]

09:22 PM on 09/17/2007

Put 'em to work on the ranch, yeah, that's the ticket!

[kay]

06:16 AM on 09/17/2007

Is this still being debated?

We invaded their country. These people, buying the line that we were on some humanitarian mission, signed on to help us, post-invasion. Now, they and their families are targeted for slaughter.

If there's one thing we should be able to agree on, both sides of the Iraq "debate", it's that we have an obligation to take them in.

Syria has accepted 2.2 million. The mighty US can't manage to process the 7,000 in the most immediate danger?

I don't believe that. As corrupt and innefficient as our current government is, we're capable of processing 7,000 refugees. It hasn't happened because it's wildly unpopular with the President's base.

Americans won't accept even this small, remote perhaps PERSONAL sacrifice? There are almost 400 million people in this country. We can't manage to take 7,000? When we're DIRECTLY responsible for their plight?

Broad lofty themes and rhetoric, we can do. Practical and immediate (and SMALL) sacrifice, we can't manage.

[andyboy]

09:32 AM on 09/17/2007

The ones that will make it out are all of the Iraqi ass kissers who hugged up to Bush and his band of co-conspiritors. Their like the brownies in school. I don't care if they ever make it here. It's such a politicized process. What they do is vet them so it's a big bunch of relatives of Iraqi Americans.

[godlessclif]

10:35 AM on 09/17/2007

We are still trying to assimilate the Batista fascistss and Mariel criminals from the Cuban jails in South Florida.

Andyboy is right, these are collaborators who sold out their country and want to leave it now that the going is tough. They are not the quality kind of people we want in America.

I would rather take in a million Mexicans who have the guts to sneak across the border for a chance to work than 7,000 of these criminal and traitors.

[Podewumun]

09:21 PM on 09/17/2007

Can you actually FUBAR a FUBAR? That's where we're headed...

[maxcat06]

05:33 AM on 09/17/2007

Bill Maher is right...Americans have become nothing more than fearful people, waiting for the next attack, afraid that someone or something is going to get them.
Now it's the Iraqi refugees, or as some of you put it, AL QUEDA!!!!!!!!
We used to be a nation of brave souls, admired by much of the rest of the world...now we've become a nation of self-obsessed cowards. Iraqis are the new Mexicans.

[godlessclif]

09:52 AM on 09/17/2007

They will have to rewrite that "Land of the free, home of the brave" line in the national anthem.
We have become a nation of ass kissing chicken fuckers.