Obama, McCain Skirt Iraqi Refugee Issue

Every couple of weeks an email from Baghdad pops up in Iraq War veteran Joey Coon's inbox at his home in Washington, D.C. It's Coon's 23-year-old Iraqi interpreter, nicknamed Dash, pleading for help to get out of Iraq and into the United States. Dash feels in constant grave danger that he and his family will be killed because of his work with American troops.

"People like Dash put their lives on the line to help keep people like me and my friends and fellow soldiers and Iraqi civilians safe," said Coon. "It was a very admirable, heroic thing that he did, I think, and I do feel that both soldiers and the American people in general have a certain responsibility here."

That responsibility, however, is one that is more or less being shirked off by the presidential campaigns. While both candidates hotly debate each other's plans for withdrawing or maintaining troop levels in Iraq, virtually nothing is being said about the 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced by the war or about the tens of thousands of Iraqis like Dash who feel at immediate risk for having worked with the Americans. Even less is being said about how the incoming administration will deal with the humanitarian crisis still evolving.

That's why Coon and veterans like him are working harder than ever to mount a national campaign to save the lives of their interpreters by bringing them to the United States. Although there has been some progress recently made in establishing special immigrant visas for Iraqis who worked for Americans, the process of getting these Iraqis to the United States continues to be filled with long, bureaucratic delays. As papers get shuffled, untold thousands of Iraqis are left in danger.

Dash "sends me heartbreaking emails, frequently," Coon said. "He is frantic to get out of that situation. Every day is a struggle, and every day he's worried for his life."

An email from May 28 reads: "...brother please don't forget me, please do you best to me, i am your brother and you are my only hope in my life."

Dash has spent the last year living on the run, careful whom he talks to and always on the look out for those who want to kill him for his involvement with the U.S. military. His family and most of his friends have since abandoned him.

The unwillingness of the presidential candidates to fully confront this Iraqi refugee crisis, in the opinion of some experts, is nothing less than an act of dangerous denial.

"This is going to be a major issue," said Kirk Johnson, who worked for USAID in Iraq and subsequently founded the List Project to resettle Iraqi employees in the United States. "I think for whoever enters the White House, there is no more immediate opportunity that exists to send a signal to the Arab world and to the rest of the world and to those of us in our country, that after eight years of President Bush and after the difficulties that we faced in Iraq, that our moral compass hasn't be shattered. But that we can still see our friends and allies as our friends and allies, not as terrorists... If they are allowed to die or just be left behind, I don't see how anybody could think we could win a heart or mind in Fallujah or Ramadi or Baghdad. It's one of the most clear moral urgencies that the war has presented."

While McCain has put the Iraq War at the center of his campaign, he studiously avoids any real discussion of the humanitarian crisis. His campaign has denied repeated requests for an interview on this topic. His campaign website makes no mention of how he will address the needs of Iraqis who helped American troops and who are now in danger. Nor does it mention the broader issue of the more than 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced by the war.

Obama has also said relatively little about this issue. His campaign's immigration policy chair, however, claims that the senator is deeply committed to helping Iraqis in danger as a result of the war.

"There is no single issue that any presidential candidate can talk about exclusively," Mariano-Florentino Cuellar said. But Obama, he continued, "has tried to emphasize to the public that in addition to thinking about the impact of the war directly on American security interests, we have a responsibility to think about the humanitarian impact of the war."

Cuellar said that an Obama administration would be committed to trying to expedite the process of granting visas to Iraqis chosen for resettlement in the United States. This would include Iraqis like Dash who have worked for the American troops and therefore qualify for a special immigrant visa (SVI). The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, passed last January, allows for 5,000 SIVs a year for the next five years and was intended to clear away many of the obstacles that delay the visa granting process. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced guidelines for the SIVs July 9. The problem is the process is still a bureaucratic nightmare. As of April 30, only 636 Iraqis have received SIVs, according to the State Department.

Cuellar said that the process for resettling Iraqis takes time, energy and a consideration for security concerns, but that an Obama administration would probably do "a lot better than we have been doing."

Coon met Dash about half way through his tour of Iraq in 2005. Dash, whose real name cannot be given for security reasons, would help Coon and the other Americans by talking to local Iraqis to get information on the area. Anti-American Iraqis view interpreters such as Dash as traitors for helping the occupation. Interpreters have had their homes bombed, their family members kidnapped. Hundreds of interpreters have been killed since the start of the war.

Dash had a 15-year-old relative named Adnon who would occasionally help the U.S. troops by warning them of any insurgent activity. "He was a nice kid, and we had a great relationship," Coon said, "and because of the friendship we built, he would sometimes warn us of danger."

In December 2005, insurgents kidnapped the boy and his 10-year-old brother, beheaded them and threw their bodies outside the gate of the Americans' camp. The intelligence team told Coon that the kids were killed because Adnon was friendly with American troops and actively tried to protect them and his own family.

"That just tells you a little bit about how intolerant these vicious insurgents [are], how brutal they can be and how intolerant they are of people who in any way help Coalition forces," Coon said.

Coon's unit eventually left the area, which is about 40 miles north of Baghdad. Dash stayed to work with other units, but he soon quit out of fear of being murdered. Yet just because he stopped working for the Americans doesn't mean he is safe. Dash is still known as a person who helped the Americans and he is therefore at risk. "He can't escape the danger," Coon said.

For the past nine months, Coon has tried to help Dash get a visa to come to the United States. It has been a long, overwhelming process filled with infuriating obstacles. Dash, for example, must sign original documents and mail them back to Coon and his lawyer in the United States. But in many of the villages in Iraq, there is no working postal service.

The two friends struggle to communicate, Dash often unable to get cellphone access in the villages. Coon will send an email, which Dash can eventually check, but the interpreter does not have a strong enough grasp of English to understand words like "scan" or "PDF."

Coon is hopeful that his immigration lawyer will succeed in resettling Dash in the United States. But he says he wishes the administration would recognize America's responsibility to these Iraqis who risked their lives for American troops and make the process of getting here easier. For now, Coon's only real connection to his friend back in Iraq is an occasional email. One from April reads: "...my Dream...lives there in U.S with my Good friends without fear and i hope my Dream come soon."

UPDATE: The immigration policy chair for Barack Obama's campaign, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, has responded to this article: "As Senator Obama has said, America has a moral and security responsibility to confront Iraq's humanitarian crisis. That's why the campaign has called for at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries and an international working group to address the crisis."

Comments

[zanzig]

FYI Americans, Australia has taken 10,000 Iraqi refugees, all of whom were people who worked with our Defence Forces, and their families. It's not that hard.

[S1m0n]

Nobody likes a Quisling, and when you interpret for the occupying army, that's what you are.

Everytime American soldiers smashed their way into some Iraqis house, an interpreter was there. Everytime some soldier decided it was too complicated figuring what was what and the easiest thing to do is to haul some Iraqi off to Abu Ghraib and let them figure it out, some Iraqi interpreter was there, and it was his translation that lead that did it. If you or your husband or son got tortured because of this, who are you going to blame?

The thing is, the promises the soldiers gave their interpreters are rarely if ever kept. Who'd want to take them home and make the US citizens? They're traitors, for pete's sake. Someone willing to betray one nation will be willing to betray two. That's not a very desireable trait in a potential citizen.

[AmZakiy]

I would like to point out that many whose families had been killed or tortured by Saddam's regime were thrilled when he was taken out of power, and signed up to help rebuild the country. Please do not label everyone in this category a "traitor" (especially if you have not spent any time at Abu Ghraib yourself, as I happen to have, and heard the U.S. soldiers you work with describe what their interpreters were saying about how glad they were to help after what Saddam had done to their families).

[S1m0n]

No doubt they were, or at least some of them. However, what they thought then is not going to make a lick of difference to how other Iraqis see them now.

And the result is that they're going to face the same fate that the US's vietnamese collaborators met: that's what always happens, and it always happens for the same reason.

[Ides]

The reality? We have to let in a bunch of Iraqis into this country, and it's going to be a security risk, but it's our responsibility more than anyone else's.

[newworldman777]

Over 5 million Iraqis are now displaced, with 2.5 million having fled the country. While a small country like Sweden (9 million people) has welcomed 40,000 refugees, America (300 million) has allowed only a fraction of that amount to immigrate. Considering the fact that war-mongering neocon "leaders" in America started this Iraq War fiasco, we as Americans should be shamed.

Undoubtedly, many Americans would be very reluctant to allow a large influx of Muslims to immigrate and settle in our "Christian" nation. This attitude harks of a similar situation in the 1930s, when America was reluctant to allow a large influx of Jews to immigrate from Europe. The resulting holocaust left us with such guilt feelings, that we leaned toward supporting the reestablishment of Israel in 1948. We are much more involved with this refugee crisis, since we created it; therefore, we have a huge responsibility that we are shirking. Again, America should be ashamed.

[zeesean]

Many of these Iraqi refugees are CHRISTIANS! I think chuches should be encouraged to
become involved in some sort of rescue effort. As for tahe Iraqi refugees who happen to be Muslim, they ougt to be given an option to convert either to Judaism, Christianity, Morminism, Buddhism,
Hinduism, or any other creed that gets good press in the US media. Then they too would become
eligible for a normal life as human beings. If they refuse to convert, then they should be lett to rot
in the refugee camps for the rest of their natural lives like many others from their region have been
for the past 60 years.

[texastornado]

If America was ever invaded by a powerful military occupation that killed thousands or millions of my countrymen and destroyed my country and to have some Americans collaborate and spy for the occupiers I would classify them as traitors. That is what this "dash" person is to the citizens of Iraq. He sees the writing on the wall where Maliki wants the invaders out and sees his days numbered. I hope the Iraquis find him and try him as a traitor and hang the SOB.

[dwwright99]

I think this just shows how non-powerful the US Presidency can actually be. Congress would have to increase that number of 5,000 SVIs before any real change would happen. If Obama or McCain as prsident pushed Congress on this, would it really help? I don't know. A new President starts with a great deal of political 'capital', but is this important enough to the wider public to 'spend' it on? I can't see it happening...

[strangelet]

Well, it would be a start if the bureaucrac­y/security folks would actually *use* the 5,000 SIV's per year that are already authorized. At the rate of the first four months, they'll only issue 2,000 visas in 2008.

I also think it would have been nice if Mr. Cuellar had actually responded to the issue of SIV's, rather than with boilerplate remarks. And it would have been good if the McCain campaign had responded to the issue at all.