The situation is almost too depressing to think about, but here's a bunch of information on the subject from the National Security Network, including the point that refugees from Iraq are now almost 10 percent of Jordan's population, a situation that's not really sustainable and that certainly indicates they won't be able to accept many more refugees without things totally going to hell. Not only is the United States famously being extremely stingy with the number of refugees we accept into our borders, but we're doing essentially nothing to direct support the refugees in the region or the countries hosting them.
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Iraq's Refugees
02 Oct 2007 08:17 pm
Comments (11)
When did Jordan become an innocent bystander to this; it was a base for Baathist insurgents almost from the outset of the war; one of it's
major Salafist preachers, Maqdisi, was a mentor
to Musab al Zarquawi; among those who visited
hell upon Iraq was former L.A. resident and Jordanian national Rael el Banna; who blew himself in Hillah, after failing to get a re-entry
visa to the U.S. In addition, were the jihadist portion of the insurgency to succeed in Iraq; they would most assuredly be encouraged to begin a campaign to topple the Hashemite kingdom, in addition to the Mubarak fiefdom and ultimately the Saud tenancy. I'm all for rescuing the people who helped us out; but many of the Baathists who lived and died by Saddam's graces and even plunked
down coin for the insurgents; not so much.
After all we've done for them, those ingrate Iraqis are fleeing?!
If you think things are bad now, just imagine them after Jordan implodes. We need to direct a lot of foreign aid money the Hashemites direction so they can deal with the temporary influx. We then have to
hope that the much ballyhooed stabilization efforts in the Sunni Triangle will permit the Sunni refugees in Jordan (who are in large part from the Baghdad area) an opportunity to resettle in Iraq before we pull out.
It isn't this cut and dry. DHS can't even get visas from the Syrian government to process these refugees in their country.
There is a process to this, and we obviously can't just load them on plans and boats and ship them to the states. I would hope that the error in such a move is abundantly obvious.
Narciso's answer: invade Jordan.
Then THOSE refugees will move to Syria.
Narciso's answer: invade Syria.
Then THOSE refugees will move to Lebanon.
Narciso's answer: invade Lebanon.
Oops, Israel already did that - twice.
Okay - send them all to Iran.
Narciso's answer: invade Iran.
Hmmm...where have I heard that one before?
I KNOW! Let's send all the refugees from the entire Middle East to the one country in the ME which has money and needs immigrants! ISRAEL!
Generally, Third World countries can be bribed into taking refugees from neighboring countries at much lower cost to the US taxpayer than subsidizing the refugees to live in, say, Minneapolis.
Here's an insane sounding solution, folks:
Stop producing refugees by not destabilizing every country in the world who doesn't like us.
Re Richard Steven Hack
"I KNOW! Let's send all the refugees from the entire Middle East to the one country in the ME which has money and needs immigrants! ISRAEL!"
I am willing to bet that the State of israel will willingly accept any Jewish refugees from Iraq. Now when is the Palestinian Authority going to accept Palestinian refugees from Iraq who are unwelcome in Jordon and Syria?
Re Yglesias
How about the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria? Don't they count for anything?
"It isn't this cut and dry. DHS can't even get visas from the Syrian government to process these refugees in their country.
There is a process to this, and we obviously can't just load them on plans and boats and ship them to the states. I would hope that the error in such a move is abundantly obvious.
Posted by Kevin Sullivan | October 2, 2007 11:22 PM"
A single small town in Norway profiled in the New York Times has taken in more refugees from Iraq than the entire United States. I doubt Norway lacks a process.
Comments closed October 16, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
As I wrote in April 2004:
"As the likelihood grows that someday we'll have to airlift out Iraqis who collaborated with us, we can look forward to a profusion of Iraqi restaurants across America. I hope Iraqi cuisine is tasty, because that may be the only thing we'll get out of our adventure. Of course, the neocons may eventually wonder why they were so enthusiastic for a war that ended up bringing lots of anti-Semites to the U.S."
Posted by Steve Sailer | October 2, 2007 8:45 PM