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From the President’s Desk Bringing New Hope and New Life for Iraqi Refugees I write this the week of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war. Among the unintended consequences of the American intervention, one of the most painful has been the massive displacement of people. As U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres stated in October, “Today, Iraqis…make up the biggest single group of displaced [in the world]. Adding complexity to their sheer numbers, they represent the largest urban refugee group UNHCR has ever dealt with.” UNHCR reckons some 2.2 million Iraqis forcibly displaced within Iraq, and a similar number displaced as refugees outside Iraq, mainly in Syria and Jordan. In recent weeks, a number of American humanitarian workers have been assessing the dire situation in Syria and Jordan. One reports never having seen such a traumatized population: 70 percent have witnessed a car bombing and a quarter have been kidnapped. A Refugees International and Refugee Council USA mission reports that Iraqis in Syria and Jordan are increasingly destitute: “Without income, adequate levels of aid, and immediate third country resettlement opportunities, some have returned to Iraq.” A senior International Rescue Committee leader reports that “virtually all the Iraqi refugees have been traumatized and are now living in vulnerable situations. There were highly publicized returns in late 2007, but these have not continued, and many of those who returned have fled again.” The World Council of Churches (WCC) notes that although all religious communities are affected by displacement and need aid, Christians are suffering disproportionately: “Although Christians represent only four percent of Iraq’s population, they make up 40 percent of its refugees. Their fate speaks twice, informing overseas churches about both the general humanitarian needs in Iraq and the urgency of saving Iraq’s Christian communities.” U.S. response remains ineffectual. UNHCR has appealed for $261 million for Iraqi refugees for 2008. The United States has contributed $83 million, but the remainder is largely unsubscribed. Even if we were to fund the entire appeal, that would be a tiny fraction of spending for the war. On the resettlement side, the pitifully small U.S. response is increasing only slightly. In fiscal year 2007, we admitted 1,608 Iraqi refugees out of a pledge of 7,000. So far in 2008, just over 2,000 have been admitted against a pledge of 12,000. America’s paralysis was illustrated at a March 11 House hearing. Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) said the Bush administration and Congress have “a moral responsibility” to provide $500 million next year for food and financial support for the refugees because “we cannot deny that the proximate cause of this human tragedy is the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.” He said the United States cannot afford to ignore the refugee situation, as it did in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Soviet Union, because “these vast numbers of refugees will produce the terrorists of the future unless they are treated in a way that is respectful and dignified and humanitarian.” But Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) argued that U.S. aid might deter Iraqi refugees from going home, where those who aided the U.S. military and other refugees could be essential to building democracy. The LIRS board and senior staff had a glimpse of a brighter vision for Iraqi refugees during our study visit to Phoenix in January. We met with five Iraqis recently resettled in Arizona through LIRS and Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest. All were extraordinarily grateful to be safe and to be starting a new life. One particularly stands out, though not literally. This young man is confined to a wheelchair. In Iraq he had to stay indoors for years on end with hardly any access to medical treatment. Now, after only a few months in the United States, he has medical care, has learned English and is enrolled in community college. His brilliant mind has been liberated. As LIRS Executive Vice President Annie Wilson summed it up, “The LIRS tagline—Bringing New Hope and New Life—is being lived out in that man.”
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