Obama’s Plans to help Iraqi Allies Fall Short of Promises

Malik’s* family raised chickens and honey bees in Iraq. He and his eldest son also served as interpreters for the U.S. Army until insurgents kidnapped his son and used explosives to destroy their 10,000 chickens and 56 bee hives. After paying a ransom to get his son back, Musadaq and his wife, along with their son, came to America on a Special Immigration Visa (SIV) reserved for Iraqis who have been helping the US.

I met Malik in Washington, D.C. last Thursday at a hearing sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also known as the Helsinki Commission.  “No Way Home, No Way to Escape: the Plight of Iraqi Refugees and Our Iraqi Allies” was hosted by U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the OSCE, and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL). 

The purpose of the hearing was to review our efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraqi refugees and assess our government’s strategy for assisting U.S. affiliated Iraqis who face increased risk as the withdrawal of U.S. forces accelerates.  I regret to say, the situation looks bleak.

After opening remarks by Congressmen Hastings reminded us that this is the largest displacement of individuals in the Middle East since 1948, the Honorable Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration addressed the commission.  Mr. Schwartz restated Obama’s campaign promise that we “will keep faith with those Iraqis who kept faith with us” by continuing our current funding levels of humanitarian assistance—which reached almost $400 million in FY2009—and by keeping the US resettlement program for Iraqis up and running.  As of June 30th, 48,124 Iraqi refugees have been resettled in the United States.

While this in itself is good news, it falls short of really “keeping faith.” The SIV program designed to resettle our allies’ remains a slow, bureaucratic labyrinth resettling only 2,100 Iraqis to date--much less than the 15,000 visas allowed.  Average processing time still remains at close to 12 months, which is too long to wait for those in immediate danger.

For the 2.2 million who have left Iraqi, the situation remains critical. Mr. Schwartz went on to testify that security conditions in central Iraq still aren’t stable enough to promote returns. In addition he noted that, while the number of Iraqis fleeing the country has decreased since 2007 the percentage with serious needs has increased to approximately 35 percent of those registered.

In the coming months, the situation could become much worse. As Ambassador Johnstone, President ad interim for Refugees International testified, “by the end of August, the US will have withdrawn nearly half its forces [from Iraq], leaving only 50,000—all of whom are slated to leave by the end of 2011. The drawdown will have a direct impact on the United States and the United Nations’ ability to access vulnerable communities and to provide them with the protection and support they desperately need.”

Mr. Kirk Johnson, Founder and Executive Director of the List Project, spoke passionately of the coming danger. “We know where this road leads. When British forces drew down from southern Iraq just two years ago, militias conducted a systematic manhunt for their former Iraqi employees. 17 interpreters were publically executed in a single massacre; their bodies dumped throughout the streets of Basra.”

On Sunday, the New York Times declared “a deadly campaign of assassinations is under way against political figures, members of Awakening groups and people who had cooperated with Americans.”  When asked specifically by Senator Cardin as to whether or not the “Guam Option” was being explored to airlifting at-risk Iraqi allies to Guam for safe-keeping while processing their visas, Mr. Schwartz responded:  “we have a limited capacity to move people at imminent risk…and we don’t anticipate the kind of situation where we would need to implement that kind of option.”

The exact number of Iraqis who have worked for the US since the war began remains unknown. Estimates put it at between 40,000 and 120,000. The creation of a database of all Iraqi employees is a key provision of Congressmen Hastings’ legislation, H.R. 578 which is currently referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law—and is the only current piece of legislation pertaining to the Iraqi refugee crisis.

Congressman Hastings lamented the current mood of congress: “Unfortunately, there has been a shift in focus by congress toward Afghanistan and Pakistan and further away from Iraq.”  He called for our government to “redouble its efforts to ensure effective humanitarian assistance for the displaced, expedite the resettlement process for those who want to come to our country, work with the government of Iraq to ensure that it provides for the needs of its displaced citizens and encourage the international community to do its share to alleviate this regional crisis.” He concluded his remarks with a warning: “We will be hard-pressed to find more help in Afghanistan if the US is seen as quick to abandon its friends.”

I doubt anything said in Thursday’s hearing was of much comfort to Malik who flew in from Arizona with his wife to find help for his adult daughter Farrah and her three children still stuck in Iraq.  Malik worries because his daughter is receiving increased abuse and death threats because of their relation to a known “American collaborator.” While not officially called to testify, he handed out flyers and asked anyone who would listen to look into their case. Sadly, according to the current plans of the Obama Administration, Fatima and her children just have to get in line.

*All Iraqi names have been changed to protect identity.