“By the end of 2006, there were almost two million Iraqis living as refugees outside their country—most of them in Syria and Jordan…American policy held that these Iraqis were not refugees, that they would go back to their country as soon as it was stabilized. The U.S. Embassies in Damascus and Amman continued to turn down almost all visa applications from Iraqis. So the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world remained hidden.” – ‘Betrayed‘ by George Packer, The New Yorker
Take this essay to the right-winger who laments over how much of a humanitarian crisis would ensue if we were to leave Iraq. Chances are they won’t be all that moved by it, and think this way because of what I heard about our own refugees from New Orleans after Katrina struck. To expect a white right-winger in this country to shine a spotlight on murder and injustice in far away lands, you’d really have to assume that the politicians they voted for were responsible for creating the problem in the first place. Otherwise, it’s likely to be a cold day in hell before any story like the one I linked to above gets a second of airtime in right-wing world. The entire premise of the piece is offensive to these folks, as our gift of freedom provided by the liberator, should not be used to bad mouth the liberator. “You’ve got problems? I had to pay an extra 15 cents for gas this week, Hispanics are buying up another house two blocks from where I live, and now I can’t even hear Imus on my way to work in the morning…so you see, we’ve all got problems, and if you can’t go back to Iraq, then simply pull yourself up by your sandal-straps and find 2nd and 3rd jobs like the illegals here do.”
Posted by Al Swearengen in Words