U.S. DOES LITTLE TO AID PLIGHT OF IRAQI REFUGEES

It's about time that Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, has complained about the dire treatment of Iraqi refugees by the United States government. Crocker has penned a State Department cable complaining about the slowness of processing refugees for entry into the Untied States, Spencer S. Hsu and Robin Wright report today in The Washington Post. More than two million Iraqis have left their homes and fled Iraq mostly to Jordan and Syria. Shamefully the U.S. has accepted only a handful.

Bush, Cheney and Chertoff, head of Homeland Security, think that Iraqi refugees pose a danger of terrorism if allowed into the U.S. And why do they think that? They know the dimensions of the public relations disaster they have caused by their unjustified war and invasion, and they believe the man in the street in Iraq blames them for the destruction of Iraqi society.

We don't hear Bush's question any more whether Iraq is better off now without Saddam, do we? Iraq is so much worse off, when you count the million or so Iraqis killed since the start of the war in 2003, the number of families displaced, the humanitarian refugee crisis, the lack of social and political order, the destruction of a functioning health and welfare systems.

Write Hsu and Wright:

"About 2 million Iraqis are displaced inside Iraq, and an estimated 2.2 million more have fled to Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries, where they are straining local resources and threatening to destabilize host communities, the United Nations has reported. With 60,000 Iraqis fleeing their homes each month, Jordan largely closed its borders to Iraqis earlier this year, and Syria said yesterday that it will begin requiring visas for Iraqis at the conclusion of Ramadan next month, essentially closing off exit routes from the country."

Yet the U.S. has committed to take in only 7,000 refugees for 2007, and the actual number will be about 2,000. Last year, the U.S. took in only about 700.

Destroy a country with bombs and tanks. Tell the world you were "liberators." Then walk away from the carnage. Let the injured population fend for itself in the resulting social chaos and disorder. Show no mercy to would-be refugees.

IRAQI REFUGEES GIVE LIE TO BUSH'S SPIN ON "PROGRESS"

Apparently Bush is satisfied with "progress" being made in Iraq after meeting with Petraeus and Al Maliki on a highly fortified air base in Anbar Province.

If things are so rosy, and if there has been so much discernible progress, how come Syria just announces that it will demand Iraqis have or obtain visas before being allowed to cross into Syria? About 50,000 Iraqis leave Iraq monthly, looking to escape the all-encompassing violence and shootings.

Reports the BBC:

"Syria will require visas from Iraqis wishing to enter the country for trade, economic or educational purposes from September, Iraqi officials have said . . ."

"The UN refugee agency says 1.4 million Iraqi refugees are living in Syria. With the number increasing by an estimated 30,000 every month, Syria's health and education systems are struggling to cope."

You would think that "progress" would be apparent to these refugees before they flee Iraq, and give them some hope about staying put in their own country. But no, the exodus continues, thus giving the lie to Bush's transparent spin. And who would know better about "progress" that the Iraqis who come to the decision that it is not safe living and staying in Iraq.

If Bush thinks there has been progress, then let him stay in Iraq for more than a few hours. Oh, and tell him he can't stay within the confines of the Green Zone or on some highly fortified air force base.

U.S. SHOULD ACCEPT IRAQI REFUGEES

One of the worst results of Bush's illegal and unjustified invasion of Iraq has been the millions of displaced persons and refugees fleeing the violence that has become a daily occurrence in Baghdad and the other major cities. More than one million Iraqis have fled to Syria. Jordan has taken in some 750,000. Even Iran is the home to more than 50,000 Iraqis.

Yet the United States which under Bush started this humanitarian crisis has taken in less than 500 Iraqi refugees. Apparently Bush and Homeland Security Department Michael Chertoff believe it is too dangerous to accept Iraqis. Bush thinks some of them could be "terrorists." No matter that many refugees worked for the U.S. military, or that many are professionals such as medical doctors and lawyers, or that thousands are single women with children, widowed through random violence and/or U.S. military "collateral damage." Bush and Chertoff won't budge.

So the world sees the unspeakable suffering of destitute families and children who have no homes or schools or hope that things are going to get better. All the while, Bush himself is upbeat, confident that history will be kind to him as a "liberator."