Thanks to the Bush Administration, Iraq is officially hell. Not only have some 655,000 to 1,000,000 Iraqis been killed by Bush’s war, but millions more have been forced to flee their homes. Now, the majority of Iraq’s provinces have decided to cut off their means of escape.
As reported in today’s Guardian:
According to aid officials, 10 out of 18 of Iraq’s governorates are denying entry to civilians trying to escape the fighting or denying them aid once they have arrived, or both. An 11th, Babylon, also tried to shut out displaced families in recent months but was persuaded by the central government in Baghdad to relent for the time being.
Even in their own country, the desperate Iraqis are being told they are not wanted.
Meanwhile:
With the imposition of visa restrictions by Jordan and Syria, hitherto the main destination for Iraqi refugees, those seeking safety from Iraq’s ceaseless bloodshed have virtually run out of options.
“There are more and more makeshift camps in abysmal conditions, with terrible sanitation and water supply, very little or no healthcare, and no schools,” Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said yesterday.
The article says about 4,500,000 Iraqis- a sixth of the population- have been forced to flee their homes, since Bush started the war. Last year, the British granted exactly 30 of 745 Iraqi asylum requests. Last year, we accepted an astonishing 535 Iraqi refugees. Yes, we’ve made their world hell, but don’t expect us to accept any responsibility for it. That would be to admit that something’s wrong, over there. Which Bush will never do.
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for your excellent reporting.
I have no words beyond that – one can but state the obvious.
path we’ve taken between us,is it?
The UK has refinements to its irresponsible practices too. We deport people whose lives are clearly in danger to the tender mercies of regimes who have provided Her Majesty’s Government with a “Memorandum of Understanding” that they will not torture or kill them.
So that’ll be OK.
U.S. in Iraq as translators, drivers, etc. Great Britain has changed its immigration policy to permit people who worked for the Brits in Iraq to immigrate to Britain. Not so, the U.S.
Check out the UNHCR’s (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) website for detailed information on Iraq’s refugee crisis.
Human Rights Watch on the crisis.
Amnesty’s report from a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve got a diary up on dK that mentions the refugee crisis as one of the major human rights issues in Iraq.
Of the more than 2 million Iraqi refugees created by the invasion and occupation of Iraq, only 800 have so far been allowed to emigrate to the U.S. by the Bush Administration.
You definitely have wonder why they are so scared of people who are so ecstatic at being liberated.
The Iraqis Have A Word: “Sahel”:
horrendous. Thank you for this, Turkana, now to get it into mainstream media.
Here are current statistics and more information:
Dead Iraqis: 1,066,817
Just Foreign Policy (estimate)
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org
Iraqi Refugees: 4 million; 2.2 million vacated internally
since 2003 Iraqi Refugees
Iraqi Refugees Internally: 1.1 million
since start of troop surge Internal Refugees
and
Dead U.S. Soldiers: 3,801
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
U.S. Wounded: 27,936
See Wounded
Cost of War: $458,487,217,319
National Priorities Project