Henry J. Stern
Monday, August 27, 2007
On rare occasions, we hear a story so upsetting that we want to let everyone
know about it. Last night 60 Minutes aired a report on Iraqis,
some of whom are now refugees, who were employed by the United States forces
as translators, guides and in other positions. They now fear they will
be murdered when U.S. forces leave Iraq. To us, this issue is independent
of whether you approve of the war in Iraq or the way it was conducted.
From the 60 Minutes
website:
"Left Behind. Thousands of Iraqis who helped the U.S. in Iraq as translators,
office help and construction workers are now being labeled 'collaborators'
by the insurgents. Many want to come to America because their lives
are at risk, but they are having a hard time." A clip from the show
has been posted on the CBS News website.
According to program, for 150,000 Iraqis seeking admission to the United
States, only 7000 slots have been set aside and most of them have not been
filled. This contrasts with the exodus from South Vietnam, when at
President Ford's direction, we admitted about 135,000 Vietnamese who had
been involved with Americans betweem April 30, when Saigon fell, and October
1975. They feared revenge and 're-education' in Communists prison camps.
Many of them became American citizens and raised families here.
Since 2004, when there was a controversy about documents relating to President
Bush and the Air National Guard, what you see on 60 Minutes cannot be taken
as an absolute. But if the Iraq story is even half true, and it is
likely to be far more than that, it appears to us that a great injustice is
being done. We invade a country and ask its people to help us.
If they do, they may put their lives and families at risk. At some
point we are likely to leave Iraq. Should we leave our friends behind
to be killed for helping Americans to fight for Iraqi freedom?
This episode evokes the aftermath of Gulf War I, when Bush 41 urged the
marsh Arabs in southern Iraq to revolt against Saddam Hussein, and did nothing
to help when they were slaughtered and the marshes drained. .
The Assistant Secretary of State who appeared on the program to defend U.S,
policy said that since 9/11, it has become important to check people out to
see if they were part of Al-Qaeda, and that this process took time.
The situation is described in detail in an extraordinary article published
in The New Yorker, yes, the New Yorker, on March 26, 2007. The author
is
George
Packer and the title is "BETRAYED: The Iraqis who trusted America the
most. Link to the fascinating piece by clicking
here.
It is 19 pages long, probably too long for many of you to read. Those
of us who cannot or will not go to Iraq should read as much of the article
as they can. It is gripping, and very well written.
If you have an opinion on this subject and are willing to share it with
us, please e-mail
StarQuest@nycivic.org.
Since
John J. Anthony said
that there are two sides to every story, we would particularly like to hear
from those who think the State Department is correct in excluding from the
United States the great majority of Iraqi refugees who assisted American
forces.
We want to discover the opinion of as many of our readers as possible, so
you can just write 'Let Them In', 'Keep Them Out', or express any intermediate
position. Let us know what you think.
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