TLP in the news: Washington Post Article on Congressional Testimony

Walter Pincus featured TLP in a Washington Post article on Monday. Pincus discussed the struggles of streamlining the bureaucratic process to bring over Iraqi refugees despite maximum effort that is being expended. Congressional testimony from Wednesday's hearing in which TLP's Kirk Johnson and Iraqi refugees detailed frustrations of the process was highlighted:

Ibrahim [an Iraqi refugee who testified] said a new program, passed this year by Congress, opened up processing in Baghdad instead of requiring people to get to Syria or Jordan to be interviewed.

But, he added, the State Department coordinators in Baghdad are understaffed, don't have enough resources to process applications and require applicants to come inside the Green Zone -- though there are not enough staff members to escort them through checkpoints.

"This has led to a Catch-22. A mechanism for people to escape Iraq has been created, but only those with sufficient connections to enter the Green Zone can take advantage of it," he said.

TLP commends the Washington Post for bringing attention to the issue and would like to recognize the efforts of the small State department team working to process Iraqis through the Baghdad Embassy. As Johnson emphasized in his congressional testimony on Wednesday:

We have had very welcome and positive interaction...with the recently arrived refugee coordinator at the Baghdad embassy, who has been tasked with implementing the Kennedy legislation instruction to begin in-country processing for U.S. affiliated Iraqis.

Her efforts, and those of the very small team working with her, are without question commendable. We must not forget the harrowing circumstances in which they labor. Their laudable work on the ground, however, has not been accorded the resources necessary to successfully implement this legislation.

Furthermore, TLP has learned that the embassy's refugee coordinator and her the team has recently taken concrete steps to overcome some of the logistical pitfalls faced by Iraqis seeking interviews.

In his testimony, Johnson went on to clarify where the responsibility lies for effectively streamlining a successful processing effort:

[T]he State Department needs access, logistics and support to help the Iraqis that are in-country....Congress has expressed its intent. You guys have been trying to address this issue, but I think the responsibility relies with the president...I can't come to any other conclusion that this is a low priority or a non-priority from the White House. It's been a priority for Congress, but in the absence of any word from the president on this, I think that the bureaucracies don't have the force and the will from the president to act.

Visit the White House website and ask why nothing has been done or even said on an issue that affects our national security, moral standing, and leadership role in the world.

TLP on the Hill

On Wednesday, June 11, the congressional committee, the US Helsinki Commission chaired by Congressman Alcee Hastings and Senator Benjamin Cardin, hosted a hearing with The List Project. The testimony is available here and below are select quotations.

In reference to the personnel at the new in-country processing facility, enacted by the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, founder of The List Project, Kirk Johnson, had this to say:

Their laudable work on the ground, however, has not been accorded the resources necessary to successfully implement this legislation. Iraqis are granted interviews but accessing those interviews is a Herculean challenge. Our lawyers have had to tap informal networks of colleagues working as contractors and federal employees in the Green Zone who do not work at the State Department but assist the process by escorting Iraqis through checkpoints and into the Palace. It is safe to say that without these connections that we retain due to our own service in Iraq, the Iraqis on the List would be unable to reach their interviews.

"Ibrahim," an Iraqi working for USAID who Kirk Johnson helped relocate to the US, had this to say:

USAID had Foreign Service National Committee that represented the Iraqi staff. I was a member of that committee. When the first Iraqis were killed because they worked for the United States, the FSN Committee asked the US to stop exposing us to needless dangers. For example, our identity was never protected. our photos and names were available on USAID websites, which anyone could access. Soon our photos, names and addresses were more public to Iraqis than the US effort to reconstruct Iraq.

Feature: Iraq Action Days in Washington, DC

From April 14 to 16, a diverse coalition of non-profit organizations sponsored a conference on the worsening Iraqi refugee crisis. The goal of the three-day activity was to raise awareness concerning the dire situation faced by refugees, mobilize support for concrete action, provide resources for citizens involvement and offer policy recommendations. Consensus was reach on several topics:

* Vulnerable Iraqis who are in Iraq or who have fled to neighboring countries are in immediate and urgent need of the most basic humanitarian assistance.
* The United States should strengthen support to non-governmental organizations assisting vulnerable Iraqis and should fund at least 50 percent of amounts requested in appeals from international organizations providing humanitarian support to Iraqis.
* Many displaced Iraqis will never be able to return home safely. The United States should expedite the resettlement of vulnerable Iraqis and vastly increase the number admitted.
* The United States should significantly increase humanitarian assistance to countries hosting Iraqi refugees to ease the strain on their national systems, as well as press Iraq and other countries to also respond generously to meet these needs.

On the policy forum website, you can view refugee profiles, follow links to contact your senator, or read in-depth articles on the crisis.

News: Congress and the Iraqi Refugee Crisis

This past Tuesday, the mayor of Södertälje, a city in Sweden, testified before Congress on Sweden's handling of the Iraqi refugee crisis. The mayor, Anders Lago, spoke with presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, who Anders reports as saying:

"He said word for word that he was ashamed that the United States didn't take greater responsibility for Iraqi refugees. Then he praised Sweden and Södertälje for how we've dealt with the issue."

Anders also testified that the city of Södertälje, a city of 80,000, has settled more Iraqi refugees than the entire US and Canada combined.

On the same day as Anders testimony, senators Joe Biden and Ed Kennedy sent a proposal to the White House outlining their vision of ameliorating the crisis. Congressional Quarterly reports that the senators seek to establish a coordinator for Iraqi refugee affairs, increase financing of UN refugee operations from approximately 25% to 50%, and increase the pace of US refugee resettlement to meet the 12,000 goal.

In Focus: The British Plan to Airlift 1,500 Iraqi Refugees

Last week, we first highlighted Britain's announcement to airlift 1,500 Iraqis (British armed forces interpreters and their families) to the United Kingdom. Because this is such an important development in addressing the Iraqi refugee situation, it is necessary to provide a more in-depth examination of the topic.

According to a UPI article from February 16, interpreters must prove that they worked for British personnel for 12 continuous months to be eligible. The provision also requires that Iraqis show that they worked with British personnel since 2005.

Iraqis granted asylum will receive free housing and benefits to assist in the resettlement process. Ishbel Matheson of Minority Rights Group International penned an op-ed on the resettlement plan in which she described a British precedent for taking in thousands of refugees during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts. Matheson goes on argue that the plan does not go far enough and charges that it is an attempt by the British government to deflect negative criticism associated with the Iraq War. Regardless of the motivations behind Britain's new policy, this is clearly a step in the right direction.

This week EU lawmakers released a report that seemed to support increased assistance to resettling Iraqi refugees in Europe:

The EU should make it easier for Iraqis to find refuge in its member states and scrap "arbitrary criteria to granting protection and prevent any forced return," the report said.

And in a congressional hearing on Tuesday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman William Delahunt had strong words regarding America's obligation to do more:

"This sad reality imposes a moral responsibility on this administration and this congress, for we cannot deny that the proximate cause of this human tragedy is the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath."

With the British airlift due to commence in April, and increasing sentiment that we cannot continue to turn our backs on Iraqi allies, it is time that we turn rhetoric into policy. Everyday that we delay, Iraqi allies who risked their lives to help American colleagues are in greater danger. Perhaps a US-sponsored airlift in the near future is the only way to reach the State Department's stated goal of admitting 12,000 Iraqi refugees into the US for FY 2008.