Write: Veterans Make Their Voices Heard

 

 

One of the best ways for a veteran (or anyone else) to help our Iraqi allies is to write your elected representatives and local newspapers expressing your concern.  Your weight will rightly carry extra bearing in deference to your service.  Below is a list of key points, a sample letter to a senator or congressperson, and a sample letter for a newspaper.  Note that these are only samples and you should feel free to write what you think and feel on this issue, especially when writing to a paper.  If you are interested in writing an op-ed for your local paper on the subject, please contact us and we can advise you.

 

Key points:

 

-  2.2 million Iraqis are displaced inside Iraq and another 2.2 are refugees.

-  Approximately 110,000 Iraqis have worked for the American government, contractors, or NGOS.

-  As a veteran of the Iraq war, I know that our troops, contractors, and other workers would not have been able to function without the help of these Iraqi allies.

-  These Iraqi allies are branded by many of their countrymen as 'collaborators' and are now the most hunted class in Iraq.

-  This is not a partisan issue.  Important figures from both sides of the aisle have agreed that helping these Iraqis is a moral and national security imperative.

-  There is ample historical precedent for dramatic resettlement efforts during times of conflict, including of Iraqis in 1996.

-  The current bureaucratic bottlenecks are taking a major toll in human life: more of our Iraqi allies are killed every month.

- Note: Anything that you can write to personalize these points with your own experience will be much more effective.