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| Iraq |
| US to resettle 1,350 Iraqi-Palestinian refugees |
| 2009-07-10 |
| [Jerusalem Post Middle East] The US State Department confirmed Tuesday that as many as 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians - once well-treated guests of Saddam Hussein and now estranged from Iraqi society - will be resettled in the US, mostly in southern California, starting this fall, the Christian Science Monitor reported. It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US - and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948, but who have had a tough time since Hussein was ousted in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shi'ites, the Palestinians, mostly Sunni Muslims, have spent recent years in one of the region's roughest refugee camps, Al Waleed, near Iraq's border with Syria in the west. "Really for the first time, the United States is recognizing a Palestinian refugee population that could be admitted to the US as part of a resettlement program," Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch in Washington told CSM. Considering that the US in the past was reluctant to resettle Palestinians - only seven were accepted in 2007 and only nine in 2008 - the effort could become a point of contention between Israel and the US. For many in the State Department and international community, the resettlement is part of a moral imperative the US has to clean up the refugee crisis created by invading Iraq. The US has already stepped up resettlement of Iraqis, some whom have struggled to adjust to life in America. The resettlement of Iraqi Palestinians is "an important gesture for the United States to demonstrate that we're not heartless," Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations and Middle Eastern studies at New York University told the publication. But some critics say the State Department is sloughing off its problems onto American cities, especially since in this case the Palestinians were sympathizers of the Iraqi tyrant. "This is politically a real hot potato," said Mark Krikorian, director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, adding, "America has become a dumping ground for the State Department's problems - they're tossing their problems over their head into Harrisburg, Pa., or Omaha, Neb." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #28 Give all of them a one way ticket to Alaska. Honestly, if every single person in Gaza moved to Alaska in September, Israel would be better off right away, and all of the Gazans that survived to April would have learned to be polite to their neighbors. |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-07-10 23:14 |
| #27 'the acceptable level of violence' in your neighborhood. We have enough Somalis, Saudis, etc (Chaldeans seem to be a welcome exception) that demand their own cultural rights upon touching down. We've had enough. My point is, they can f*ck off and enjoy the consequences of their behavior...OVER THERE. Or LH can accept them in HIS home |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-07-10 22:16 |
| #26 This is crazy, lunatism. |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2009-07-10 22:07 |
| #25 I am thinking that a dude here who goes sudden jihad syndrome, grabs a gun and kills one lady at a Jewish center. Or falls for some FBI outreach. In the ME he puts on a suicide belt and kills a hundred. Ah yes - the 'acceptable level of violence' school. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-07-10 22:01 |
| #24 I suppose this is being payed for with US tax dollars? I remember a bill pass a while ago to fud this. Great, we are paying travel for the terrorists... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-07-10 21:32 |
| #23 LH - let em resettle with you if you're so sure of their melting-pot status. These were the bastards Saddam used as his own "Basiji". F*ck em. Let the Iraqis deal with them in their own vengeful way. Perhaps it would persuade the next round of Paleos/Hamas/Hezb mercenaries from shipping out to work for the Mullahs |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-07-10 19:16 |
| #22 liberal hawk does have a point. Nonetheless, I'm glad they aren't mostly being resettled in my part of the world. Mitch, in Dearborn they sponsor an orphan child through Hamas, Hizb'allah or that Green something organization in Pakistan -- the boys' school whose British-born headmaster suddenly disappeared for points unknown. Which means, as liberal hawk points out, someone becomes a suicide-wallah "out there" and kills many, rather than grabbing a gun to kill a few Americans. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-07-10 17:25 |
| #21 "liberal hawk, you harbor a touching confidence in American exceptionalism. " I confess I do. I also guess, I am biased here. I am thinking that a dude here who goes sudden jihad syndrome, grabs a gun and kills one lady at a Jewish center. Or falls for some FBI outreach. In the ME he puts on a suicide belt and kills a hundred. |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-07-10 17:05 |
| #20 They should be settled around Bill Frelick's house, in whatever state he lives in. |
| Posted by: Bob 2009-07-10 16:27 |
| #19 You don't take a hateful viper to your chest and *not* expect to get bitten - and this is a poisionous viper. If anything this will 'poison' the muslim population and make things worse. What about the Iraqi translators, interpreters, and others who helped us out? Are they still on the sh*t list? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-07-10 16:03 |
| #18 liberal hawk, you harbor a touching confidence in American exceptionalism. I can't say my faith in the transubstantive powers of an American green card is nearly as strong as yours is. Part of what has made the American Muslim immigrant community so relatively benign in comparison with European counter-examples has been the effect of voluntary selection - they chose to come here. Those that didn't do so - such as the Somali refugees settled in the upper Midwest in the Nineties - have had an unusually high incidence of Sudden Jihad Syndrome compared to, oh, say, the Dearborn or Toledo or Lorrain communities. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-07-10 15:34 |
| #17 Why do I have a feeling that when they do come here and ensconce themselves in the Californian life, they will still call themselves refugees. And there'll be plenty of folks who will agree with them. |
| Posted by: Rawsnacks 2009-07-10 15:21 |
| #16 Frank G., you must be one of the few people here with a functioning boggle. The Magic Blue Smoke® escaped from mine long ago. |
| Posted by: Angeck Barnsmell4965 2009-07-10 15:09 |
| #15 Where do you think they will go? Jordan? Lebanon? All places where they are destabilizing. Here they will just meld into the larger muslim immigrant community and get caught up in making money. yeah, I really think US society is more effective at making groups less dangerous than anything else, short of prison (which they apparently arent go to) |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-07-10 15:07 |
| #14 I think getting these people out of the ME is probably a good idea. They are less dangerous to us here boggle |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-07-10 14:17 |
| #13 id rather bin laden settled in Brooklyn. I think that would eliminate the problem pretty quickly. |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-07-10 13:56 |
| #12 I am with Trailing Wife of this one. These guys were among Saddam's most loyal enforcers. After Saddam's fall they almost all became part of the "insurgency" including AQI. To let them in is complete madness. We might as well let bin Laden settle in Southern California. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2009-07-10 13:53 |
| #11 I dunno, TW, sounds like they took advantage of privileges they were offered by a tyrant, in what was for them a difficult position. Its not human nature to turn down privileges like that, and in the case of Saddams Iraq, it would have been dangerous. I've read enough Jewish history to know that Jews in the middle ages and later were quick to accept the protection of a king or nobles, and often in return to do their dirty work. I think getting these people out of the ME is probably a good idea. They are less dangerous to us here, and more likely to be turned into entrepreneurs and otherwise useful citizens in the US than anywhere else in the world. Of COURSE they should be watched for terrorists in their midst. |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-07-10 13:52 |
| #10 Saddam Hussein used his pet Palestinians (and they pretty much were his personal property) as enforcers. This is why, along with the special privileges he gave them by taking from individual Iraqis, they were universally loathed. Recall, after the 2003 invasion, the entire Palestinian community ended up huddled in a football stadium in Baghdad while they awaited permission to escape to Syria or wherever. These are not civilized people deserving our succor, but vicious beasts who would fit in beautifully in Gaza... except they probably haven't any welcoming cousins there. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-07-10 13:46 |
| #9 Middle of the Mojave, is it? Well, they'll feel right at home in that stinking desert, I suppose. |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-07-10 10:37 |
| #8 This can't end well. |
| Posted by: Don Vito Crolutle2068 2009-07-10 09:50 |
| #7 Pro: I know a guy whose family were refugees from East Prussia. We *did* take in those refugees, those that didn't want to stay in West Germany. This Palestinian crap, on the other hand, is for the birds. Even if the aspiring terrorist percentage is as low as five percent, that's still a hell of a lot of chaos to be buying. Look at that asshole who killed those recruiters in Arkansas - the FBI was all over him like white on rice, and he still managed to kill people. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-07-10 09:11 |
| #6 Attention Paleos...Barry is set'n you up! Seismic activity in California picking up dramatically in the last 24 hours. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-07-10 08:27 |
| #5 Will the sons and daughters of Silisian Germans, ethnically cleansed by the Poles and Soviets from their ancestral lands in the same time period, get a freebee to immigrate to the US beyond the quotas? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-07-10 07:55 |
| #4 Promise them jobs did he? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-07-10 07:15 |
| #3 Refugees? Since 1948? Incredible! If Obama wants to play this game, what about the mass-millions who became refugees in 1945 & after, resulting from Russian communist invasions, forced 'resettlement' & Soviet enslavement? |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2009-07-10 05:10 |
| #2 ...a bankrupt, now POW state? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2009-07-10 00:14 |
| #1 Mor to help california along. Pure genius. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-07-10 00:14 |