Whatever happens in Iraq, we must not let Iraqi refugees come here

Maureen C. writes:

Here it comes—the influx of additions to our already large Fifth Column of Muslims—Muslims who are allegedly risking their lives by working in the Green Zone, etc. Despite the reality that they can ONLY work in the Green Zone with the tacit approval of the Shia militia who run the country behind the backs of the clueless American army.

The story appears in the Washington Post, July 22, 2007:

The American ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan C. Crocker, has asked the Bush administration to take the unusual step of granting immigrant visas to all Iraqis employed by the U.S. government in Iraq because of growing concern that they will quit and flee the country if they cannot be assured eventual safe passage to the United States.

Crocker’s request comes as the administration is struggling to respond to the flood of Iraqis who have sought refuge in neighboring countries since sectarian fighting escalated early last year. The United States has admitted 133 Iraqi refugees since October, despite predicting that it would process 7,000 by the end of September.

“Our [Iraqi staff members] work under extremely difficult conditions, and are targets for violence including murder and kidnapping,” Crocker wrote Undersecretary of State Henrietta H. Fore. “Unless they know that there is some hope of an [immigrant visa] in the future, many will continue to seek asylum, leaving our Mission lacking in one of our most valuable assets.”

Maureen adds:

It is almost tempting to keep the US Army in Iraq forever, if it will keep out the tsunami of jihadi “Iraqis” that the State Dept. wants to add to the Fifth Column of jihadis already in the U.S.

If readers think that Maureen and I sound too harsh, let me remind them of what I said recently:

To say … that the moral response to the ruin of Iraq is to ruin America is insane. Even if the Iraq mess were all our fault, we cannot as a matter of our national safety and survival afford to take these people in. We must not take them in. We must either find other homes for them in the Mideast, or lead a plan to partition Iraq so that the respective groups can live without violence….

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 22, 2007 01:35 PM | Send