Nerve Endings Firing Away

The Iraq war and its subsequent consequences are endlessly debated in American political circles as well as international meets. However, the biggest casualty of the war – the Iraqi civilian – is hardly given any thought. The Lancet Journal published a study few months back that pegged the civilian casualty figures at around 650,000. President Bush instantly pooh-poohed that figure and claimed that study was discredited when in fact, it wasn’t and its methodology was considered sound. But apart from the causalities that mostly comprise of people who cannot flee the war zone are the millions who can. The United States experienced a similar situation when South Vietnamese fled as the Viet Cong approached Saigon. Many South Vietnamese made their way to the United States where they were offered asylum.

However, this time around the United States aren’t that hospitable. Yesterday as the World Refugee Day was observed, Laura Bush made the highly exaggerated claim that the United States was welcoming refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan when in fact, only 69 Iraqis have been admitted so far since January and since the invasion in 2003, less than 500 Iraqis have been admitted. The Iraqi civilians are caught in a deadly crossfire. They help the U.S. forces in Iraq by giving tips and assistance against the militant groups and in turn incur the wrath of those militant groups that do not think twice about killing innocents. Family members are kidnapped and Iraqis are forced to cough up huge ransom sums which incredulously is seen as ‘providing material support to the terrorists’ according to the Patriot and Real ID Acts. Such a tag instantly disqualifies them from being admitted inside the United States even as a refugee.

Rita, an Iraqi Christian woman who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority and helped manage the TIPS Hotline, which Iraqis can call to share critical information about wanted terrorists or pending attacks on the United States military. Her supervisor, Bernard Kerik, wrote in a recommendation letter that her “courage to support the coalition forces has sent an irrefutable message: that terror will not rule, that liberty will triumph, and that the seeds of freedom will be planted into the great citizens of Iraq.”

But Rita’s courage was repaid by insurgents who abducted her 16-year-old son at gunpoint on his way to school one August morning. Terrorists demanded $600,000 for his release. She doesn’t know how much her husband ultimately paid the kidnappers because he divorced her, blaming her work for the American government for the calamity that had befallen the family. He took her traumatized son and daughter to Syria, and she hasn’t seen or heard from them since. When the death threats became unbearable, she fled to Jordan.

Appallingly, Rita’s family cannot be resettled in the United States because of the material support bar.

The American government cannot differentiate between a friend and a foe (remember Chalabi?) so how can it even think of winning the war? Any war regardless of the military might is often won in the minds of the citizens. The Bush administration launched an effective ‘marketing campaign’ in the United States to make the case for war but they overlooked the wishes of the other side. As for the civilians, talk about being caught in a no-hope zone and we wonder why America is seen as the devil even among moderates in Iraq.

Talking about the refugees, we would have expected the American government to at least consider the plight of the fleeing Iraqi citizens and act post-haste in granting them asylum. Well, it is the least you could do for invading their country and launching an all-out civil war. So it is indeed pathetic to note that Sodertalje, a Swedish town of 60,000 people last year took in twice as many Iraqi refugees as the entire United States. However, these are the lucky few who are able to travel long distances but the primary flow of refugees is toward neighboring Syria and Turkey. There have already been grumblings about this incessant flow of people across the border and it wouldn’t be fair if those countries demanded a cessation of war. Remember, the refugee crisis was primarily responsible for India intervening in the 1971 Pakistan-Bangladesh crisis sparking off that war.

It is time for the U.S. to step up to the plate and take on more responsibilities for the consequences of war. After all, there is more to war than spreading democracy and obtaining reconstruction contracts.