[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PLIGHT OF IRAQI REFUGEES

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this last week I had the opportunity to 
meet a true American hero in Iraq, Kirk W. Johnson. No matter what your 
position on the war in Iraq, how it started, where it's going, how it 
will end up, you should be deeply concerned by the 4 million Iraqis who 
have been forced to flee their homes. And you cannot help but be 
impressed by Mr. Johnson and his deep concern for their plight.
  This young Arabist, who worked for the USAID as regional coordinator 
on reconstruction in Fallujah--from, I might add, impeccable Republican 
lineage--figured prominently in George Packer's haunting essay in The 
New Yorker on March 26 of this year. That essay, entitled ``Betrayed: 
The Iraqis Who Trusted America the Most,'' had a profound impact on me. 
It is a harsh title, but the facts are harsh. In a country with a 
population about the size of Texas, 4 million Iraqis have been forced 
to flee their homes. Two million are currently outside the country, 
primarily in Jordan and Syria where there are jarring press accounts, 
for instance, of women forced into prostitution to feed their families 
in Syria. Mr. Johnson has been focusing on a special subset of these 
unfortunate people, people whose lives are at risk because they helped 
the United States, translators, guides, people who worked on the 
reconstruction effort. He has compiled a list of over 500 Iraqis that 
he knows personally are in that category. Five hundred, not one of whom 
has been able to yet make it to the United States for asylum. They are 
part of the tip of the refugee iceberg. Two million, as I say, in 
Jordan and Syria.
  Mr. Johnson asks the question that each Member of Congress must 
confront: What kind of superpower can't convert its ``very top 
priority''--the words, by the way, of Ellen Sauerbrey, the Assistant 
Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration in her 
testimony before the United States Senate--can't convert its very top 
priority into a program that starts saving the lives of people who 
helped us before their visas expire?
  The stark reality is that only 70 Iraqis since October of last year 
have been admitted to the United States. Only eight in March, one in 
April and another in May.
  I strongly urge that my colleagues join me in supporting H.R. 2265. 
This comprehensive refugee legislation will allow for more Iraqis to be 
granted refugee status in the United States. Why should the United 
States accept fewer refugees than Sweden? It would allow them to apply 
for refugee status in Iraq. Why should they be forced to flee the 
country, to Jordan, for instance, when we have the largest embassy in 
the world in Baghdad? This legislation would put somebody in charge, 
having a special coordinator to help us make sure that this problem is 
solved. I strongly urge my colleagues to make sure that Congress does 
its part to deal with the greatest continuing refugee crisis in the 
world with the possible exception of the Darfur. This is a crisis for 
which the United States has a unique responsibility and a unique role 
in its solution.
  Please examine H.R. 2265, add your name as cosponsor, but, more 
important, join Mr. Kirk Johnson in making the plight of these millions 
of unfortunate people, especially those who helped us, part of your 
mission in Congress.

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