November 5, 2007
Amman, Jordan
Yesterday I visited a family whose 10 year old son is working for 8JD a week, that is about $10. A sweet faced slip of a child, he smiled as I took a picture of him at his work place. His father meanwhile suffers the humiliation of idleness and the inability to support his wife and other children. Beset by death threats, they fled to Amman about ten months ago; their home in Baghdad is now occupied by militia. I felt embarrassed as I offered them a small gift of money, money from a family in the states who wants to help Iraqis stuck here. The family is in need of basic foodstuffs, furniture, blankets and a heater as winter approaches. They once had work, a car and their own home. I met the wife and mother with her smallest child in tow on a bus last week. We were both making our way to the UNHCR. She to beg assistance.
Over the last weeks and months many Iraqis here in Amman have asked me if, as a U.S. citizen, I could help them get information as to where their “cases” stand, or if I know how the process works once they have registered at the UNHC and are referred to IOM for resettlement. Their daily bread seems to be waiting. They are discouraged and disheartened. Are their “cases” in a stack of files forgotten in a back room somewhere? Some have worked as translators for U.S. forces, others have been waiting months, even years, to immigrate to relatives in the states. Others are hoping to qualify for resettlement. Their money has run out, they can’t work, they are here illegally.
A few days ago I had a long-sought-after meeting with someone from the US Embassy-Amman and a representative from the State Department who deals with our Refugee Resettlement program in the region. Preparing for the meeting was a daunting task. There are so many questions, questions we find no answers to on the official US websites we are referred to. Though the meeting was brief, just over 1/2 hour, I found the two women across and alongside of me attentive and respectful. I hoped to learn what Iraqis can realistically expect from the U.S.? What hope can we give them? While I was grateful to be fit into their busy schedules, the time did not allow me to cover many of the issues I had hoped to address.
In recent weeks I have heard numerous accounts from Iraqis who have been rejected resettlement after being interviewed by an officer from the Homeland Security team. After going through laborious and time consuming sessions (interviews which can span over months) with UNHCR and their partner organization, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), their cases had finally been referred to the Department of Homeland Security (DOH).
You can imagine, I am sure, how their hopes had been raised over time, as they have made their way up the ladder so to speak. They had finally reached the top, the interview with an officer from Homeland Security! This could mean resettlement to the U.S.; at last a safe place for them! Time and time again these folks have had to relive their pain in the retelling of their stories. Each time I listen to their accounts of this decisive interview with DHS, I am reminded of a court room. It is as if they were on trial, having to defend their cases before a grand jury.
I have seen their form letters of rejection. The box most often checked on the form letter seems to be the one labeled “credibility.”
I was able to learn at the meeting that the US target goal for the fiscal year 2008 (beginning Oct. 2007) for Iraqi refugees is 12,000. If we consider the two million Iraqis in Jordan and Syria alone, 12,000 would constitute .006%. In any case, it seems obvious that the bulk of “cases” being considered for US resettlement will have to be rejected. Although I asked what the rejection rate was, this information could not be shared. I wasn’t surprised by this.
Just a week ago two dear friends, both “veterans” as it were in the US peace movement, Tom G.and Johana B., came though Amman en route to Syria. They were in Jordan for less than 24 hours, but we were still able to visit with an Iraqi family in their apartment.
The family father had been kidnapped and tortured in Baghdad. I will not go into details about his treatment during captivity as it is a source of extreme embarrassment and humiliation for him. Suffice it to say, he survived the ordeal. He was released for a reduced ransom. During the interview with Homeland Security, the wife was asked by the interviewer “Why did you pay a ransom? Why did you support terrorists?’ . This family is awaiting a decision for resettlement from Homeland Security. The wife was told today by someone from IOM that it could take another year or two for a decision to be reached.
On more than one occasion I have spoken with Iraqis who have been rejected by DOH, to find that someone in their family had been kidnapped and that a ransom had been paid to secure the release of their loved one. Although the box “credibility” had been checked on their rejection forms, the type of questions put to them by the interviewer led us to believe that paying a ransom might well have been the reason for their rejection. I welcomed the opportunity to put this question to the US Embassy and Dept. of State representatives. Is paying a ransom an automatic cause for rejection? I was told that there are times when exemptions are made in cases where a ransom is paid, but that one has to look at this from a security perspective. It is the determination of the DHS. It is the law, and it is applied universally.
Iraqis are safer than other refugee populations I was told. They are in fact being given preference over other refugee populations, taking slots from others who are vulnerable. There was something of a self-congratulatory tone when speaking about the praiseworthy resettlement program that has been created in such a short period of time, or of the millions of dollars the U.S. has given in aid for Iraqis. I replied that Iraqis are in fact deserving of special attention from our country because WE created the refugee crisis they are facing. I was politely advised that this was a political topic. It did not seem open for discussion.
Over the last days I have been reflecting in the early morning hours on the words of Jeremiah. The vivid imagery and powerful text is unsettling, and gives me pause. “My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped, My sons are gone from me and are no more; no one is left to pitch my tent or set up my shelter.” Another passage “We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.”
I sometimes ask myself why I should be surprised by the fixed hard stares directed at me as I walk the streets of Amman, or that one after another taxi passes me by. I am so obviously an “American.”
“Threat against Iran Real” was the title of an article in yesterday’s newspaper. Columnist Musa Keilani, a frequent contributor to The Jordan Times, wrote “The drums of war are being beaten with growing pitch in Washington. It is almost certain that the Bush administration will order military action against Iran soon.” Mr. Musa believes “military action against Iran cannot and will not be confined to a barrage of missiles against key Iranian targets” but that the U.S. “will resort to the use of nuclear power aimed at depriving the Iranians of the means to retaliate.” He believes that Iran will be “stunned as heavily as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.” George Bush’s warning of World War III “does not come out of a vacuum,” and the only unanswered question, Mr. Musa predicts, is “when it will happen.”
The drum beats of war might well be sounding in the U.S., but the reverberations are being felt throughout the Middle East.
Cathy Breen
