[R-G] Invaders and allies ignore Iraq's humanitarian crisis

[Anthony Fenton]

Invaders and allies ignore Iraq's humanitarian crisis  TheStar.com -  
columnists - Invaders and allies ignore Iraq's humanitarian crisis
November 18, 2007
Haroon Siddiqui
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/277233

Those who were most gung-ho about the invasion and occupation of Iraq  
have been the least helpful in mopping up the mess there. Those least  
enthusiastic have ended up bearing the greatest burden.

The United States and Britain have accepted only a handful of the 4.2  
million displaced Iraqis. Ditto Kuwait, which was the most bellicose  
of America's pro-war Arab allies. Ditto Saudi Arabia, that other  
staunch American ally. It has shut its border with Iraq, and plans to  
fortify it with a $2 billion fence.

Stephen Harper, who as leader of the opposition agitated for Canada  
to join the war, has been silent as prime minister about admitting  
Iraqi refugees to Canada.

On the other hand, Syria and Jordan, which strongly opposed the war,  
have accepted 2 million Iraqi refugees, and done so gracefully.

Jordan (population, 5.7 million) has taken 800,000. That's the  
equivalent of France welcoming 8 million Iraqi refugees, Germany 11  
million and the U.S. 40 million.

Syria (population, 18 million) has taken 1.2 million Iraqis. That's  
like Canada taking 4.9 million refugees.

Jordan and Syria are feeling the strains on their infrastructure and  
social services, from water supplies to hospitals to schooling.

Syria is particularly hard-hit, since it has had little international  
help, principally because the U.S. and its allies consider it to be a  
"rogue nation."

Sweden, which also opposed the war, has accepted tens of thousands of  
Iraqis, 20,000 this year alone, the most of any Western nation.

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq is the worst in the Middle East since  
1948. Whereas there's disagreement over the number of Iraqi dead  
since 2003 (between 75,000 to 1.2 million), there's broad agreement  
over the number of Iraqi displaced: more than 2 million abroad and  
more than 2 million internally.

The situation is only getting worse. The American troop surge that  
George W. Bush credits for lowering violence in Baghdad has, in fact,  
led to "a surge in refugees and displaced people elsewhere," says  
Alastair Campbell, Middle East director of the British defence think- 
tank, the Royal United Services Institute.

"When U.S. troops conduct operations in a certain area, the  
insurgents invariably move elsewhere and transfer their violence and  
intimidation further afield," Campbell told me recently.

Shiites are still fleeing Sunni areas, and vice versa. Sunnis and  
Shiites are also fleeing their own sectarian neighbourhoods to escape  
inter-Sunni and inter-Shiite militia and gang warfare.

Minorities are also vulnerable. The well-to-do among the 500,000- 
strong Christian community are being targeted for ransom. Yazidis,  
followers of an ancient sect, suffered a gruesome massacre in August.  
Small pockets of Roma and Turkmen are also being harassed.

In addition, about 50,000 non-Iraqis whom Saddam Hussein had granted  
asylum are being targeted (as outlined in my Thursday column). Many  
have taken refuge in camps along the borders with Syria and Jordan –  
camps that can become "fertile ground for recruiting sergeants from  
radical, extremist organizations," warns Campbell.

In fact, given the widespread death, dislocation and despair, all of  
Iraq can be a haven for terrorist recruiters.

Yet Britain has admitted fewer than 500 Iraqis. Washington promised  
to take 7,000 this year but in the 13 months since Oct. 1 last year  
(when it began tracking Iraqi refugee admissions), it has admitted  
only 2,084. Canada has taken fewer than 3,000 since 2003.

The U.S. and Britain, in particular, "should set an example and  
accept without hesitation those whose lives they have put directly at  
risk," says Campbell.

The invasion and botched occupation of Iraq was criminal enough. Not  
taking responsibility for its disastrous impact on a whole people is  
worse. The former speaks to the arrogance bred by unbridled military  
power, the latter to the deeper disease of moral bankruptcy.

Haroon Siddiqui appears Thursday in World & Comment and Sunday in the  
A section. hsiddiq at thestar.ca