Bush and Blair: callous together, defending war while denying refugees

[ProSense]

Bush, Blair defend war in Iraq together

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer
56 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Steadfast allies President Bush and Tony Blair on Thursday strongly defended their decision to go to war in Iraq and to remain there, despite rising opposition in both the United States and Britain and their own plunging approval ratings.

"This is a fight we cannot afford to lose," Blair said.

Standing side by side in the Rose Garden, the two leaders said they had no regrets about the decision, contending Iraq has become the main battleground in the war against global terrorism.

"It is an important part of protecting the United States," Bush said. "No matter how calm it may seem here in America, an enemy lurks, and they would like to strike, they would like to do harm to the American people

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The Flight From Iraq

Limbo Iraqis outside the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees near Damascus.

By NIR ROSEN
Published: May 13, 2007

I. Roads to Damascus

At a meeting in mid-April in Geneva, held by António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, the numbers presented confirmed what had long been suspected: the collapse of Iraq had created a refugee crisis, and that crisis was threatening to precipitate the collapse of the region. The numbers dwarfed anything that the Middle East had seen since the dislocations brought on by the establishment of Israel in 1948. In Syria, there were estimated to be 1.2 million Iraqi refugees. There were another 750,000 in Jordan, 100,000 in Egypt, 54,000 in Iran, 40,000 in Lebanon and 10,000 in Turkey. The overall estimate for the number of Iraqis who had fled Iraq was put at two million by Guterres. The number of displaced Iraqis still inside Iraq’s borders was given as 1.9 million. This would mean about 15 percent of Iraqis have left their homes.

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“Our obligation,” he told me this month at his office in the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, “was to give them new institutions and provide security. We have fulfilled that obligation. I don’t think we have an obligation to compensate for the hardships of war.” Bolton likewise did not share the concerns of Bacon and others that the refugees would become impoverished and serve as a recruiting pool for militant organizations in the future. “I don’t buy the argument that Islamic extremism comes from poverty,” he said. “Bin Laden is rich.” Nor did he think American aid could alleviate potential anger: “Helping the refugees flies in the face of received logic. You don’t want to encourage the refugees to stay. You want them to go home. The governments don’t want them to stay.”

Since 2003, the United States has accepted only 701 Iraqi refugees. In the first four months of 2007, it took in 69 Iraqi refugees, fewer than the number it accepted in the same period in 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/magazine/13refugees-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all">more

Iraqi refugees receive cold greeting in Britain

By Beth Gardiner Published: May 17, 2007

LONDON: Radi Hussein al-Asadi knew it was time to leave Baghdad when insurgents tossed a note into his house promising to kill his entire family. The message was wrapped around a bullet.

That was late last year. Now Asadi, 68, who owned a bakery at home, shares a friend's small house in northwest London, destitute and terrified as he waits for lawyers to appeal the British government's decision to deny political asylum to him and his wife.

They are two of the thousands of Iraqis who have sought refuge in Britain, a nation they see as partly responsible for the chaos and violence that drove them from their homes.

Most of those who make it here find a cold welcome: More than 90 percent of their applications for asylum are turned down.

Britain is the only country in Europe that forcibly repatriates Iraqis in significant numbers, according to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. Eight-five people have been returned involuntarily since 2005 to the country's Kurdish north, which London says is safe.

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[sheerjoy]

1. At least....

Blair had the good sense to get the heck outta there.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Damn Blair to hell.

[ck4829]

3. K&R

[ProSense]

4. Kick !n/t