First wave of Iraqi refugees heads for the US

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Jordan/10135479.html

By Dan Murphy, The Christian Science Monitor
Published: June 28, 2007, 23:34


Amman: Adnan Abbas - with his poor English, four young daughters, and little money to speak of - shrugs when told that making a new life in the US will be hard.

"I know that a new country, new language, is difficult and that America isn't going to say, 'Welcome, Adnan, here's a million dollars,'" he says. "But life in Iraq? That's impossible. We're one of the luckiest families in the world."

On Tuesday, the Abbas family will take their five small suitcases, close the door on the small flat they've rented for the past year in Amman, Jordan, and start a journey that will eventually taken them to Lansing, Michigan. They are in the vanguard of what's likely to become - if the history of American wars is anything to go by -the latest wave of immigrants to have an impact on the demographics of the US.


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In February, the US agreed to accept 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year, a large jump over the fewer than 700 Iraqis accepted by the US in the first three years of the war but a drop in the ocean when measured against the estimated two million Iraqis who have fled the country since the war began. About 2,000 of those Iraqis coming this year, say refugee officials, will start their lives anew in Michigan.

[lazer47]

1. OH GOODY!!! now instead of all the Vietnamese restaurants we

can finally have middle eastern restaurants,

[madrchsod]

2. 7000 terrorists ..that`s just great!

i thought we were fighting them over there so we do`t have to fight them here...boy was i wrong. first it was the mexicans and central americans now these people,my god when will it end?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. They're coming to "steal" our jobs. Dobbs must be soiling his sheets.

[indepat]

4. Now ain't that special providing refuge to 7,000 Iraqis after killing several hundred thousand

and making refugees of millions more. How God's grace shining on this Christian nation must be a beacon for the world to see.

[stanwyck]

5. Are they're bringing 30,000 cases of leprosy

with them? Oh, wait a minute, the "30,000 cases of leprosy" from illegal immigrants was a fake "news" story blathered out to the sheep by rightwing radio and the TV hate talkers.
Nevermind.

[BearSquirrel2]

6. Given the trauma that the US has inflicted ..

I've thought that it was an absolute travesty to see the refugee situation in Iraq and not seriously up our acceptance for Iraqi citizens considering that we CAUSED their plight. There had to be some serious political wrangling that made this happen as the LAST thing that Bush needs is a bunch of Iraqis telling US citizens face to face that things are NOT better now. In fact, they are worse then when Saddam Hussein was calling the shots.

WORSE THEN SADDAM HUSSEIN!!!! That will be the Bush legacy.