today's my dad's birthday-a ltte I wrote 3 years ago on Iraq displaced citizens

[w8liftinglady]

He asked me to devote some of my time to reporting on this ignored subject.he was a Korean War and Vietnam War veteran who had seen more than his share of horror.It ate him up inside.
In his honor...the last of the decent Republicans.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/w8liftinglady/57

As is typical for the United States, a crisis of epic proportions is forming under our watch, yet I bet few of the readers of this fine paper are aware of it. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees estimates 4.2 million refugees have left Iraq, with an additional 2 million “internally displaced.” Millions of these refugees are children — 350,000 school-age children fled to Syria; 30,000 are currently enrolled in school; 200,000 school-age children are in Jordan; 20,000 are enrolled in school. Almost half of the families arrived in their host countries with no breadwinner and no job. Even among male refugees,there is a 55 percent unemployment rate. Children are reduced to begging and selling trinkets in the streets. In Syria alone, 50,000 women have been drawn into prostitution to feed their children.

Most refugees have no official identification, which has led to a huge trade in forged documents. These documents cost the equivalent of U.S. $100,000, and without them, even professionals can’t find work. With the influx of millions of people, there has been a great deal of stress placed on the infrastructure of both Syria and Jordan ... so much so that there is no safe drinking water available.

Inside Iraq, the situation is equally dismal. According to the Red Crescent Society, the number of internally displaced (aka homeless) has gone from 499,000 to 2.1 million people ... again mostly children.

The United States has granted asylum for 202 Iraqis since 2003, in sharp contrast to the 180,000 visas granted for Vietnamese refugees during that era.

How will future generations judge America?