As upheaval continues in Syria, and refugees from that country flee throughout the region,  Iraqi refugees have suspected that they have become an afterthought .  The National, a UAE paper, reported on Wednesday that Iraqi refugees in Jordan, most of whom live in East Amman, (a cramped, dirty and poverty stricken area of the city that is a country apart from the cosmopolitan western part of the city) are in some ways indeed becoming an afterthought.  The paper wrote that “In the past several months, the aid delivered on behalf of the informal aid networks of church groups, Islamic charities and wealthy private donors has entirely shifted to the Syrians.”  The president of one charity said “At this stage, we aren’t delivering food to Iraqis…we simply can’t help them any more. We apologise, but what can we do? These are the constraints placed on us by donors.”

In a Thursday Washington Post article discussing aid to Syrian refugees, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Ann Richard noted that the U.S. had pledged $40 million to aid Syrians, which she said would also benefit other refugees in the country, most notably Palestinians and Iraqis.  Additionally “She said that Washington was easing a backlog on Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in the U.S.”  This follows recent remarks from Vice President Biden’s National Security Advisor Antoney Blinken that he and his team had spent “literally hours in the windowless situation room with all the agencies, working through [the Iraq visa] problem.”

However unclogging this visa backlog is for many too little, too late.  Many have exhausted all savings, patiently waiting for visas while fleeing militants and trying to temporarily settle in neighboring countries already struggling with

East Amman, where many Iraqi refugees call home

large influxes of refugees.    Others have not had a chance to even get this far as they or family members have been assassinated.

And although the State Department notes that during the first half of this fiscal year 579 Special Immigrant Visas were issued,  around twice as many as were issued at this time last year, the overall program numbers are sobering. A paltry 719 SIV visas were issued in all of 2011, a full 4,281 short of the 5,000 mark that was set by the program for each individual fiscal year from 2008-2012.  According to government statistics, only 4,285 of 25,000 visas have been issued, meaning that if the program were to end today, only 17 % of available visas would have been issued.

Cold Turkey: Diplomatic relations with Turkey have cooled considerably since U.S. forces left the country and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his  National Alliance bloc made what Turkey perceived to be an overly aggressive reach to consolidate their power over primarily Sunni rivals.  This included the posting of an arrest warrant for Sunni VP Tariq Al-Hashimi just hours after the last remaining U.S. forces exited the country.  Turkey has invested mightily in Iraq since the American invasion in 2003, and is considered by some to be equal to Iran in the influence it exerts on the country.

An example of this can be found in a NIQASH report about the recent Arab Summit held in Baghdad:

“Although Turkey’s bid to attend the conference as an observer – it has had similar ambitions for the Arab League in general – was denied because the conference was for “Arabs only” (Iran was also turned down for the same reasons), the Turkish were very present at the summit. The contractors that organized almost everything – from road reconstruction to hotel renovations, stationery and floral arrangements – were Turkish.

In fact there were so many Turkish staff members, that visiting Arab journalists had problems communicating. A lot of the hospitality staff spoke two languages: English and Turkish. Hardly any of them spoke Arabic.”

With the political situation seemingly devolving day by day, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has in the new year aired his concerns about Iraqi politics and his fear of increasing sectarianism in the country quite publicly at different times, including on the 19th of April, when he said that Maliki’s “self-centered ways… are seriously disturbing Shi’ite groups, Barzani and [other] Iraqi groups”

Maliki and Erdogan, in happier times (AP Photo)

Maliki responded with his usual rejoinder that Turkey was meddling in Iraq’s domestic politics, a place he feels it does not belong. Erdogan Shot back : ”We don’t differentiate between Sunnis or Shias. Arab, Kurd or Turkmen, they are all our brothers…”If we respond to Mr. Maliki, we give him the opportunity to show off there. There is no need to allow him to gain prestige.”

It should be noted that Maliki’s “meddling” quote was alluding to the fact that  Turkey has been seeking to bolster ties with Iraqi Kurdistan and recently received its President, Massoud Barzani for talks. Meanwhile, fugitive Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi, who initially fled to Iraqi Kurdistan after the warrant was issued, has also recently traveled to Turkey to meet with Erdogan, and has reportedly rented out apartments in Istanbul, pointing to an extended stay.  Iraqi government calls for him to be extradited for trial have fell on deaf ears in Ankara.

It is also notable that in the past few weeks Iraq has called for the Turkish envoy to explain Erdogan’s comments, and the city of Basra has threatened to expel Turkish contractors because of “political statements targeting Iraq and its sovereignty.”

Hashimi Court Case delayed: Iraq’s exiled fugitive VP Tariq Al-Hashimi’s lawyers have successfully appealed for a delay in the court case which was to begin on Thursday.  Hashimi, who is to be charged in-absentia, is accused of running death squads which murdered government officials.

April sees increase in violence: Iraqi government statistics show a slight increase in the number of civilian deaths over the past month, with low-level militant violence still a fact of daily life across the country.

List Project Updates:

The List debuts at Tribeca: Beth Murphy’s documentary The List recently premiered At the TriBeCa Film Festival in New York City on April 21st and piqued the interest of many.  The List Project’s Founder and Executive Director Kirk Johnson, who is the film’s focus, gave his thoughts on the movie earlier this week.  Be sure to take a few minutes to read them, and if you are interested in keeping up with the film and upcoming screenings, follow our link to the Principal Pictures website for “The List.”

Visa numbers slowly increasing:  The List Project is pleased to announce that we have a number of clients who have received their visas for travel to the United States in the past few months.  In addition, our sources tell us that a number of other Iraqis have received their visas as well. Although this is already a vast improvement over last years arrivals, numbers are still largely down on what they were in years past.  As TLP Executive director Kirk Johnson puts it :

 So many Americans – some through the List Project, many on their own – have fought hard on this issue over the years.  While we are immensely happy whenever someone on the List makes it to America, it remains deeply frustrating to see the current state of affairs: Iraqis are still being hunted regularly and are still in need of our help.  Lamentably, it still takes a year or more for the luckiest among those upon whom we relied during the war.

We at the List Project, along with our supporters and volunteers will continue to keep pressure on the United States government until it completely fulfills its duties to those brave Iraqi men and women who served our country during its mission in Iraq.

George Packer, Beth Murphy, Anna, Paul Rieckhoff, and Marcia Maack discuss the film at the TriBeCa Festival

Over the past five years, the filmmaker Beth Murphy has been producing a documentary about the plight faced by our Iraqi allies and the List Project’s work to protect them.  The film crew traveled to meet with those on the list inside Iraq several times, as well as to Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.  The film covers many aspects of our work, including testimonies before Congress, training sessions with our incredible partnering law firms, meetings with tireless Netroots members, and celebrations as Iraqis on the List arrive to America.

This past week, the film premiered at the TriBeCa film festival.  It will be showing at various festivals over the coming months, including Hot Docs in Toronto, the Boston Independent Film Festival, and the Chicago Human Rights Watch festival, so if you are interested in seeing it, please visit the film’s website for more details.

So many Americans – some through the List Project, many on their own – have fought hard on this issue over the years.  While we are immensely happy whenever someone on the List makes it to America, it remains deeply frustrating to see the current state of affairs: Iraqis are still being hunted regularly and are still in need of our help.  Lamentably, it still takes a year or more for the luckiest among those upon whom we relied during the war.

In terms of history, our nine-year war in Iraq will most likely go the way of another complicated and indecisive war, the Korean War, earning a paragraph or two in high school textbooks.  We will fight this amnesia, of course, in part because we know that the conflict is not yet over, at least for those who served alongside America in Iraq.  Our troops may be gone, but those who helped us are still there, and they are still imperiled.

Coverage of the film:

• Huffington Post
• Reuters
• Daily Beast
• GlobalPost

KRG President Massoud Barzani. (Source: Reuters)

Developments in Iraq

• After approval of this year’s budget in Iraqi Parliament, many became outraged at the dispersal of around USD $50 million to create a fleet of personalized armored vehicles for Iraq’s politicians.   The Iraqi news website Rudaw reported on that outrage: “Apparently, the lives of the Iraqi MPs and their families are more precious than the blood of Iraqi citizens that is being spilled every day on the streets,” said Jamil Faraj, a resident of Baghdad. “The Iraqi people are paying the price with their blood and lives for electing these people and letting them stay in power.”

• Although every major political bloc was in favor of the decision to purchase the armored vehicles,  MP’s from the  Sadrist                 bloc have now requested a committee that would work to re-distribute these funds to work toward the public good.   

•  Others have mentioned that they may, in the future, utilize the fleet of 400 armored cars that was recently delivered for the   upcoming Arab Summit in Baghdad.  

Followers of Moqtada al-Sadr (Source: AP)

In a story that evinces the deep stigma still attached to any perceived link with the United States, Iraqi Kurdistan’s AK  News reported on Friday that Iraqi MP Hakim az-Zamili, a Sadrist in the Iraqi Parliament’s Security Committee, was instituting an investigation to out those Iraqis in government he believes have links to the CIA.

Although the Islamic State of Iraq has been behind recent violence in the country, Zamili alluded to his belief that the U.S. is directly behind continuing violence in Iraq, through the paying off of security officials, who allow these attacks to happen. He is quoted as saying “there are senior (security) officers who receive salaries from the CIA…When the investigation is completed we will reveal who receives these salaries.”

Pointing to a range of boogeymen – the CIA, Mossad, etc., the Sadrists have a pattern of placing all blame for Iraq’s woes on outside forces.  However, Zamili seems to also have a rather personal agenda, as he was arrested by U.S. forces in February 2007 in a rather high profile raid on the Iraqi Ministry of Health, part of the landmark beginning of what has become known in American parlance as “the Surge.”

At that time Zamili was a deputy Health Minister, and was accused of some rather gruesome things, including facilitating the formation of  Mahdi Army death squads within the ministry.  The militiamen who were brought in essentially acted as the ministry’s security detail, and are thought to have murdered hundreds at the height of the sectarian crisis in the two years leading up to Zamili’s arrest.

Charges for Zamili were dropped in 2008, after a leading witness in the case conveniently disappeared. Zamili was subsequently released. He later became a candidate in the 2010 Parliamentary elections, where he won the seat he has now.

Sources:

AK News: Committee to Reveal Names of Iraqi Officials Working for CIA

BBC News Arabic : Iraq: Ministry of Health Undersecretary Arrested 

New York Times: Murky Candidacy Stoke’s Iraq’s Sectarian Fears

Some of the aftermath of Thursday's attacks Source: Reuters

• Thursday saw the continuation by the Islamic State of Iraq of a pattern of sporadic high volume attacks targeting Iraqi security forces and government officials, killing more than fifty and wounding hundreds throughout the country.  In addition to these attacks, ISI routinely carries out daily small level attacks against Iraqis with ties to the government.  Earlier in the week, Iraqi officials were touting what they called a dramatic decline in violence in the past few months. One official cited that Al Qaeda members had become “preoccupied with their new Jihad in Syria.” (Source: Washington Post. Christian Science Monitor)

List Project Updates

• Our friends at EPIC chronicle “The Forgotten Ones,” and review the “Mission Not Accomplished” briefing that the List Project participated in on Capitol Hill in late January. (Source: Education for Peace in Iraq Center blog)
• We are inching ever closer to reaching our match grant goal. For every dollar you contribute, a generous anonymous donor has pledged to match it up to $100,000 dollars.  Every dollar counts, and ensures that we are able to continue to help our Iraqi allies (Link: Support Our Work)

Flag of the Islamic State of Iraq

Developments in Iraq:

• After an initial investigation, an Iraqi judiciary committee says it has found enough evidence to tie vice president Tariq al-Hashimi to the killings of a number of Iraqi officials and civilians over the last several years.  Hashimi, who proclaims his innocence, fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in December after a warrant was issued for his arrest.  (Source: New York Times)
• Al Qaeda in Iraq releases report detailing its operations in the Anbar and Diyala provinces within the last two months.  These operations included  a number of assassinations of members of the Awakening councils, the police, and the army. (Source: AlSumaria News [Arabic])

List Project Updates:

• Iraqis returning from Syria talk of threats, kidnappings (Source: Al Mada [Arabic])
• Being an organization supporting Iraqis who are often targeted by militant groups, we look at Arabic language websites and forums to find information relating to threats on the ground in Iraq.  Lately, we have seen militant Sunni groups release an increasing amount of literature seeking to paint their foes, including our Iraqi allies, as “double agents,” working for both the U.S. and Iran.

The "victory rally" arranged by the Sadrists on Thursday drew tens of thousands from throughout the country to Baghdad's Sadr City.

• The State Department announces plans to downsize its Iraqi Embassy staff, citing “a belief that a quieter and humbler diplomatic presence could actually result in greater leverage over Iraqi affairs” (Source: New York Times)
• Sadrists hold a Thursday rally celebrating the exit of American forces from the country. In a recorded speech, Moqtada al-Sadr called for unity and peace among Iraqis.  He also called for the government to release resistance fighters.  (Source: The National )
• Human Rights Watch called on the government of Iraq to stop executions. 65 prisoners have been executed since the beginning of the year. (Source: Human Rights Watch)

List Project Updates:

• TLP discusses the latest statement released by the Islamic State of Iraq on our blog.
• Iraqis on our list are not only in a bad situation in Iraq.  With the closing of the U.S. Embassy in Syria this week, Iraqis there are in a tight spot as well.  With violence on the rise and a regime that sees them as a nuisance, or worse, as criminal infiltrators, many Iraqis will choose to flee to Turkey in the coming days and weeks, becoming refugees yet again.