Two quick notes on two under-reported stories:
First the good news: Last week, without much fanfare, the Defense Authorization conference report passed the Senate with its Kennedy-Smith-Levin-Brownback Iraqi Refugee Provisions intact:
“This conference report requires the Administration to increase its efforts to resettle Iraqi refugees, to expand the scope of special immigrant visas for Iraqis who have worked for the U.S. government, and to improve our response to the overall refugee crisis.
Of course, the trick is in getting the provisions implemented… Click here to read the full text of the provisions.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, Britain’s channel 4 reports:
“Native interpreters who risked death and persecution to help British troops in Iraq have been blocked from starting new lives in the UK, new figures reveal.
Of the 200 interpreters who took up an offer to resettle in Britain, 125 have been turned away, statistics unearthed by the Times reveal.
The revelations contradict Gordon Brown’s promise to fulfill a “care of duty” to those who have served with British troops…