” NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Ahmed Abassi once worked for the U.S. government in Iraq but fled with his family in fear, hoping to seek refuge in the United States.
Two years later with his life savings gone and his family stuck in the United Arab Emirates, he is still afraid to return to Iraq where he could be targeted by militias.
And like many Iraqis in the same situation, he now doubts he will ever gain refugee status in the United States.
Kirk Johnson, a former U.S. advisor in Iraq, hopes to change that. He has launched an effort to bring Iraqis who once worked for the U.S. government, the military or U.S. contractors to the United States.
“It gnaws away at all of us that so many of the Iraqis that helped us function are now running for their lives,” said Johnson, describing them as “the “most hunted class in Iraq”…