CHICAGO: Iraqi refugee Ayad Salman opens a folder and lays out the story of how he and his family came to Chicago.
There’s his record of service as an interpreter for coalition forces.
Pictures of the beefy American troops and the straight-backed senior officers he worked with as a translator. Letters of recommendation.
And a certificate showing that his father was killed by terrorists.“I lost my father because of my job,” Salman, 42, explains. “They shot him in the head. I tried to save his life, but it was too late.” Salman’s story is eerily familiar to anyone who’s spent much time with Iraqi refugees.
But it is one rarely heard by most Americans in a country which often seems to forget that it is at war.
Just one per cent of news coverage in the major US media was devoted to Iraq events and policy debates last year, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.
Nearly eight years after the US invasion, Iraq got only a passing mention in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday.
“America’s commitment has been kept; the Iraq War is coming to an end,”Obama said, noting that “American combat patrols have ended; violence has come down; and a new government has been formed.”
In stark contrast to the quagmire and shameful defeat of the Vietnam War, Obama noted that “nearly 100,000 of our brave men and women have left with their heads held high.”
Yet the Iraqis like Salman who were forced to flee Iraq because their work with coalition forces put their families at risk receive far less help starting a new life in the United States than their Vietnamese counterparts did.
Resources are ‘very meager’
“The resources made available are very meager,” said Greg Wangerin, executive director of Chicago-based aid group Refugee One, which is helping to resettle Salman and his family.
“The amount of support that a refugee from Vietnam was getting from the government was on the order of 36 months. Now it’s eight months.” Most refugees suffer significant culture shock when they arrive in the United States and end up working menial jobs for low wages in what they had imagined as the “land of milk and honey,” Wangerin said.
It’s even more of a disconnect for Iraqis who have seen American largess building schools and hospitals in Iraq and “legitimately feel that they’ve been doing something for this government, now this government ought to reach out a helping hand,” he added.
The Bush administration was widely criticized for failing to do more to help address the Iraqi refugee crisis after admitting less than a thousand refugees in the first four years of the war.
That began to change in the latter half of 2007, and since then nearly 40,000 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to the United States.
Their successful resettlement has been hampered by the fact that most arrived after the country entered the deepest economic downturn in decades.
“The United States recognizes a special responsibility to the Iraqis who helped US troops and other US-based organizations in Iraq,” said Beth Schlachter, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Thousands of special immigrant visas have been issued to Iraqi translators, interpreters, and those employed by the US government in Iraq to allow them to bypass the lengthy United Nations refugee referral process and gain swift access to the United States.
However, the United States has long held a policy of treating all refugees alike, and Schlachter said the US refugee program is both successful and generous.
The United States has for years now resettled significantly more refugees than any other nation – the 73,000 resettled in 2010 was more than all other nations combined – and also contributes richly to the care of displaced persons across the globe.
Unlike countries such as Canada which provide welfare and other benefits to refugees for “significant lengths of time” the US model “emphasizes self-sufficiency through early employment,” Schlachter told AFP.
“We acknowledge, however, that this does not resolve the longer-term integration and self-sufficiency challenges that some refugees face, but are committed to doing our part in providing a robust initial welcome.”
‘I just want to survive peacefully’
Salman is grateful for the help. Using funds from the government and donations, Refugee One found his family a modest apartment in a vibrant neighborhood and furnished it with the basic necessities before they arrived in July.
They helped him get his three children registered for school, are teaching his wife Rabiha to speak English and do their best to help the family navigate everything from the confusing medical system to which credit card offer to accept.
They even helped Salman get a part-time job in the electronics department at Target.
He likes it there – it reminds him of the store he used to own in Baghdad. Except he doesn’t have to worry about suicide bombers.
With his government support drying up, Salman is starting to worry about how he’s going to manage all the bills. He’s looking for another job, not a handout. It’s a matter of pride – he wants to support his family on his own.
“I don’t want to be a rich man. I don’t think about money,” Salman says. “I just want to survive peacefully. That’s it.” – AFP
