Is This What Is Meant By "Operation Iraqi Freedom?"

By Bill West

More than four years ago the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, we have been told, as part of the ongoing war against radical Islamic terror that threatens us. Clearly, the American people and our political leadership have a wide range of differing opinions on why the war was engaged and how it has been conducted and what our course of action should now be.

One of the tragic consequences of the war has been the creation of a very large and increasing population of Iraqi refugees fleeing the violence within that country. Until recently, the United States has been reluctant, primarily for security reasons, to take in many of those refugees. From one philosophical perspective, notwithstanding the high level of violence in Iraq, there is an argument that should we really be responsible for accepting large numbers of refugees from a country where we have sent many thousands of our military personnel to "liberate" and wherein there is technically, at least from the official perspective of the US Government, a democratically elected government in place? It would appear the US Government has already answered that question and is poised to admit many thousands of Iraqi refugees, as was reported in April.

In spite of the very real security concerns the admission of up to 25,000 Iraqis (as reported in April) into the US may pose, yesterday there was an amendment slipped into the Senate immigration reform bill by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Amendment # 1470 to S.1348, dealing with the "ADMISSION OF CERTAIN NATIONALS FROM IRAQ AS PRIORITY 2 REFUGEES." It is doubtful the mainstream media will publicize much about this amendment. If this becomes law, it will allow for any Iraqi who assisted or worked for the US since the invasion for at least a year and who has left Iraq before January 2007, or any such departed Iraqi who has a close relative in the US who essentially is a legal resident alien or US citizen, to apply for and be accepted for US refugee status. The numbers involved allow for up to 250,000 for each year 2007, 2008 and 2009...for a total of up to 750,000 Iraqi "refugees" to be admitted into the United States.

This, of course, would be on top of whatever massive immigration "reform" the Congress manages to pass into law that will need to be undertaken and administered by an immigration bureaucracy that is already completely overwhelmed and incapable of effectively accomplishing its "normal" benefit granting mission. Notwithstanding whatever safeguard assurances the Government may issue, the processing of any number of Iraqi refugees will likely devolve into a minimalist, routine, "clear the backlog" effort that will be easy pickings for any number of terrorist operatives seeking to take advantage of the process to gain entry into the United States. This amendment is but another example of proposed immigration benefit reform done on the fly with virtually no consideration given to the real world ramifications, particularly the national security ramifications.

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