Saved by the bonds of war, 'lucky' Iraqis trickle into US (Guardian)

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Saved by the bonds of war, 'lucky' Iraqis trickle into US

Refugees of the post-Saddam chaos need friends
with influence to get into America

Suzanne Goldenberg in New York
Tuesday July 24, 2007
The Guardian

There is an unseen presence in the flat in New York's East
Village that Lisa Ramaci-Vincent and Nour al-Khal now call
home. It's that of Steven Vincent, a freelance journalist
killed by an Iraqi death squad in Basra two years ago. Ms
Ramaci-Vincent is his widow; Ms Khal was his translator and
was with him when he was kidnapped off a busy street,
bound, beaten and shot dead.

On June 26, the two women met for the first time at John F
Kennedy airport when Ms Khal was among the first contingent
of 63 Iraqis to be granted refugee status in America since
the 2003 invasion. In her arrival lies a story of the bonds
forged in wartime and the bureaucracy that would stand in
their way.

The 63 Iraqis who landed at JFK last month are the only
refugees of Iraq's post-war chaos to be admitted to the US
to date. With one in seven Iraqis now displaced by war, the
people on the plane were the chosen ones. Each had a patron
waiting in America, a connection that propelled them to the
front of a seemingly endless queue of people looking to live
in safety.

-snip-

Although the administration promised last January to admit
7,000 refugees, the state department now says it hopes to
get in 2,000 by the end of September. Refugee agencies fear
that at the present pace of arrival, even that lower target
now seems unlikely to be met for years.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2133343,00.html