Senator Lieberman: Do a mitzvah (good deed) for Hanukkah-save Iraqi Christian allies

American Congress for Truth blog, December 10, 2007

Hon. Senator Joseph Lieberman
Chairman, US Senate Homeland Security
Government Affairs Committee

Dear Senator Lieberman:

Re: Saving Iraqi Christians

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the few over the many, and religious belief over apostasy in the ancient world. During the eight nights that you and your family share the warm glow of lighting candles in the Hanukiyot, please think of another ancient people, the Assyrian Christians.

Like the courageous Maccabees, the Assyrian Christians are fighting for their lives. Why? Because they are Christians and they have been valued allies to the US in Iraq.

As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) you can help these beleaguered allies of America by clearing away the red tape in our humanitarian refugee program run by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to Dr. Keith Roderick of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Iraqi Christian refugees, even those who would be classified under our Humanitarian Refugee guidelines as Extremely Vulnerable Persons (EVP), are being directed to The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Office in Amman, Jordan. They are entrapped in a long bureaucratic process. Many have reported that they are discriminated against, files are lost and stories that substantiate their profound fear of persecution including death threats are dismissed. The US Embassy in Amman is virtually impenetrable with Jordanian guards as the initial point of contact for refugees. They are all directed to UNHCR, even when they could take advantage of the Direct Access Program or Immigration P-2 Visas for family reunification.
The UNCHR receives tens of millions in compensation from our government for this processing function.

As Ken Timmerman in a NewsMax.com article, “Iraq Christian Refugees Ignored by U.N.” on the plight of Iraqi Christian translators –a subject that we at American Congress for Truth (ACT) have exposed (See “Intelligence Disaster in Iraq”) – has written, very few of the 500 translators and US Embassy workers eligible to receive emergency relocation to the US under a Congressional mandate for those under death threats have been certified. This, despite the fact that they had brought with them letters of appreciation from US commanders and the US Embassy in Baghdad, but they were not allowed to present them. Why? Because local UNCHR workers discovered that they were Christians and would not process them.

Timmerman was part of a US fact finding delegation that visited the region this fall which included Dr. Keith Roderick of CSI, former Governor Beasley of South Carolina, and William Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition.

Consider these comments from Murray in the Timmerman article:

“The UNCHR interest is to get people to fill out their forms and register as asylum-seekers, because they receive money from Uncle Sam. They have no interest in helping these people whatsoever.”

Murray’s other observation should also be of concern to you as an American Jew:

“It reminds me of what certain people say about Jews – the Jews are better organized….we see that applied to Christians from Iraq. When you say that about Jews, it’s called anti-Semitism. This is a cultural bias, but against Christians.”

Last week, a delegation that included, Governor Beasley, William Murray, Dr. Roderick, Ken Timmerman, and others met with US officials about the Iraqi refugee problem and reported on their recent fact–finding mission. What they got was a polite reception and no support to correct the current UNCHR refugee certification effort in the region that discriminates against Iraqi Christians.

I asked Dr. Roderick what could be done. He indicated that the clearance procedures for these Iraqi Christians who are considered Extremely Vulnerable Persons under our humanitarian refugee rules have a problem with the DHS roving teams. The DHS procedures require these Christian applicants to bring evidence of bank records and property deeds, which, having fled death threats from both Iraqi Sunni and Shia insurgent groups, are virtually impossible to obtain.

I asked Dr. Roderick what he would recommend.

He indicated that DHS should waive these onerous requirements in lieu of the US Embassy and US commander letters documenting their valued service to America in Iraq. He suggested that perhaps the solution might be in the form of executive waivers and/or Congressional resolutions and legislative amendments. The other possible solution is to create administrative units or provinces for Iraqi Christian minorities in their ancestral homelands on the Nineveh Plain. These would provide local policing and security for their villages and economic development.

As our State department has authorized more than 12,000 humanitarian refugee allotments for Iraq, priority should be given to these Iraqi Christians who are deemed Extremely Vulnerable Persons.

As Chairman of the Senate HSGAC, it would appear you have the Congressional mandate and authority to investigate this patent bias against Christian Iraqis allies and eliminate the stumbling blocks for their entry to the US.

Jews have helped embattled Middle Eastern Christians historically. When sectarian battles raged in the Turkish province of Mount Lebanon in the 1860’s, two prominent Jews came to the aid of Maronite Christians under siege there. Sir Moses Montefiore the legendary head of the British Jewish Board of Deputies and Adolphe Cremieux, prominent French human rights lawyer and later Justice Minister in the French Third Republic were influential in presenting the case for the dispatch of a joint British-French naval task force to relieve the Maronite Christians.

As a principled American do a mitzvah this Hanukkah and give sanctuary to another beleaguered and threatened ally of America, Iraqi Christians.

We at ACT value your stands on matters concerning our homeland and national security. We hope that you can aid these allies of the US and bring them here. As our founder Brigitte Gabriel has said: “this would be a wonderful Christmas present for them.”

Happy Hanukkah to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Jerome B. Gordon
Member of the Board
American Congress for Truth