Author Topic: Human Rights First joins the drumbeat: US must resettle 15,000 Syrians this year  (Read 627 times)

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rangerrebew

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Human Rights First joins the drumbeat: US must resettle 15,000 Syrians this year

Posted by Ann Corcoran on April 4, 2014


The ‘humanitarian industrial complex’ is so predictable.

As we mentioned here, here and here in just the last week, they have begun their public relations campaign in lock-step because for some reason (security?) the US is dragging its feet on dropping off thousands of Syrians into your towns and cities.


Eleanor Acer: US must lead the way with 15,000 Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees resettled this year!

Human Rights First‘s Eleanor Acer from The Guardian:

…. so far, the American response has been wanting. With more than $1.7bn in aid so far, it is the single largest donor to the Syria humanitarian response, but the United States resettled a mere 36 Syrian refugees in 2013. As of February 2014, the US has resettled only 25 more. That’s a total of 121 since 2011, out of over 2 million refugees.

If the country with the largest resettlement program in the world doesn’t step up, who will?

This January, US officials indicated that the government expects to accept referrals for several thousand Syrian refugees in 2014. But so far, the United States has not announced a commitment to resettling a significant number. Why?

The UK, Bulgaria and Greece setting rotten examples as well.

Acer:

The US isn’t the only state reluctant to welcome some of Syria’s refugees. The UK, for example, announced plans to resettle the modest number of 500 Syrian refugees, but only after public criticism by film stars Colin Firth and Emma Thompson. Other European countries, including Bulgaria and Greece, have even imposed obstacles preventing Syrian refugees from crossing into their countries. Such responses set a poor example for the frontline states, which must keep their borders open to refugees as a requirement of international law and to prevent an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.

The US must lead the way by admitting 15,000 (LOL! the advocates have obviously settled on their magic number!):

It’s clear what is needed: while the international community must devise a comprehensive long-term plan for addressing the refugee crisis, a crucial part of that plan must include sharing the responsibility of hosting refugees.

And the United States should lead this effort. As the world’s richest country, and one that justifiably prides itself on protecting refugees, it needs to be doing much more. This year, the US should aim to resettle at least 15,000 Syrian refugees, and should continue to significantly increase the number it takes in. The credibility of the US and its ability to effectively press other states to increase their own efforts depends on it.

See how they get this number, 15,000, planted in the public discussion and then throw in the “increase the number” later comment.  The sad thing is that they did this with the Iraqi ‘refugees’ and succeeded.  So unless you speak up and contact your representatives in Washington (the only elected officials with the power to stop this), they will succeed again!

So far, deep in the bowels of the federal government, someone has cold feet about opening the flood gates to Syrians!

Readers:  Remember there are still plenty of Syrians getting into the US through other legal and illegal means, but our focus here (in this post) is on the formal Refugee Resettlement program of the US State Department and the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement in Health and Human Services.

http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/human-rights-first-joins-the-drumbeat-us-must-resettle-15000-syrians-this-year/
« Last Edit: April 06, 2014, 09:19:35 am by rangerrebew »

Offline EC

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Where the hell do I begin?

Lets start with a thank you. The US provides a bleep ton of aid, and every last gram is appreciated. I've seen the stuff coming in. About 2/3 of it is in cases or sacks stamped USA. It comes from churches, private individuals, companies and aid agencies. Not just food. Diapers, medicines, cots, toys, clothes. All of them come in and the recipients are bleep grateful. I am not talking the odd box - I am talking 7 cargo planes per day. Anyone tells me Americans are not generous as hell, lets just say they'll need dental work.

Now to the main premise. Ma'am, with all due respect, these people do not want to go to America, or the UK, or Germany. They want to go home. It may come as a surprise to you, but they are as devoted to their homeland as you are. All they want is to return home with the reasonable expectation of not getting shot.
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Offline Fishrrman

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[[ Eleanor Acer: US must lead the way with 15,000 Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees resettled this year! ]]

Let us not lead the way.

"Resettle" them somewhere else...

Offline speekinout

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Where the hell do I begin?

Lets start with a thank you. The US provides a bleep ton of aid, and every last gram is appreciated. I've seen the stuff coming in. About 2/3 of it is in cases or sacks stamped USA. It comes from churches, private individuals, companies and aid agencies. Not just food. Diapers, medicines, cots, toys, clothes. All of them come in and the recipients are bleeping grateful. I am not talking the odd box - I am talking 7 cargo planes per day. Anyone tells me Americans are not generous as hell, lets just say they'll need dental work.

Now to the main premise. Ma'am, with all due respect, these people do not want to go to America, or the UK, or Germany. They want to go home. It may come as a surprise to you, but they are as devoted to their homeland as you are. All they want is to return home with the reasonable expectation of not getting shot.

 :beer:

Americans used to do that - provide immediate aid, and then make sure the country was safe and stable. We did that after WWII and after the Korean War with great success for everyone.
Now there's a big move to change America, and Americans aren't the only ones who are losing because of these changes.

Offline EC

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:beer:

Americans used to do that - provide immediate aid, and then make sure the country was safe and stable. We did that after WWII and after the Korean War with great success for everyone.
Now there's a big move to change America, and Americans aren't the only ones who are losing because of these changes.

You still do, my friend.

I'll give you one tiny example. We were running short on a lot of things at one stage. A single Baptist church in Louisiana sent 5 people (three retired nurses, a midwife and a priest) and 17 tons of supplies within 2 days. I know as a good Catholic I am supposed to tease Baptists - but damn. That shit is impressive.

You know what got me most though? The little knitted hats and robes for newborns. There was an entire damned box of them, and we are not talking a small box - think coffin sized. Somewhere in or around Shreveport there are still knitting needles smouldering from the speed they were used!

Now that is America at it's finest.
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rangerrebew

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You still do, my friend.

I'll give you one tiny example. We were running short on a lot of things at one stage. A single Baptist church in Louisiana sent 5 people (three retired nurses, a midwife and a priest) and 17 tons of supplies within 2 days. I know as a good Catholic I am supposed to tease Baptists - but damn. That shit is impressive.

You know what got me most though? The little knitted hats and robes for newborns. There was an entire damned box of them, and we are not talking a small box - think coffin sized. Somewhere in or around Shreveport there are still knitting needles smouldering from the speed they were used!

Now that is America at it's finest.

These are the same charities Obama would like to crush by taxing them more.

Offline EC

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These are the same charities Obama would like to crush by taxing them more.

Obama believes that the only good can come from government. He can pretend I'm the pope and kiss my ring - and yes, in that sense.

Bunch of people got stuff together. Some of the stuff for the kids was prettily wrapped by the kids in the congregation and their friends at school. Lilac ribbon for girls presents, yellow for the boys (Note - never use green if you do a care package for a child). Fedex sent a full damned jet to deliver the stuff and threw in a shitload of food and bottled water. It was all close to use by date, so they probably got it pretty much for free from the caterers at the airport.
There was one case. Wood, nailed tight shut, but with "open this first" written on it in red marker. There were like 2000 cupcakes in there, in catering boxes. No clue where they came from. Only message at all was a bit of paper on top of the case that said enjoy in 4 languages.

You wonder why I admire Americans?


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Offline speekinout

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You still do, my friend.

I'll give you one tiny example. We were running short on a lot of things at one stage. A single Baptist church in Louisiana sent 5 people (three retired nurses, a midwife and a priest) and 17 tons of supplies within 2 days. I know as a good Catholic I am supposed to tease Baptists - but damn. That shit is impressive.

You know what got me most though? The little knitted hats and robes for newborns. There was an entire damned box of them, and we are not talking a small box - think coffin sized. Somewhere in or around Shreveport there are still knitting needles smouldering from the speed they were used!

Now that is America at it's finest.

I guess I'm late to the story - but where are you?

Offline EC

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I guess I'm late to the story - but where are you?

Usually the UK, but I spent a fair amount of time in Syria (and Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and other places I'd rather forget). There is a thread about it in the members only section - called MsF fun - if you are hugely interested. I wouldn't be, it's just day by day stuff.

I am lucky. No real need to work for other than pleasure any more, thanks to some lucky investments, residuals and a fair bit of hard work, so I spend my spare time volunteering. The doctors and nurses are the most wonderful people on the planet - but they do need guards.
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Offline speekinout

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Usually the UK, but I spent a fair amount of time in Syria (and Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and other places I'd rather forget). There is a thread about it in the members only section - called MsF fun - if you are hugely interested. I wouldn't be, it's just day by day stuff.

I am lucky. No real need to work for other than pleasure any more, thanks to some lucky investments, residuals and a fair bit of hard work, so I spend my spare time volunteering. The doctors and nurses are the most wonderful people on the planet - but they do need guards.

Thanks - I'll go by that thread.

Good for you. There's no way I could volunteer as much as you do. I'm jealous and also grateful that there are people like you.