'survival sex' is a good name for it indeed

and who is directly responsible? we are. and i think we should all be hanging our heads in shame. we could have and should have stopped king george long ago. we didn't and our children's children will STILL be paying the price

FEATURE-Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria
Source: Reuters
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent
DAMASCUS, Dec 31 (Reuters) - A score of young Iraqi women in tight, shimmering gowns shuffle across the nightclub dance floor under the hungry eyes of Gulf Arabs at nearby tables.
The band blasts out Iraqi songs into the early hours as the watching youths join the dancing or summon girls to sit with them -- there is little pretence about what gets transacted at this neon-lit nightspot half an hour's drive north of Damascus.
The dancers, some in their early teens, do not want to talk, but one said she had no other way to support her family. "My father was killed in Baghdad and our money is finished," muttered the dark-haired girl in a black and silver dress.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR calls it "survival sex", a desperate way to cope for Iraqi refugees whose savings have run out since they escaped the violence at home............

10,000 out of how many?

how many did we displace? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. how many iraqis have helped our troops? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. how many iraqis lives are on the line? way more than 10,000 that's for sure. are these 10,000 going to be alive when (and IF) they really do get into the us? even one of king george's court, ryan c crocker thinks we're not doing our jobs (as far as the refugees go that is)

Crocker Blasts Refugee Process
Iraqis Could Wait 2 Years for Entry, Ambassador Says

By Spencer S. Hsu and Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writers
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks.
In a bluntly worded State Department cable titled "Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?" Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker noted that the Department of Homeland Security had only a handful of officers in Jordan to vet the refugees.
Bush administration officials in Washington immediately disputed several of Crocker's claims.
Still, the "sensitive" but unclassified memo, sent Sept. 7, laid out a wrenching, ground-level view of the U.S. government's halting response to Iraq's refugee crisis. Human rights groups and independent analysts say thousands of desperate Iraqis who have worked alongside Americans now find themselves the targets of insurgents and sectarian militias, prompting many of them to seek residency in the United States or Europe...........

i have mentioned this before

and it's worth continued mentioning. why would someone, let's say an IRAQI help us troops out when the us government in turn, WILL NOT help the iraqi and her/his family out?

if you can trust them to help you and your unit out time after time after time. if you see they are putting their LIVES ON THE LINE for you and your fellow soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU SAVE THEM? (i'm not blaming the soldiers for this. i'm blaming the red tape AND LIES of the king george and his court administration)

U.S. Failing to Help Iraqi Translator and Family Targeted for Execution

By Maura Stephens, AlterNet
He thought he could rebuild his country by helping the Americans. Now an Iraqi translator and his family have been targeted for execution, and instead of helping, U.S. officials have trapped him in an endless Catch-22.

My dear friend Andy -- we're so close, we call each other brother and sister -- has a degree in English literature. He loves Shakespeare and Shelley, Byron and Dunne, and can quote from their works far better than most poetry professors I know. Andy loves beauty and harmony and tea and good food. He is simply gaga about his lovely young wife, Alysse, and their two little ones.
He's not the kind of guy you'd expect to want to serve the U.S. military, but just a couple of weeks after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Andy lined up to enlist. He couldn't wait to help the United States bring democracy to Iraq. Since April 2003 Andy has served faithfully with the Army despite being in dire danger almost all the time. He and his wife and two babies have been under sporadic but serious threat of execution because of Andy's work with the U.S. Army. The stress is wearing on Andy and Alysse -- physically and mentally. Andy is well aware that it is only a matter of time before his luck runs out. He is ready to get out of Iraq.
His army colleagues and commanding officers think the world of Andy, but despite his four-plus years of almost nonstop service, Andy can't get out of Iraq. The U.S. Army seems to be quite powerless in this case.
That's because Andy is Iraqi. He has been an interpreter/translator for the U.S. military this whole time..........

and this:

Only 133 Iraqi refugees allowed in US so far this year

Only 133 Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the United States since October, well short of the 7,000 the US has vowed to welcome in this fiscal year, a State Department spokesman said Monday.
"I think we're up around 133 thus far that have entered the United States," since October 1, the start of fiscal 2007, Sean McCormack told a press briefing.
"We have more work to do," he added after recalling that at the beginning of the year US authorities vowed to take in at least 7,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of fiscal 2007, and even more in fiscal 2008.
He attributed the slow pace to rigorous security measures: "They have to go through and have to do a vetting procedure, which everybody understands the need to do........

we invaded their country

for NO legal, legitimate or MORAL reason. we destroyed families, land, businesses. we are ABANDONING those that have helped our military members (i was dumbfounded when i watched 60 minutes this weekend and saw how we were not taking care of those assisting our miltary as translators. the iraqis that have helped us are as good as dead and begging us to help them. take them to america. we of course are spitting in their faces.). HOW DARE WE


Left Behind

Scott Pelley On The Plight Of Iraqis Who Helped The U.S.

(CBS) When U.S. troops invaded Iraq, they had a major handicap – they didn’t speak the language. There would have been no progress, and likely more American dead, had it not been for Iraqi citizens who volunteered to serve our armed forces as translators. Many thousands of Iraqis believed in the cause. They signed on as drivers, construction workers and office workers. But now they and their families are being hunted down by insurgents bent on killing them for collaborating. No wonder many are fleeing Iraq, desperate for asylum. But as they appeal to the U.S., many feel they’re being left behind. .......

A humanitarian crisis of historic proportions


Nearly 2 million Iraqis have fled to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey—another 1.8 million have been displaced within their country's borders.

The humanitarian crisis that didn’t evolve as expected at the start of the Iraq war is now in full swing, says the International Rescue Committee, after surveying needs in Syria and Jordan, where desperate Iraqis have taken refuge from the chaos at home. How the IRC is Helping > ...........

Iraqi Refugees Overwhelm Syria
Migrants Who Fled Violence Put Stress on Housing Market, Schools

By Scott Wilson Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A18
ALEPPO, Syria -- Sabbah Zaker had a small, sturdy construction company in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and although he did not agree with the U.S. invasion, he accepted a $10,000 contract last summer to renovate schools and health clinics across his ethnically mixed home town. A few months later, his name began appearing on the walls of his neighborhood as a warning from insurgents not to cooperate with the Americans. .............
.......We cannot continue like this," said Abdelhamid Ouali, the representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria. "The situation is terrible, and we are obliged to do something."
Hoping to help the fleeing Iraqis without encouraging their flight, the U.N. agency arranged "temporary protection status" that prevented the Iraqis from being deported but did not trigger the financial aid and relocation assistance that goes to official refugees. Almost two years ago, the agency set up large tent cities and health clinics for thousands of people. The facilities were mothballed when the mass exodus did not immediately materialize. .......

human rights watch iraqis

Violence, Poverty Underscore Story of Iraqi Refugees in Jordan


by Jon Elmer
For those who have fled the chaos of home to settle indefinitely in Amman, making do and maintaining hope of someday returning to a peaceful Iraq are elusive ways of life.
Amman; July 22, 2005 – Hisham Jamil is unequivocal when asked why he and his wife have chosen a life of unemployment in a foreign country over the life they built together in Baghdad.
"You know why we left," he said as he walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Hamsa, down a busy street here in Jordan's capital. "The whole world knows why we left. We can't live in Baghdad anymore; it is as simple as that. Life is impossible."...........

Video: Special report on Iraq's growing refugee crisis

David Edwards

In a Channel 4 News special, Jonathan Miller reports on the millions of Iraqi refugees fleeing their homeland in the wake of an ongoing war.
"They've escaped from hell in Iraq, but now they're stuck here in limbo," reports Miller on the roughly one million Iraqi refugees who have fled to Syria. "Many are destitute, most are illegal. They can't get health care, there's no schooling, and no jobs. And there's always that looming threat of summary deportation."
In Jordan, as in Syria, Iraqis who flee the war are not officially recognized as political refugees, but instead are considered temporary visitors, thus denying them any permanent residence or work permits. Jordan has currently stopped accepting refugees...........