The List Project: Helping Iraqi Refugees

Many of you who have been following my work for some time now will recall the harrowing stories of Iraqi colleagues whose lives are threatened because of their affiliation with coalition forces in the Iraqi reconstruction effort. I have told many stories of colleagues who's parents are kidnapped; those who find severed animal parts at their homes; of how they sleep with AK47s at night; but most of all of their resolve and their commitment to try and believe in a better future for their children.

Source: The List Project homepage

Iraq today, is by all accounts a quagmire and, behind Afghanistan, is the greatest producer of refugees in the world. Almost all of my former colleagues live in Jordan, Syria, Dubai or anywhere else they could get in (some in Canada and Sweden as well). I am still in close contact with many of them, who face a growing uncertainty in countries that are also questioning the feasibility of allowing more and more Iraqi refugees in their borders. They battle to find work, they keep a low profile, and most of them are fighting for even a temporary status in their host countries, just to keep them from having to return to Iraq.

Enter Kirk Johnson, a former colleague and good friend of ours. When he heard about the particular incident where a friend and colleague found a headless dog in his front yard with a note pinned to it saying "your head is next", he sprung into action. What followed was first an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. This gave him the necessary exposure, and after many visists to capital hill where he works with Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, as well as the UN High Commision for Refugees (UNHCR), he launched The List Project.

The List Project advocates for refugee status for the hundreds of Iraqis who have placed their own, and the lives of their families, in jeopardy to support the US and other coalition partners in the reconstruction of Iraq. Many of them worked as translators for the military, but many more worked with Aid agencies and NGOs physically trying to rebuild their country day by day. They faced death threats, kidnappings, bombings in their neighborhoods, and threats to the lives of their children. In the uncertainty that prevailed, they continued to sneak in and out of the International Zone every morning, and again every afternoon, fearing for the worst, but told that there was no way to accomodate them inside the relative safety of the zone.

I urge you to visit the website of The List Project, to learn more about the plight of our Iraqi colleagues and friends, I believe we owe them that. Kirk Johnson, founder of The List: Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, is slated to appear on the ABC World News Weekend broadcast this Sunday, July 8, 2007. Check your local listings for time and station.