BAGHDAD — A second exodus has begun here, of Iraqis who returned after fleeing the carnage of the height of the war, but now find that violence and the nation’s severe lack of jobs are pulling them away from home once again.
Since the American invasion in 2003, refugees have been a measure of the country’s precarious condition, flooding outward during periods of violence and trickling back as Iraq seemed to stabilize. This new migration shows how far the nation remains from being stable and secure...
....Nearly 100,000 refugees have returned since 2008, out of more than two million who left since the invasion, according to the Iraqi government and the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.
But as they return, pulled by improved security in Iraq or pushed by a lack of work abroad, many are finding that their homeland is still not ready — their houses are gone or occupied, their neighborhoods unsafe, their opportunities minimal.
In a recent survey by the United Nations refugee office, 61 percent of those who returned to Baghdad said they regretted coming back, most saying they did not feel safe. The majority, 87 percent, said they could not make enough money here to support their families. Applications for asylum in Syria have risen more than 50 percent since May.
As Iraq struggles toward a return to stability, these returnees risk becoming people without a country, displaced both at home and abroad. And though departures have ebbed since 2008, a wave of recent attacks on Christians has prompted a new exodus...
...For Abu Maream and his family, who left for Syria in 2005 and came back last year, life has come down to a choice between bad options. Syria seemed safe, he said, but he felt “humiliated” as an unemployed foreigner seeking work, selling off his possessions to keep the family afloat. Back here, he has been unable to find work, and neighbors who used to respect the family now “look down on us,” he said.
On a recent afternoon he sat in a two-room apartment with only a mattress on the floor and a few possessions in boxes. He had no refrigerator and received only a few hours of electricity a day.
“Before, we had Shiite neighbors, and there were no problems at all,” said Mr. Maream, who is Sunni. “The government created the sectarian thing,” he said, meaning that the political parties formed along ethnic or religious lines, formalizing the division. Now his neighborhood has become a stronghold for Sunni extremists.
He sat on the edge of the mattress, his mother sitting behind him. In the coming months, he said, he will send his sisters and mother back to Syria for their safety, and he and his wife and three children will move in with an uncle in Iraq, splitting up the family. When the family would be reunited in Syria he could not say.
“It’s over; that’s it,” he said. “I’m not coming back. How can I come back? I don’t believe Iraq will have a chance again.”
KABUL -- The number of Afghans who are fleeing their country and seeking political asylum abroad has spiked dramatically during the past two years, a sign that people here are giving up the dream of a peaceful homeland to seek security and employment elsewhere.
Adding to Afghan election woes, apparent bribe attempt caught on video
The increase has coincided with a sharp escalation in U.S. troop levels and has made Afghanistan the world's top country of origin for asylum seekers worldwide - ahead of Iraq and Somalia, according to statistics compiled by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Last year, 27,057 Afghans sought official protection in foreign nations, and although the pace is down this year, the overall trend line could be a troubling indicator as the United States seeks to return Afghanistan to stability.
The vast majority of the refugees are young men in their teens, 20s and 30s, often well educated and with the financial means to pay $20,000 or more to human smugglers for passports and visas to Pakistan or Iran, then on to Europe, Australia, Canada or the United States, immigration officials said.
Among the most capable and brightest of their generation, some are fleeing war-ravaged villages or ethnic tribal violence. But more appear to be pursuing education and higher-paying jobs, sending money home to their families or arranging for relatives to join them abroad.
The common thread among them, human rights activists said, is a growing impatience with the war and a lack of faith that U.S. and NATO forces, which are aiming to hand off authority to Afghan troops by 2014, will prevail against the Taliban.
"What's driving this sharp increase is an uncertainty among the population about the future," said Ahmad Nader Nadery, a commissioner at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. "As the discussions about troop withdrawal become much more serious, this is a question of survival. They don't see the current fragility in this government allowing it to make a smooth transition to prevent the Taliban from coming back."
The increase of Afghan refugees has prompted foreign governments to implement stricter immigration controls. In Australia, where 2,705 Afghans have applied for asylum this year, significantly more than last year, officials froze all Afghan cases for six months before lifting the ban in October. Less than one-third of the Afghan applicants in Australia have been granted asylum protection this year.
European countries, which have no unified asylum policy, have deported hundreds of Afghan refugees and kept many more in detention centers or refugee camps for months. Fewer Afghans have applied for asylum in the United States, which immigration officials attributed to the closer proximity of Europe and easier access to South Asian staging points for reaching Australia. In 2010, 113 Afghans applied for asylum in the United States, the most since 2002, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Quote by Raine:
As passport to LAs Vegas?
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
As passport to LAs Vegas?
how old was the kid? I want to say I thought you needed something when you crossed a stateline when I was little
Can I borrow some money so we can move into an apartment and buy a new Mustang convertible? I don’t mean to waste money. I will use some of the money to buy a drum set and have a cool pool. Can I have $10,000 to buy my passport to go to Las Vegas? Send me a picture of the White House and the statue of Abraham Lincoln.
— LUIS MOLINA, age 10, Los Angeles
Quote by Raine:he was 10.Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
As passport to LAs Vegas?
how old was the kid? I want to say I thought you needed something when you crossed a stateline when I was littleCan I borrow some money so we can move into an apartment and buy a new Mustang convertible? I don’t mean to waste money. I will use some of the money to buy a drum set and have a cool pool. Can I have $10,000 to buy my passport to go to Las Vegas? Send me a picture of the White House and the statue of Abraham Lincoln.
— LUIS MOLINA, age 10, Los Angeles
Quote by Raine:
Did I not say this wiki thing was a little too gossip girl yesterday???
Quote by Raine:
That doesn't make sense.
Telephone came out AFTER they had all this information, if I recall correctly.
In April 2010, WikiLeaks posted video from a 2007 incident in which Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. forces, on a website called Collateral Murder. In July of the same year, WikiLeaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in Afghanistan not previously available for public review.[9] In October, the group released a package of almost 400,000 documents called the Iraq War Logs in coordination with major commercial media organisations.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
That doesn't make sense.
Telephone came out AFTER they had all this information, if I recall correctly.
I wasn't paying attention - what did I miss - a telephone came out? what?
Quote by Raine:
I know this is cold, but federal workers have not had a pay freeze in over 10 years.
Many private sector workers have had to suffer little to NO raises, furlows, and severe unemployment. PEople on SS have gotten NO COLA for the past 2 years.
Yes I think that we need to cut the defense budget, but as much as this hurts -- I think it is fair. There is not going to be layoffs.
and maybe this will get people to wake up. It's politics, it sucks, I know -- but shit -- he said he would do this.
Quote by Raine:I posted the video : Telephone.Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
That doesn't make sense.
Telephone came out AFTER they had all this information, if I recall correctly.
I wasn't paying attention - what did I miss - a telephone came out? what?
Quote by wickedpam:
hey, no arguement here, I watched gov workers whining on the news last night and all I could think was that they more likely make more then I do and I'm doing okay so what are they complaining about
The legislation, which passed by a vote of 73 to 25, would greatly strengthen the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that in recent decades focused more on policing medical products than ensuring the safety of foods. The bill is intended to get the government to crack down on unsafe foods before they harm people rather than after outbreaks occur.
Despite unusual bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and a strong push from the Obama administration, the bill could still die because there might not be enough time for the usual haggling between the Senate and House of Representatives, which passed its own version last year. Top House Democrats said that they would consider simply passing the Senate version to speed approval.
Quote by Raine:I know that some of these workers are blue collar jobs (like those that pick up garbage)Quote by wickedpam:
hey, no arguement here, I watched gov workers whining on the news last night and all I could think was that they more likely make more then I do and I'm doing okay so what are they complaining about
I know that not all of them are hight paying jobs. I know this bites. They still have a job.
Quote by TriSec:
Idle thoughts on the wikileaks...
If this website was based in Syria, or Iran, or anywhere other than Sweden, do you think we would have bombed it by now?
And whatever happened to the "secure copies" they used to make of sensitive documents? Say you made 100 copies of something, each copy would have an identifying mark on it. (like an extra comma, a word misspelled, etc.) They would keep track of who got which copy, and if anything leaked, they would know who did it.
Hollywood still does this with scripts, so why did the Pentagon stop? (It was a Reagan-era thing.)
Again in theory, any memory stick or CD connected to a computer with Siprnet access must automatically be labelled secret and stored securely. If a personal device such as an iPod is connected it can be confiscated. In practice these multiple layers of security were relaxed to make the system as easy to use as possible.
There have been suggestions that an alarm system to detect suspicious use of the network was suspended for US military personnel in Iraq after they complained it was inconvenient.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:I know that some of these workers are blue collar jobs (like those that pick up garbage)Quote by wickedpam:
hey, no arguement here, I watched gov workers whining on the news last night and all I could think was that they more likely make more then I do and I'm doing okay so what are they complaining about
I know that not all of them are hight paying jobs. I know this bites. They still have a job.
Depends on where you live - in this area you only have to get to a G7 to break into the 40K's
Gov scale by locality
Quote by Raine:NYS employees have this kind of pay scale.Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:I know that some of these workers are blue collar jobs (like those that pick up garbage)Quote by wickedpam:
hey, no arguement here, I watched gov workers whining on the news last night and all I could think was that they more likely make more then I do and I'm doing okay so what are they complaining about
I know that not all of them are hight paying jobs. I know this bites. They still have a job.
Depends on where you live - in this area you only have to get to a G7 to break into the 40K's
Gov scale by locality
thanks for that link, Mala. Bookmarking it!
Quote by TriSec:
Idle thoughts on the wikileaks...
If this website was based in Syria, or Iran, or anywhere other than Sweden, do you think we would have bombed it by now?
And whatever happened to the "secure copies" they used to make of sensitive documents? Say you made 100 copies of something, each copy would have an identifying mark on it. (like an extra comma, a word misspelled, etc.) They would keep track of who got which copy, and if anything leaked, they would know who did it.
Hollywood still does this with scripts, so why did the Pentagon stop? (It was a Reagan-era thing.)
Quote by BobR:Quote by TriSec:
Idle thoughts on the wikileaks...
If this website was based in Syria, or Iran, or anywhere other than Sweden, do you think we would have bombed it by now?
And whatever happened to the "secure copies" they used to make of sensitive documents? Say you made 100 copies of something, each copy would have an identifying mark on it. (like an extra comma, a word misspelled, etc.) They would keep track of who got which copy, and if anything leaked, they would know who did it.
Hollywood still does this with scripts, so why did the Pentagon stop? (It was a Reagan-era thing.)
The thing is - Wikileaks is replicated in multiple servers in multiple regions of the world. You can't bomb a location and destroy it.
But the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is rapidly unfolding, said charges could be filed under the act. The U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria - which in 2005 brought Espionage Act charges, now dropped, against two former pro-Israel lobbyists - is involved in the effort, the sources said.
The Pentagon is leading the investigation and it remains unclear whether any additional charges would be brought in the military or civilian justice systems. Pfc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst suspected of being the source of the WikiLeaks documents, was arrested by the military this year.
Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
Quote by Raine:
ok, Ed's getting clicked off -- I don;t need him yelling.
Quote by Raine:Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
What's going on with the car?
Quote by livingonli:Quote by Raine:Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
What's going on with the car?
When I get paid I need a new battery and to be able to close my trunk. I've pissed enough money on this car lately.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
ok, Ed's getting clicked off -- I don;t need him yelling.
and Thom is the usual downer - I know its shallow but I need fun stuff to keep from getting depressed
Quote by wickedpam:
have I gotten everyone info for Blogger Joe - last call
Quote by Raine:And you checked the fluid levels in the battery, right?Quote by livingonli:Quote by Raine:Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
What's going on with the car?
When I get paid I need a new battery and to be able to close my trunk. I've pissed enough money on this car lately.
What is going on with the trunk? This is the first time I have heard about this. Once you get these things together, (and I KNOW you aren't going to like hearing this) maybe you can keep putting in a few extra hours, put the money away and get another car? Even a used on will be better than this, no?
Quote by wickedpam:
have I gotten everyone info for Blogger Joe - last call
Quote by Raine:And you checked the fluid levels in the battery, right?Quote by livingonli:Quote by Raine:Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
What's going on with the car?
When I get paid I need a new battery and to be able to close my trunk. I've pissed enough money on this car lately.
What is going on with the trunk? This is the first time I have heard about this. Once you get these things together, (and I KNOW you aren't going to like hearing this) maybe you can keep putting in a few extra hours, put the money away and get another car? Even a used on will be better than this, no?
Quote by Raine:And you checked the fluid levels in the battery, right?Quote by livingonli:Quote by Raine:Quote by livingonli:
Good day folks. Still very tired. Need some good vibes for me and the car.
What's going on with the car?
When I get paid I need a new battery and to be able to close my trunk. I've pissed enough money on this car lately.
What is going on with the trunk? This is the first time I have heard about this. Once you get these things together, (and I KNOW you aren't going to like hearing this) maybe you can keep putting in a few extra hours, put the money away and get another car? Even a used on will be better than this, no?
Quote by BobR:Quote by wickedpam:
have I gotten everyone info for Blogger Joe - last call
I said I was in on the blogger Joe post. I'm assuming you have my address; let me know if I need to send it.
Quote by wickedpam:
have I gotten everyone info for Blogger Joe - last call