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From an Iraqi Stranded in Malaysia
Posted on August 9, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Immigration, International.
An Iraqi interpreter named Ashraf who fled his country because of fear of being killed for his work with the Americans wrote a comment on this blog. He said he wants his story told and agreed to have his comment posted, in the hopes that someone might be able to help him. “I feel hopeless and lost,” Ashraf wrote. In his own words:
i am an iraqi guy, i’m 26 now and i’m a registered refugee asylum seeker with the unhcr here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia…i worked in iraq as an interpreter with the US army, and US special forces (the navy seals) in anbar province and in baghdad….i did alot of work and i was so devoted to my job… my father was killed by a terrorist group that wanted me cause i worked against them with my unit, and my family was displaced and i was almost killed twice and my brother was kidnapped and thank god he survived it and he is working now in baghdad with the US forces also as an interpreter…
i registered here in malaysia cause i was hunted in syria also and i couldn’t get a visa to egypt or jordan or other near countries so i got a visa to Malaysia and here i am here…
i went to the US embassy here in malaysia but they have no help and no answers for any question i have…. and they never gave me hope…and when i go to the unhcr here after being registered they also have no answers for me, they just said that no countries are accepting any refugees now and we have no info about the US accepting iraqis…
i am totally lost and i dont know what to do….if i had enough money then i would try to go back and work as an interpreter, i dont know what to do…
please miss Hanna……. please i need some advice and i really hope that i can be recognised or told what to do or where to go to apply or how to do it….i am totally lost…i wish i can reach the american media or any media to hear my story….
i was the only iraqi local interpreter to work with the US nave Seals cause they are so special but cause of my dedication and devotion to work i was assigned to them….
please miss hanna….i need some advice or some help…i would do anything to survive…
The only thing I can do is share his story. If someone else has some ideas, let me know and I’ll give you his contact info.
It is horrifying to think how many people are in similar situations (more than 2 million Iraqis have fled the country). Ashraf is 26, clearly smart and well-educated judging by his English…so similar to my friends and co-workers. And yet, my friends and I spent the day on the beach, flipping through photographs of Shilo and Angelina’s new baby twins. Ashraf, because he was born in Iraq, because he helped the United States military, is now living in fear and misery.
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Crime, Police Stories in NYC
Posted on August 7, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Crime.
I’ve been working at the New York Sun for the past couple weeks on their crime beat. Check out some of my recent stories here:
New York May Weigh Sex Offender Act
Civil Rights Lawyer Sues City Over Handcuffing of Girl, 10
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“You Broke It and You Have to Fix It”
Posted on July 23, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International.
An Iraqi who used to work for the New York Times wrote an excellent post for today’s Baghdad Bureau blog on the Times website. Ahmad Fadam answers the question of when American troops should leave Iraq by discussing what American troops should do before they leave.
If I put a bomb in someone’s house and destroy it, then I cannot just simply say “sorry” and leave. I have a responsibility to fix what I have broken, I have to rebuild the man’s house and bring it back at least to what it was.
The politicians have been talking about reconstructing Iraq for five years now, but I as an Iraqi, haven’t seen any. We used to hear about all the good things that we would get after “liberation” — factories, beautiful houses, fancy restaurants, movie theaters and playgrounds. “Baghdad will be more beautiful than Dubai,” a Western journalist said to me back in 2003, and the funny part is that the looting was still going on and half of Baghdad was on fire.
But what have we got? After five years of “liberation,” Iraqis still barely get electricity. People have started to make jokes about it, calling it “holy electricity” or “Ayatollah electricity,” because you have to pray to get it. One hour of electricity every day and sometime every three or four days … what a blessing!
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Fun Times on Craigslist
Posted on July 14, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Culture.
My husband and I are selling some furniture on Craigslist, an activity that always leads to good laughs and strange stories. Here are some of the emails I have received in the past three days:
My favorite, from Tommy:
yo id like to buy that sweet papasan chair if you still have it. i can pick it up tomorrow.
A thoughtful one sent from Manuel after he and his family picked up the TV:
Thank you very much for the tv, this tv is what i was realy looking for. thank you again.
From Rhonda:
I would like to buy your plants. waiting to hear from you, thanks, Rhonda………(I will give them a very good home)
And, as always, ones that are a little off and therefore a little suspicious:
Thanks for your mail,i will like to make fast payment for this item,so i will like to send you certified bank check and once the check have clear at your bank my shipper will come for the pick-up at your place,so get back to me with the name to be on the check,your full address,state and zip-code and you phone number.
Get back to me asap.
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Doonesbury on Iraqi Refugees
Posted on July 10, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Culture, International.
The Doonesbury comic strip has long been known for its willingness to take on heated political subjects, and now it is addressing the Iraqi refugee crisis. And what do you know, the Iraqi refugee character is named Hanna, spelled correctly. Check it out here.
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Interpreters for U.S. Left Behind
Posted on July 9, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Immigration, International, Politics.
Check out my story on the Huffington Post today:
Every couple of weeks an email from Baghdad pops up in Iraq War veteran Joey Coon’s inbox at his home in Washington, D.C. It’s Coon’s 23-year-old Iraqi interpreter, nicknamed Dash, pleading for help to get out of Iraq and into the United States. Dash feels in constant grave danger that he and his family will be killed because of his work with American troops.
“People like Dash put their lives on the line to help keep people like me and my friends and fellow soldiers and Iraqi civilians safe,” said Coon. “It was a very admirable, heroic thing that he did, I think, and I do feel that both soldiers and the American people in general have a certain responsibility here.”
That responsibility, however, is one that is more or less being shirked off by the presidential campaigns. While both candidates hotly debate each other’s plans for withdrawing or maintaining troop levels in Iraq, virtually nothing is being said about the 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced by the war or about the tens of thousands of Iraqis like Dash who feel at immediate risk for having worked with the Americans. Even less is being said about how the incoming administration will deal with the humanitarian crisis still evolving.
That’s why Coon and veterans like him are working harder than ever to mount a national campaign to save the lives of their interpreters by bringing them to the United States. Although there has been some progress recently made in establishing special immigrant visas for Iraqis who worked for Americans, the process of getting these Iraqis to the United States continues to be filled with long, bureaucratic delays. As papers get shuffled, untold thousands of Iraqis are left in danger.
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I Want a Leader
Posted on July 3, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under Immigration, International, Politics.
Barack Obama can find time in his schedule to have two press conferences on his timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq - in one day. Couldn’t he fit in one press conference - say in one month - in which he discusses his plan for Iraqi reconstruction, humanitarian aid and refugee resettlement?
The chair of the campaign’s immigration policy group, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, insisted to me that the senator is deeply committed to helping the almost five million Iraqis displaced by the war. He said Obama feels that the United States has a responsibility to these people.
So where’s the press conference?
Leadership is about bringing up sticky, uncomfortable issues. It’s about taking a stand when others want to hide under a blanket. A president with true leadership can force the American people to grapple with the difficult questions - like what the hell are we going to do about this massive humanitarian and security crisis that the war we started created - and get them to rally around an issue simply because it’s the right thing to do.
We’ve been in this war for five years. Debating how quickly we remove combat troops is the easy part. Figuring out what happens once we leave is the real challenge. And it would be nice if the candidates took 30 minutes out of their months of campaigning to tell us what they plan to do.
(P.S. Sorry, I can’t tell you how committed John McCain is to Iraqis displaced by the war. His campaign won’t return my phone calls or emails.)
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Recent Pix from Burma
Posted on June 20, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International.
Helping survivors of the cyclone that devastated much of Burma six weeks ago is risky business. The junta has arrested celebrities who tried to deliver aid to the Delta region, sending a clear warning that such help wasn’t appreciated. Donors have been harassed and even jailed for their charity.
The country’s rulers have forbidden foreigners as well as Burmese nationals from providing unrestricted assistance in an effort to control knowledge of the cyclone and its aftermath, which means controlling the meaning of the event. The government must show that it has the situation under control. The last thing the regime wants is to have its people travel to the areas worst hit by the storm, take photographs of the land and the people, and then send the images (and the information and stories they contain) to the international community.
A friend living in Burma has done just that. He or she, by merely traveling to Laputta Township in the Irrawadddy Delta to provide relief and then sending photographs of his or her experience abroad, has on some level prevented the junta from controlling the story.
Cross-posted on the Huffington Post here.
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The Iraq War’s Forgotten Side
Posted on June 18, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International.
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain talk a lot about the Iraq War. They talk about troop withdrawals, permanent bases, legal battles over Guantanamo detainees. But then there’s everything else they rarely if ever mention - for example, the entire humanitarian crisis caused by the war. There are now more than 4 million Iraqis who have fled their homes and are displaced by the ongoing conflict.
Read more in my column on the Huffington Post’s OffTheBus here.
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Refugees in Malaysia
Posted on June 13, 2008, by Hanna Ingber Win, under International.
Check out these powerful photographs by Simon Wheatley of Burmese refugees living in Malaysia.
I spent a week in Malaysia in July 2005, listening to stories from some of the tens of thousands of Burmese who had fled religious or political persecution back home in the hopes of finding safety in Malaysia. They didn’t find it. Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, and it does not recognize the status of refugees - even those carrying UNHCR identification - and treats them as illegal immigrants.
The government arms volunteer civilian groups, called RELA, to go on raids throughout the country, rounding up refugees as if they were cattle. Burmese told me about running from RELA forces. If they get caught, they must either pay a hefty bribe or face time in a detention center and then be deported. I met Burmese political refugees who got caught, sent to a detention center, deported to Thailand, lured by a smuggler, brought back into Malaysia, and then caught and deported all over, again and again and again.
Muslim Rohingya refugees told me they fled Rakkhine State in western Burma because they were denied citizenship on the basis of their religion. They couldn’t marry, get a higher degree or travel freely. They fled to Kuala Lumpur and found more discrimination - taunted by Muslim Malaysians because they came from Burma. They couldn’t get proper jobs and were living a life of poverty, squeezing four or five into one tiny bedroom.
I traveled to a plantation in Malaysia and met with refugees from Chin State in northern Burma. I heard stories about their churches back home being burned down because they weren’t Buddhist. On the plantation, they work hard all day - with no protection from the sun or pesticides - and then hike into the thick forests each night, sleeping in make-shift huts so the RELA forces can’t find them. Each morning, they hike back down to work on the plantation for little pay. They have no rights and told me that if a boss decides he won’t compensate them, their options are to keep working or get sent to a detention center.
