New Yorker: Betrayed--The Iraqis who trusted America the most

Last night, I finished a super-long New Yorker article by George Packer. It details how the military and the state department are treating the Iraqis who have risked everything to work for the Americans in Iraq. These jobs include translation, and embassy and non-profit work. The men that Packer profiles welcomed the Americans into Iraq and were eager to help them secure a democratic and stable Iraq. However, their loyalty was repeatedly questioned, and many times they were deserted by those whom they were helping. They were not allowed to stay in the Green Zone, making a dangerous journey back and forth across Iraq necessary each day. They lives were repeatedly threatened, while the military would not do anything to protect them, not even providing them with the standard military issue body armour. They were forced to sit in long car lines upon entering the Green Zone, areas ripe for suicide bombers, while Americans with priority clearance breezed by in a neighboring lane. Their lives have been uprooted, many have been killed, and many are in exile. (A statistic I found amazing is that last summer, 40,000 Iraqis were leaving the country each month, going to Jordan and Syria, "taking with them the skills and the more secular ideas necessary for rebuilding a destroyed society, leaving the city to the religious militias.") The United States has provided precious few visas for Iraqis seeking asylum (although in partnership with the UNHCR, more Iraqis could be admitted to the US this year.) Those that worked with the Americans are especially vulnerable to militia groups.

This is such a simplistic summary of Packer's article. I was moved, however, by his description of the plight of those Iraqis who have provided invaluable assistance to the Americans. And also by a deepened understanding of what common Iraqis are facing. Their entire society is in a state of unimaginable upheaval and violence. What chance of successful outcomes is there?

Last week, at dinner with friends, one of them commented how at church, we often hear prayers for the troops, but no prayers for peace. Last night and today I was thinking how I have never heard anyone pray for the Iraqis who are the middle of a terrible situation, whose lives are being torn apart (and who, for the most part, have done nothing to be on our national "enemy list.") I know that headline after headline of suicide bombers has made me numb to their desparate predicament, and I really don't know what I can do. But, I resolved to make praying for them a priority.