Podcast (iraqmatters): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:12 — 34.1MB)
Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS
To mark the two year anniversary of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, we talk with Kirk Johnson, author of “To Be A Friend is Fatal” and founder of The List Project, an organization dedicated to helping the Iraqis America left behind. Also included: a new Iraq Update with Ahmed Ali, a spotlight of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, and Part 2 of our interview with the groundbreaking Iraqi-American journalist Yasmeen Alamiri, who discusses the contributions that resettled Iraqi refugees are making to communities in America today.
In 2007, a bipartisan group of Senators led by the late Ted Kennedy introduced S. 1651, the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, to create a special designation for Iraqis who had been working with the United States and their families. Under the legislation, qualified Iraqis would include anyone who had worked directly with the U.S. government or been associated with a media agency or NGO based in the United States; or any organization that had either received a grant from the U.S. or entered into a cooperative agreement or contract with the U.S. government. The act authorized the U.S. to admit as many as 5,000 Iraqi refugees into the U.S. per year.
Thanks to our special report EPIC has learned, from freelance journalist Cathy Otten and photographer Jacob Russell, that there are roughly 126,000 non-camp refugees in Iraq. As a whole, non-camp refugees make up 80% of the region’s refugee population.
We still need your help! Our petition on Change.org is nearing its goal of 10,000 supporters with almost 8,200 people who believe Iraq Matters! If you have not signed or shared the petition please take a moment and head on over to iraqmatters.org and let’s reach the goal of 10,000 together! If you like our podcast, please subscribe to our iTunes or Stitcher. Knowledge is only useful when shared, ours is free and we encourage our listeners to help spread our podcast! We also love to hear from our listeners, your feedback is incredibly valuable to our program. Please email your feedback and suggestions to info@enablingpeace.org.
Humanitarian Update: 2:30
Iraq Update: 5:50
Kirk Johnson Interview: 9:21
Yasmeen Alamiri Interview: 27:10
Organization Highlight: 33:37
