Commentary: Cut and Run from Iraqi Refugees? by Daniel J. Steinbock

The ongoing war in iraq may seem to have little to do with immigration.  In a coulumn for The Legal Television Network, Professor Dan Steinbock dispels that notion and warns of the refugee flows like those that have resulted from other military conflicvts.  According to Steinbock, the report of the Baker-Hamilton Commission recognizes that the collapse Iraq’s government could lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe,” but it is does not address what will be needed if that happens: sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. Already, approximately 1.8 million Iraqis have fled their country, and another 1.6 million have been displaced internally. If Iraq spirals downward into a civil war marked by vicious sectarian violence, many Iraqis seem destined to confront the most serious harms for reasons of their religious, ethnic, or political background. Thousands of people who worked with the U.S. and other “coalition” military or contractors will face special risk on that account. Under these circumstances, an American failure to plan for an oncoming refugee crisis would produce a moral and practical calamity.  Click here for more.

KJ