I’ve come across an excellent article in this month’s issue of Foreign Affairs. It’s not actually an article, per se, rather it is a review of a recent book. The points made, however, are well worth a read. The summary is
Little-known heroes of the Holocaust were the rare diplomats who defied their superiors’ orders and issued visas to save lives. With Iraqis now scrambling to leave their own country, those examples are as relevant today as ever.
The book is about consular heroes during WWII that granted visas to Jews despite higher-up orders to postpone and avoid this at all costs. The reviewer makes the comparison with the Iraq war today. Since the invasion the US has allowed only 466 Iraqi refugees into America. That is appalling when compared to Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter allowing over 500,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in from 1975 to 1980.
We’ll gladly ‘free’ them and prop up a democracy but by God don’t let them come to our country. We’ve created a glorious puppet democracy for them and are protecting them with all of our resources, why would they want to leave? The reviewer asks two questions:
Why is the White House doing so little? Simple: they were never truly interested in the Iraqi people, only securing US oil interests and rooting out perceived terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
Where are the Binghams and Sousa Mendeses (those mentioned in the review and book that ignored orders) of 2007? Simple: Most aren’t willing to stand up to this administration because of the horrible mud slinging and defamation that will occur if they do. E.G. Valerie Plame/Joseph Wilson affair. Wilson was an ambassador who criticised Bush and his wife paid the ultimate price for it.
Every age will present people in positions of authority with similar difficult dilemmas. The details will vary, but the challenge will be the same. If you were in such a situation, would you realize it? And if you did, what would you do?