World Refugee Day, 20 June 2009

Remember on this day, We as a Nation are Directly Responsible for the plight of millions of recent refugee's through our failed foreign policies of Wars/Occupations of Choice in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and now in Pakistan.

We have many, supporters of our occupations mostly, who rail against any illegal immigrants crossing our borders for the jobs companies will give them, while at the same time forcing millions to flee to their neighbors countries, leaving those countries to absorb and support them.

We Are Directly Responsible!

HM Queen Noor honors World Refugee Day

For 35 years, my home has been one of the world's major conflict regions, home also to over 10 million refugees and displaced inhabitants. World Refugee Day is a time to honor and support these individuals and families who persevere through devastating tragedies.............

Angelina Jolie calls for greater understanding of the plight of refugees

WASHINGTON, DC, United States, June 18 (UNHCR) – At an event marking the launch of activities in the United States for World Refugee Day, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie appeared alongside UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres to call on the world to recognize millions of victims of conflict around the world not as a burden but as a potential gift............

Snip

"The refugees I have met and spent time with have profoundly changed my life," Jolie added. "Today . . . I want to thank them for letting me into their lives."..........

World Refugee Day 20 June

World Refugee Day 2009

Right now, as war and violent conflict rage around the world, people just like you are running — for their lives, their families, their dignity and their freedom. They often have to leave everything behind. And they leave with nothing but their hope, courage and determination. They are refugees.

On June 20, the International Rescue Committee joins the United Nations in its annual salute to the courage of refugees, World Refugee Day.
Take the World Refugee Day Quiz:.............

Jolie describes passionate mission to help refugees

Anderson Cooper talks with actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie about the world's growing refugee problem. Transcript

Pakistan: Swat Valley Emergency

It's estimated that some 2 million Pakistanis have fled their homes in the north-west. UNHCR has launched an emergency aid operation to help the displaced - most of whom escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs.

UNHCR Video's

Once More
Remember on this day, We as a Nation are Directly Responsible for the plight of millions of recent refugee's through our failed foreign policies of Wars/Occupations of Choice in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and now in Pakistan. Directly Responsible!

And we are slow to respond, as a government, to the plight of the millions more who languish as refugee's, from their homes and countries, around the world!

In many cases giving support to the governments, or those trying to topple same, who create the extreme problem of, as we pay little heed!

Angelina Jolie on Behalf of Refugees

For this years World Refugee Day on June 20th UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador actress Angelina Jolie recorded a public service
announcement (PSA) to draw attention to the plight of the millions of people who have been forced to flee their homes because of war or persecution.



World Refugee Day 2009

World Refugee Day
20 June
For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June in several countries.

Help UNHCR recognize and celebrate the contribution of refugees around the world on World Refugee Day. Learn how you can make a difference.

'Abandoned at the Border'

Iraqi Refugees in the United States

Talk of the Nation, September 3, 2007 · Retired Gen. Joseph Hoar talks about his op-ed that appeared in The New York Times on Friday {8-31-07}, in which he argues that the United States needs to open its doors to more Iraqi refugees.

Listen in to the discussion

Retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Hoar, is the former commander in chief of U.S. Central Command.

In the Generals op-ed he writes:

FOR more than a year, men and women in our armed forces have been urging the United States to bring to safety the Iraqi translators and others who have worked beside them and are now the victims of retaliation.

And adds the obvious:

It is shameful that more than four years into this war, Iraqis working at our embassy cannot count on the United States to protect them or to help them find a new home when their work with us has made it impossible to survive in their own country.

And another obvious:

Similarly, it is both cruel and foolish for the United States to ignore the plight of more than two million others who have fled and are struggling to survive in Syria and Jordan.

Shown in this video, from the UNHCR, found at their site:

Iraq's Exodus of Pain


As well as this video:



And a few of the reports posted there as well:

Iraq: Rate of displacement rising
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis -- to whom quoted text may be attributed -- at the press briefing, on 28 August 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UNHCR and UNICEF issue joint appeal to get Iraqi children back to school
Friday 27 July, 2007
GENEVA -- UNICEF and the UN refugee agency today issued a $129 million joint appeal aimed at getting tens of thousands of uprooted Iraqi children back in school.
Warning that a generation of Iraqis could grow up uneducated and alienated.

More can be found on the plight of the Iraqi refugees at the UNHCR Website.

The General goes on to add this obvious as well:

Dealing with the refugee crisis is vital to the national security of the United States. Continuing indifference to suffering that we had a strong hand in causing will turn our Muslim supporters against us. More important, it repudiates the fundamental values of our country and costs Iraqis their lives.

For those that just don't seem to get those points what more can one say to convince you of the already known facts of what has been happening, in the present, and what occurred in the past, and not the past of just that region, but the meddleing of the so called powerful in that and other regions of this planet!

The general ends with this:

As a key part of that strategy, the United States must reach out to Iraq’s neighbors — including Syria — and demonstrate a willingness to help support and take in refugees, starting with those who risked their lives to stand with us.

We must not only reach out to Iraq's neighbors on the issue of the refugee's, which must start Now, but also all the region to help stem the growing sectarian violence that is occurring in Iraq. We, for we created this destructive mess, must sit down with the leaders, political and religious, and ask for their help in attempting to quiet the growing hatreds within Iraq, this should have been started Long Ago!

We broke it and the only way to attempt to bring about the stability needed can be found Only with the help of the Entire Region!

Iraq's Exodus of Pain

There is nothing we can do for the estimated 1,028,907 Iraqi's who have died since the U.S. invasion, and we will never completely know exactly how many have been killed, one never does when one invades and destroys a country!

But there is Plenty we can, and should, do for those who survive the hell on earth we forced on an innocent people. It is our Overwelming Responsibility!

With Extremely Strong Apologies to the World Community, for what is now and probably coming, we may be able to garner some help in fulfilling that Responsibility!

Recently Angelina Jolie, Goodwill Ambassador to UNHCR visited displaced Iraqi refugee's inside Iraq and in Syria.

Below is a report from Newsweeks Christopher Dicky on the extraordinary imagery released after that UNHCR recent trip.

A. Jolie - Iraq's Exodus of Pain


And here's a few reports from the UNHCR's website of that visit.

Angelina Jolie visits Iraq and Iraqi refugees
28 August 2007
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador witnesses humanitarian crisis
DAMASCUS – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has visited Iraq and Syria to see first-hand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families uprooted by the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

Angelina Jolie highlights humanitarian crisis during Syria and Iraq visits
DAMASCUS, Syria, August 28 (UNHCR) – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has visited Iraq and Syria to see first-hand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families uprooted by the conflict in Iraq.

There is an estimated, well over, 1.9million displaced Iraqi refugee's within the country, and growing!

The following is an UNHCR video report about their plight, in their own words.

Iraq's Exodus of Pain 2


And on top of that 1.9million Iraq refugee's there's an estimated over 2million who have fled the country and now live in the surrounding neighbors countries, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey as well as those with the ability to have moved to other countries.

Iraq's Exodus of Pain 3


Here are afew reports on the plight of those refugees.

Iraq: Rate of displacement rising
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 28 August 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

UNHCR and UNICEF issue joint appeal to get Iraqi children back to school
Friday 27 July, 2007
GENEVA – UNICEF and the UN refugee agency today issued a $129 million joint appeal aimed at getting tens of thousands of uprooted Iraqi children back in school.
Warning that a generation of Iraqis could grow up uneducated and alienated.

More can be found on the plight of the Iraqi refugees at the UNHCR Website

This is an extremly huge problem, that we've created, and it's only going to grow and grow!

This from above

Warning that a generation of Iraqis could grow up uneducated and alienated.

are what we are leaving the next couple of generations, Worldwide, to contend with because of the hatreds we have instilled!