Print
Email
ShareSaving the United States' Iraqi Translators
Tens of thousands of Iraqis who worked for the United States in Iraq have been labeled as collaborators and are marked for death. One former...
Interviewee: Said I. Hakki, President, Iraqi Red Crescent Organization
Interviewer: Greg Bruno, staff writer
May 22, 2008
Said I. Hakki, president of the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, one of the principal aid groups operating in the country, says Iraq's refugee crisis is at a tipping point. Although displacement has been ongoing for decades—many Shiites fled during the three decades under Saddam Hussein, for instance—the refugee crisis has been compounded by five years of continuous violence. Today four million Iraqis "need help and support to get jobs, schools, electricity, water, as well as housing and health care," Hakki says.
And yet it's unclear whether the international community will help Iraq's displaced, Hakki says. Recent calls by U.S. lawmakers to cut funding for reconstruction, coupled with a decline in international donations to the United Nations, are jeopardizing relief efforts. The Iraqi government has made an effort to alleviate the suffering, but Hakki says Baghdad can't do it alone. "The United States should not abandon the government of Iraq." If it does, he argues, a growing number of disenfranchised Iraqis may become radicalized and turn to terrorist groups out of frustration or desperation. "You have four million [refugees]. If you get 1 percent recruit, that’s forty thousand fanatics. Forty thousand fanatics in Iraq may be a force to destabilize Iraq. And if you destabilize Iraq the likelihood you destabilize the region is pretty high."
Terms of Use: I understand that I may access this audio and/or video file solely for my personal use. Any other use of the file and its content, including display, distribution, reproduction, or alteration in any form for any purpose, whether commercial, noncommercial, educational, or promotional, is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright owner, the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, write outreach@cfr.org.
Saudi Arabia on the Edge
A leading Middle East scholar pens this "good introduction to the Saudi paradox of social change and political stability and an invaluable guide to the challenges the country faces." More
American Force
An investigation of the use of American force since the end of the Cold War. More
The Struggle for Egypt
A sweeping account of Egypt in the modern era: what Egypt is, what it stands for, and its relation to the world. More
Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East
Gause posits that, though the Arab Awakening has caused tensions in Saudi-American relations, the two countries do not face a crisis and still have significant mutual interests that should be prioritized.
Partners in Preventive Action
The authors assess the strengths and weaknesses of international institutions and provide a set of practical recommendations for how the United States can strengthen the global architecture for preventive action by partnering with those organizations.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis who worked for the United States in Iraq have been labeled as collaborators and are marked for death. One former...
International relief agencies say promises by Washington and Baghdad to adopt policies addressing Iraq's growing humanitarian needs have...
Iraqi refugees are returning home after years of war, leading Iraqi and U.S. officials to talk of a corner turned. But millions more remain...
A ‘spiraling’ Iraqi refugee crisis, exacerbated by closed borders and tightening admissions in the West, threatens Iraq’s economic and social...