The impact of nine years of occupation cannot be understated, and America has made a number of enemies in Iraq over that time, destroying cities and ruining lives. But with US troops gone, will the attention turn toward those who facilitated the occupation?
That’s the concern of many of the more than 140,000 Iraqis who worked for the occupation forces in one capacity or another, and there was even a special measure passed in 2008 to recognize this possibility, creating the “Special Immigrant Visa” program for Iraqi collaborators.
Yet the applicants are finding the effort to secure residence in the US particularly slow moving, as tens of thousands of applicants have been waiting for years “pending a decision,” as the Obama Administration demands lengthy background checks.
Their work wasn’t exactly a secret, and some are reporting threatening phone calls already. For many in Iraq the former employees of the US are seen as traitors, and with little chance of a sudden rush to accept them into the US, they will likely remain to face revenge attacks.
Everything has a price.
Hey, why worry…. Drink a bottle of Vichy to celebrate…!!!
LOL i c wut u did thar 😀 good one!
Can't do the time, don't do the crime.
Mouths writing checks their bodies can't cash…
these guys are surprised that helping out the foreign occupier who laid your country to waste can get you killed?? LOL maybe they thought collaboration with the enemy would get you a medal.
Just like everyone else we've used and discarded over the years. Why is this any different? I find it telling that the author himself uses the term 'collaborator' to describe these Iraqis- if I were an Iraqi nationalist, I'd probably be looking for some payback on these guys myself.
Put yourself in an Iraqi's shoes: say the Russians invaded the US and destroyed the nation and left. Are you going to be particularly fond of the Americans who aided and abetted the occupiers in their adventure? I think not.
If the resistance only shoots or bombs them to death instead of skinning them alive, they should count themselves fortunate.