by Julia Beirut

Created on: September 26, 2008

One in five Iraqis has been displaced according to the Refugee Agency of the United Nations. The UN adds that "the United States has started a refugee crisis in Iraq." The Iraq war has created a refugee crisis of vast proportions. The UN notes that there are 2.5 million people displaced in Iraq and another 2 million refugees have been displaced to neighboring countries.

The goal of the United States in 2009 is to admit 17,000 Iraqi refugees to our country. That number is widely perceived to be far too low to help solve the refugee crisis. Too many Iraqis are stranded without a country to call home. Many Iraqis do not want to return to Iraq due to the violence they experienced or saw there. Indeed, Michael Kocher of the International Rescue Committee states: "For many Iraqi citizens, going home to Iraq could be a death sentence." The UN Refugee Agency states the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention ensures that "refugees will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they will face persecution."

Iraq is still full of civil strife. The refuges may be targets for violence upon their return. The Iraq war still rages on with no set end point. Refugees are living in limbo; they do not know when they can return to their country, nor do they know if it is safe to do so.

The United States started the Iraq refugee crisis and must work to solve it. The war must end as soon as possible. Too many soldiers and Iraqis are dying every day. The chaos in Iraq is escalating.

The war in Iraq has not brought stability to the country. According to CNN, the current unemployment rate in Iraq is 27 to 60 % and 29% of children in Iraq suffer from chronic malnutrition. Also, since the 2003 invasion, 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been murdered. A country in which the physicians are being murdered is a very dangerous country indeed.

America must end the Iraq war and work swiftly to help the Iraqi refugees. Our country is wasting huge amounts of money on the war and murdering too many innocent Iraqis. The Brookings Institute notes that America has spent $600 billion on the Iraq war. Another $200 billion is approved for 2008 so that will bring total war expenditures to $800 billion. That is a truly staggering amount of money for a war that was unwarranted. In 2008 America spent $12 billion a month on the war. The cost to deploy one US soldier for a year in Iraq is $390,000.

America has spent wildly on the war. It is now time to spend money to help the Iraqi refugees displaced due to our foolish war. America has always had a reputation as a country that steps in to help other countries in crisis. However, now we have stepped in and caused unwarranted crisis in another country and it is our duty to clean up the mess we have made.

Try to picture America with 1 in 5 citizens as refugees. It is hard to imagine. And yet our taxes have paid to create just that type of turmoil in another land. This war is a dark spot on American history. Our nation's reputation has been soiled by the actions of the Bush administration. Our honor and our dignity have been sullied due to a foolish decision to attack Iraq.

America must move quickly to help solve the Iraqi refugee crisis. We have murdered many Iraqis during the war. We cannot take back the mistake of the war. We can however move forward with dignity and honor and do everything possible to help the Iraqi refugees either return home with safety or find a new country to start a new life

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