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The Least We Can Do: Aiding Our Endangered Iraqi Colleagues
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In the 1930s, PEN was instrumental in finding safe havens for writers
and intellectuals fleeing Nazi persecution, and since then our core
mission has included assisting colleagues forced to seek refuge abroad.
For the last two years, this has meant above all working to resettle
Iraqi translators, writers, and journalists who have been targeted for
death and forced into hiding in Iraq or neighboring countries. PEN has
succeeded in helping several of these women and men find refuge in
Europe. We have also been working with the U.S. Department of State to
review the cases of endangered Iraqi translators, writers, and
journalists and pressing the United States government to institute
programs to resettle Iraqis persecuted as a result of their efforts to
build a safe, free, and
open society in Iraq.
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Documenting the Crisis
Republic of Dreams
by Omar Ghanim Fathi
The New York Times
Fear of Freedom
by Waddah Ali
The New York Times
Lost After Translation
by Basim Mardan
The New York Times
The United States Marines entered Mosul from the north. I lived in the
northern suburbs, so I saw the first American flag. When the Humvees
stopped, I shook hands with the marines, and I told them: “You are
mostly welcome here. Why don’t you come to my house and drink some cold
water?” They offered me a job. [More]
Save Whomever We Can
by George Packer
The New Republic
A few days ago, the brother of my friend Osman was one of seven Sunni
workers in a shop in a mixed neighborhood of western Baghdad who were
rounded up at gunpoint by Mahdi Army militiamen and taken to the local
Shia mosque. There, they were taunted about Saddam Hussein's death
sentence and then, one by one, shot in the head. [More]
Keep Out
by George Packer
The New Yorker
Betrayed
by George Packer
The New Yorker
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TAKING ACTION
*Breaking News*
February 6, 2008: New Law Expands Iraqi Refugee Processing
President Bush has signed PEN-supported legislation that requires the United States to expand programs to resettle Iraqi refugees in the U.S., removing some of the major barriers that have left thousands of Iraqi writers, journalists, and translators stranded and vulnerable in Iraq and neighboring countries. [More]
September 26, 2007: With PEN's Assistance, Refugee Iraqi Writers Now Safe in U.S.
PEN’s efforts to secure safe havens for threatened Iraqi writers and journalists bore fruit this past month, as two PEN colleagues and their families were flown from Syria to the United States for resettlement as refugees. The two, a journalist targeted for death for his essays advocating democracy and denouncing terrorism in Iraq and a poet and painter threatened for his poetry and for working for a US contractor in Iraq painting schools, had been living in hiding in Syria for more than a year. PEN is continuing its efforts on behalf of several other Iraqi writers and journalists currently in danger in Iraq and neighboring countries and pressing Congress to pass legislation expanding and accelerating the resettlement of Iraqi refugees. [More]
January 16, 2007: PEN American Center Presents Statement and Testimonies to Congress
The following three testimonies are from Iraqi translators and writers who have been targeted for death either for serving as interpreters for Coalition Forces or for denouncing terrorism or encouraging democracy in their writings. All three are now living underground in Syria. Together, their testimonies represent one of the tragic truths of Iraq today: that the Iraqis who invested the most in their country’s future after the United States–led intervention are now among the least likely to have a future in their home country. [More]
Kennedy-Smith Refugee Legislation
The legislation would create a special category of applicants for refugee status. Those eligible for this program would be Iraqis that are most closely associated with the United States. Iraqis who qualify would be those who (1) have been employed by or worked directly with the United States government in Iraq; (2) were employed in Iraq by a media or nongovernmental organization based in the United States or were employed by an organization or entity that has received a grant from... [More]
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Write a letter to your senator in support of the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act
Sample letter
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