Iraq's refugees--moral challenge for both left & right

Neither the "out now" nor the "victory at all deferred costs" crowds have said what we should do about the millions of Iraqis who no longer have a country, due to our government's grotesque miscalculations and actions.

We can shirk our responsibility for these people's plight, just as we did in Vietnam. But if the "go now" or the "stay indefinitely" crowds EITHER had a moral center, they'd acknowledge this responsibility.

Right now most of these refugees are huddled in Syria and Jordan, but they're not allowed to work there and their money is running out.

These refugees comprise much of Iraq's middle class, who have been under siege since we decapitated Saddam's government, making anyone with money an inviting target for both jihadists and criminal gangs.

Ironically, most of these people had been safe under Saddam as long as they didn't oppose him. Women could walk down the street in western garb safely, except for the few that caught Saddam's psychopath son's eye. Christians were safe. They had safety without freedom, by and large.

Now they have freedom without safety. Few of them think that's much of a trade-off. We invaded a secular dictatorship and turned it into an Islamist state with no religious freedom--particularly as regards its Christians, many of whose families have been in Iraq for thousands of years.

Morally the least we should do is take in Iraq's million-odd Christians, who are now in mortal danger throughout Iraq, in both Sunni and Shiite-dominated regions. And we're obligated to take in the translators and other Iraqos who worked for us.

We could profit greatly by taking in such immigrants, along with many other middle class Iraqis. These are educated people with skills we could benefit from--far more than the million-odd semi-literate peasants flooding over our own border each year from Mexico, to whom we owe exactly nothing, and who cost this country's taxpayers far more than the small amount they contribute to Americans other than wealthy business owners (remember, the Mexicans send many billions of dollars back home, taking that money out of the American economy).

Strict border enforcement and prosecution of large businesses that hire illegals, thorough social security number cross-checking, prohibition of wiring money out of the country by illegals, and a biometric ID system would cause many of these Mexican citizens to self-deport.

Meanwhile we could be acquiring a cohort of college-educated, productive workers who could be distributed across the country instead of being allowed to clump in huge ghettos in the Southwest where you can spend your whole life without integrating into American society--as do most Mexican citizens who are here illegally.

Where are the bleeding heart liberals when this issue is broached? Where are the Honor Above All conservatives?

Both are hypocrites unless they man up and propose something other than Bush's "let them eat cake" attitude. Yes, some who came over would be terrorists. We'd have to root them out. That fact is no excuse for straight-arming all the rest, who we owe big time.