By: Joel Davis
Note: This post reflects the views of the author, not those of the Foreign Policy Association. The author is an independent contributor.
How well the U.S. can pay our debts has been in the news lately. There’s the government shutdown, which resulted in the delay of death benefits to families of fallen soldiers, and of course, the upcoming vote on raising the U.S. debt-limit. The issue of the death benefits was particularly emotional and struck a nerve with millions of people, veterans and civilians alike. Thanks to constant public pressure and a
last-minute intervention by a concerned charity, the death benefits will be paid for the duration of the government shutdown. The vote on raising the debt limit, which will determine if the U.S. can continue to pay our bills or go into default, will be held soon. As important as these two issues are, this post is not about them, but about another debt of honor that we owe a very distinct group of people.
When the U.S. invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein we were told by our military leaders that American soldiers would be
greeted as liberators by the people of Iraq. It’s hard to believe that now and, of course, things did not work out that way. Still, amid the tumult of the insurgency and the tribal and sectarian violence that followed the invasion there was a small group of Iraqi citizens that offered to help the Americans. Facing retaliation, resentment and persecution they risked their individual safety and that of their families to serve as interpreters, contractors, and guides for American forces. In return, the U.S. offered to help resettle them in the United States at the conclusion of the war. The program expired this month with an estimated 2,000 Iraqis still left in the pipeline. A bill to
continue the effort and provide visas for those participating in the program has cleared Congress and is on the way to President Obama.
Although it’s clear that their service was invaluable to the war effort, what really inspires me about their story is the faith they had in the U.S. and the risks they took acting on that faith. We might assume that they knew how the U.S. helped rebuild Europe and Japan after WWII and had confidence we would do the same with Iraq. Is it too much of an assumption that they would be familiar with that history? Maybe, but even if they didn’t know any of that, they clearly believed that the Americans would build a better Iraq than they experienced under Saddam. They believed in the U.S. and our mission in Iraq and were willing to risk everything to work with us. They did their part and now it’s time to do ours. It would be unfortunate if the extreme partisanship and fiscal brinksmanship we are currently witnessing in Washington derails this worthy program.
