Jim Hightower

George W keeps talking about America's moral responsibility to help the people of Iraq. So... why is he slamming America's door in their faces?

There's an ugly story about the Bushites' war that they're hoping you and I don't notice. It's that their incompetence and arrogance have made the Iraqi people's lives a succession of miseries. There are the daily killings and maimings, of course – a gruesome reality that, since the start of Bush's highly-touted surge strategy has spread throughout the country.

But let's look at the un-dead. Unemployment is rampant. Even in the capitol city of Baghdad, electricity is at best an occasional luxury. Two out of three Iraqis have no regular access to clean water. Children are malnourished, with many dying from preventable diseases. The country's health care system is near collase. Two-thirds of Iraqi children are not in school.

Meanwhile, in a nation of 28 million people, four million have been forced to flee their homes by this raging civil war. Half of these are homeless in their own land, while the other half have fled Iraq.

This is where the door-slamming comes in. Since the war began four years ago, how many of these displaced civilians would you guess the Bushites have allowed to seek refuge in our Land of The Free? About 500. That's it.

Well, surely the compassionate conservatives in the White House have made other arrangements for Iraq's growing number of war refugees. Uh-uh. In fact, Bush has sat on his hands while two of his wealthiest war allies in the region – Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – have shut their doors to their Iraqi neighbors. Rather than providing financial support for the refugees, for example, Saudi Arabia is spending $7 billion to build a border fence to keep Iraqis out.

This is Jim Hightower saying... To learn what America can and should do about Iraq's desperate refugees, contact the International Rescue Committee: www.theirc.org.