Monday was the deadliest day in Iraq this year. A series of coordinated attacks across the country killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds more.  The attacks began shortly after 5 am and continued throughout the day in over 10 cities, including: Falluja, Samarra, Tarmiya, Suwyra, Mahmudiya, Basra, Hilla, Baghdad and at checkpoints on the border with Kurdistan.  I mention the cities names because it’s all too easy to forget that these are neighborhoods where people live, go to work, go to school and try to go about their lives in the midst of war.

The violence in Iraq continues. Yesterday a body-bomb exploded in northwest Baghdad, killing 3 people and wounding 23 more. This morning a car bomb exploded in Sadr City, killing 9 and wounding others, which was followed later in the afternoon by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

The significance of these events, in light of continued lack of a clear winner of the March 7^th parliamentary elections in Iraq, cannot be overstated.  With the US scheduled to draw down troops from about 94,000 today to 50,000 by Sept. 1^st, questions need to be asked as to effects of this plan on the Iraqis we leave behind.

This month, The List Project released a new report, Tragedy on the Horizon, which details what will happen to our Iraqi allies if we do not take them with us when we leave. The report urges America to learn from the bloody lessons of our past and to answer our moral imperative not to abandon those who have helped us. America can initiate plans for a Guam Option, a not-unprecedented solution which airlifts Iraqi allies to Guam for processing. Our coalition allies have provided evacuations for their Iraqi employees and we should plan to do the same.  Now is the time to sign the petition and send this report on to your representatives for their consideration and action.

But what about the Iraqis who have not worked with us? The 2.2 million who have fled their country to seek refuge in surrounding nations or those who have remained at home and faced the consequences? Their future is still uncertain. But what is certain is that we must not forget about their struggles. And we must not forget that we can do small things to make a difference.

This week, I’m am encouraging everyone to take a minute to sign the petition and if you are in New York City, come see  an art exhibit by Iraqi artists now living in Damascus that was opened last week by Common Humanity, an NGO based here in New York City. The exhibit runs through May 29^th at the Second Presbyterian Church. The sale of these paintings goes to support Iraqi artists living in Syria. Together, we can make a difference.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.