Having a moral obligation to the Iraqi people does not mean keeping our troops stuck indefinitely in the middle of a religious civil war. But it does mean taking responsibility to alleviate as much of the suffering as possible. This is something that many of those advocating a responsible end to the war often overlook (Not because they are against helping the Iraqi people, but because they are more focused on ending the war)

So here is a question for candidates who support ending the war. Given that American military action can do little to put Iraq back together. Given that maintaining a large troop presence harms U.S. security interests. Given that we did create this mess in the first place and that a lot of people are suffering as a result. What is America’s moral obligation to the Iraqi people and what steps would you take to minimize the humanitarian crisis?

Here are some ideas that I would like to see in these plans:

1. Completely rework our disgraceful refugee policy. More than two million Iraqis have fled the country. Two million more are internally displaced and the numbers continue to rise. Yet through June of this year the U.S. has taken in just 133 people. That is just embarrassing and sad.

2. Implement some kind of plan to help Syria and Jordan absorb the roughly 1.5-2 million refugees that those two countries are dealing with. (Jordan’s population is only 6 million. This is seriously destabilizing for them).

3. Commit more funding to the UN High Commissioner for refugees to continue and significantly expand its work in the Middle East. They know these issues much better than the U.S.

4. Massive ramp up in humanitarian funding. Incredibly humanitarian funding in Iraq fell from $453 million in 2005 to $95 million in 2006 (Three days worth of U.S. military spending in Iraq). According to Oxfam one third of Iraqis need emergency medical attention and much of Baghdad is without water or electricity.

We might not be able to salvage the situation in Iraq but we should do everything we can to help the Iraqi people cope with the miserable conditions they are facing.

