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With Eyes On Europe, Iraqis Line Up To Leave Baghdad
NPR ^ | 05 Sept 2015 | Alice Fordham

Posted on 09/05/2015 1:24:56 PM PDT by Theoria

At first it seems lively outside on the weekend in Baghdad — the lights are bright in open-air cafes, music streams from beribboned cars in a wedding party and at Ali Hussein's juice stand, decorated with plastic bananas, they're squeezing oranges on old brass presses.

But even as Hussein offers me a sharp, fresh juice, he's downcast. When I ask about the subject on everyone's mind here — the migrant flood into Europe — he laughs. "We were just talking about this!" he says. Several of his friends just passed by to say farewell.

They heard that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was welcoming Iraqis. "Each one said, 'I'm traveling,' 'I'm traveling,' 'I'm traveling,' " says Hussein. All want to be smuggled to Europe.

Conversations in the Iraqi capital, between the rich and the poor, travel agents, taxi drivers and demonstrators in Friday protests, show a city galvanized by the news from Europe. The violence and decrepitude here are nothing new, but now there is a perception of an opportunity for an alternative, and many are seizing it.

Fleeing Iraqis already form a significant chunk of the migrants streaming into Europe. The International Organization for Migration says roughly five times as many Iraqis — about 5,000 people — have arrived illegally in Greece through July this year than in all of 2014.

But the mood in Baghdad suggests that number is set to rise. Everyone seems to know several friends and relatives who have left abruptly this summer.

Mehdi Salman, a travel agent, says the number of daily flights to Turkey, as well as the cost of tickets, has tripled. People sell their cars, furniture and clothes for the cost of the plane ride and to pay the smugglers. It's great for business, but he thinks it's terrible for Iraq.

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany
KEYWORDS: aliens; europe; germany; iraq; islam; merkel; migration

1 posted on 09/05/2015 1:24:56 PM PDT by Theoria
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2 posted on 09/05/2015 1:25:34 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: Theoria

It’s a good thing schadenfreude isn’t fattening.


3 posted on 09/05/2015 1:27:20 PM PDT by x1stcav (Leftism is like rust: It corrodes 24 hours a day until eradicated.)
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To: Theoria

Where’s Saddam when you need him?


4 posted on 09/05/2015 1:27:30 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Theoria

Soon they will start doing to the rest of the Europeans what they are doing to the French

It’s a short video but really worth the watch

muslims are attacking up native french!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=36&v=L4yLq8KYJHg


5 posted on 09/05/2015 1:33:22 PM PDT by Lera (Proverbs 29:2)
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To: x1stcav

Ok....so all these immigrants want to come to europe and the US-—to a prosperous, capitalist, modern society .
Then wtf don’t they assimilate? when they get there they try to turn the country and culture back to the Islamist stone age! and the Mexicans want La Raza...why don’t they do LaRaza in their OWN country?

Yeesh. We did so great with our Somali “refugees” didn’t we?
Can you say Londonistan? Detroitastan?


6 posted on 09/05/2015 1:38:12 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Bush won the War in Iraq, Obozo lost the peace..and gave Iraq back to the Terrorists!)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

My friend, we all have our leftist/liberal/progressive fellow citizens to blame for this (I know I’m stating the obvious).

I hope they all rot in hell when their time comes. But before then they will have destroyed the finest nation ever created.

In the meantime, we have to round all of the interlopers up and move them out. Shun them! Do not frequent their businesses or hire them.


7 posted on 09/05/2015 1:43:40 PM PDT by x1stcav (Leftism is like rust: It corrodes 24 hours a day until eradicated.)
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To: Theoria

Great, way to ruin Europe. Bet they didn’t know hobama was going to change Europe too. Maybe this is what cayce meant when he said that Europe would change in the twinkling of an eye.


8 posted on 09/05/2015 1:53:17 PM PDT by chit*chat
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To: Theoria; x1stcav; Lera; Recovering Ex-hippie

We need to find an answer... mass immigration to Western countries is NOT it...

Watch - NOT for the faint of heart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE


9 posted on 09/05/2015 1:53:57 PM PDT by GOPJ (Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE)
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To: Theoria

Western murder/suicide by our politicians.

What in Hades is wrong with them?


10 posted on 09/05/2015 1:55:55 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (Restore Liberty!)
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To: Theoria

Isn’t Russia an ally of Syria? Why aren’t they taking the refugees instead of Europe?


11 posted on 09/05/2015 1:56:01 PM PDT by chit*chat
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To: chit*chat

Because Russians aren’t stupid.


12 posted on 09/05/2015 2:02:31 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: FreeAtlanta
Western murder/suicide by our politicians.

What in Hades is wrong with them?


They apparently have their price.
13 posted on 09/05/2015 2:33:44 PM PDT by Old Yeller (Obama's Iran nuclear deal - The Devil is in the details.)
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To: dfwgator

I forgot the /sarcasm mark.


14 posted on 09/05/2015 2:52:34 PM PDT by chit*chat
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