Black clad death squads kidnapping people in the middle of the night. Execution style killings. Torture. Ethnic cleansing. This is all going on in Iraq as we speak. Story after story of death squads that many claim have the backing of the Shiite led government are targeting Sunnis for exermination. For example here's an
article where the US caught a death squad that was part of the police force. Note that this article is dated before the February 22nd Al Askari Mosque bombing that has escalated into the current genocidal frenzy. Quite a few of these Sunnis seem to be running scared. They are looking to flee the country and find a safe haven. The question is, if Sunni muslims in Iraq request asylum from death squads from the United States, do we not have a responsibility to grant said request?
Morally, how can we say no? However, could this not also afford an opportunity for terrorists to sneak into the United States by claiming they are being persecuted by government sanctioned death squads? What do we do? The United States is responsible for this mess. Through the invasion of Iraq and dismantling of the infrastructure that was there, we set up the conditions for this sort of violence to occur. That gives us a moral obligation to grant asylum to those fearing for their lives. Of course as human beings we would have a moral obligation to grant asylum to any group of people that are being persecuted and slaughtered by death squads but since we are responsible for the awful situation they are in, we don't have any moral ground to deny asylum. At least I can't think of any. If we don't grant asylum and they are executed by a death squad that blood is on our hands. On the other hand, if we grant asylum and a terrorist sneaks into the country and bombs a shopping mall, there would be political pressure not to grant asylum. So what do we do? What is the best choice? The moral one? Or the national security one? Or is there a third option?