Subject: I came to America as a Kurdish refugee
From: "Ali via VoteVets.org" <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2015 16:17:45 +0000

Hello John, 

My name is Ali and I served as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Iraq for three years. In 2013, I came to Tennessee as a refugee after two years of vetting by the U.S. State Department.

I knew I had to leave Iraq in 2009 when a friend of mine, another interpreter, took a vacation in Sinjar. While he was at home, his car was blown up, killing him and two of his family members. If I stayed long after the Army left Iraq, I would have been killed too. In 2011, I returned home and began the refugee application process. 

Over two years, my brothers, my wife, and my children traveled several times to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for screening. As a Kurd traveling to Baghdad, it was a dangerous for us. The airport, the hotel, and each of the checkpoints on the way to the embassy were all very dangerous. There were many interviews, tests, medical screenings, and background and security checks. They talked to family, friends, and people who employed us previously. And they did it repeatedly over two years. And then finally, on October 23rd 2013, we were approved.

Like my family, the refugees you see on the news are leaving because it is their only chance at a better life. They leave their homes, live in a tent or on the street ... maybe they find a camp. Aid and international refugee programs are the difference between life and death.

So I want to thank President Obama for his promise to continue the refugee program. Please, join me:

Sign VoteVets petition thanking President Obama for continuing to admit refugees into the United States. 

http://action.votevets.org/page/s/refugees

As I watch the news from my home in Tennessee, I don't understand politicians who are trying to stop people fleeing from war from coming to the United States.

I don't understand why they'd try to prevent Kurds, especially, from coming to America. Over twelve years in Iraq, not one American soldier was killed by a Kurd. These are good people coming from over there. The little boy who washed up on the shore in Greece, his name was Aylan and he was a Kurd who fled the violence in Syria with his family. 

The people fighting ISIS alongside Americans last week in Sinjar are Kurds. They are trying to escape ISIS and they need America's help right now.

Thank you for reading my story,

Ali
VoteVets.org

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