Truth: the First Refugee casualty of War

Updated.

Millions are fleeing war, again. And amongst them are people who are simply dragged along: mainly children.  And many who hide amongst the refugees, pretending.

I can understand anyone who is trying to build a better life. I can understand anyone who wants peace, health, a place to raise a family. But I also understand that liars will seek to engage the hearts and minds of the gullible.

And so it was that this week we saw a tragedy and claims that just do not stand up. 

Not only mendacious claims that are manipulated and used for ill, but the roping-in of quite innocent bystanders.  One such is our current Prime Minister, Abbott.

People have been blaming him for the crisis in Syria, of all places, and demanding that Oz takes in Syrian refugees. Why? Because the Oz Air Force is occasionally bombing ISIS terrorists. No thought is given by such critics to the fact that Oz is trying to stop the terror in Syria.

It was just the other day that the talk in the Tavern was of newspapers and TV reports that misrepresent. More came straight away.

Paul Zanetti spoke up today in the Pin & Balloon bar, deflating some calumnies.

TRUTH – ANOTHER REFUGEE OF WAR

As a dad I’m numbed at the image of the limp lifeless body of a little boy washed up on a beach, a tragic consequence of civil or religious war, at least at first glance. You don’t have to be a father to be shocked. It’s a defining image that will be forever burned into our memories and embedded into the pages of history.

A picture, they say, paints a thousand words. This one made the world sit up and take notice at the true cost of criminal human trafficking. As confronting as it was, editors everywhere chose to plaster the photo across front pages and websites – not for its shock value but because it was important to instantly illustrate the tragic toll of refugees and asylum seekers desperately hopping on leaky boats to escape war 

– or so they thought.

As tragic as this image is, it is not what it seems.

The story of the father Abdullah Kurdi, and his family, is being misreported as refugees or asylum seekers who were fleeing ISIS and the general conflict in Syria. The photo has been used as a reference point by our TV, radio and print news coverage and by our politicians over the past day as a resounding reason why we need to open our borders to more refugees.

Aylan Kurdi was a three-year-old boy from Kobani, a war-torn Kurdish town on the Turkey-Syria border. His five-year-old brother Galip and his mother Rihan, 35, also died when their boat sank while trying to reach Greece.

The family had planned to emigrate to Canada to join the father’s sister and her family. Twelve others also drowned.

The truth is the Kurdi family were living in Turkey the past three years where the father worked, hoping one day to join his sister in Canada.

Tima Kurdi confirmed this by telling a reporter her brother Abdullah wanted to get his teeth fixed.

“The situation is that Abdullah does not have any teeth. Another story about it. So I been trying to help him fix his teeth. But is gonna cost me 14,000 and up to do it. He need teeth implant. So when I told him there is now way I can get you the money in one time because dentist need to get paid right away and Western Union usually – if I send them the money – they only allowed 1,000 at a time – not under their name of course – has to be a third person to collect the money and give it them. So I said to him, actually my dad, he come up with the idea, he said to me, "I think if they go to Europe for his case and for our future, I think he should do that, and then we’ll see if he can fix his teeth." And that’s what I did three weeks ago.”

I can’t even begin to imagine the guilt and grief Abdullah must now feel about the loss of his family.

After the emotional shock, it’s worth looking at why little Aylan died.

It wasn’t because his father was seeking sanctuary from war.

He already had safe refuge in Turkey for three years where he was working.

He was, as former Labor Foreign Minister Bob Carr defined, an ‘economic refugee’ – someone seeking a better life, not refuge from conflict or persecution.

Economic ‘refugees’ do not meet the qualification for refugee status, which is why they seek the back door route – paying people smugglers, using their papers to country-hop until the last leg to their preferred country, at which point they dispose of their documents to hide their true identity. It’s often referred to as ‘country shopping’.

It’s a massive con, which this present Australian government has been able to stop.

The New York Times used the conflict and the humanitarian consequences, unfairly, dishonestly and opportunistically, to attack our Prime Minister.

The first clue of the newspaper’s dishonesty is characterised in its headline:

AUSTRALIA’S BRUTAL TREATMENT OF MIGRANTS

It goes on to say,

‘Prime Minister Tony Abbott has overseen a ruthlessly effective effort to stop boats packed with migrants, many of them refugees, from reaching Australia’s shores. His policies have been inhumane, of dubious legality and strikingly at odds with the country’s tradition of welcoming people fleeing persecution and war.

Since 2013, Australia has deployed its navy to turn back boats with migrants, including asylum seekers, before they could get close to its shores. Military personnel force vessels carrying people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and other conflict-roiled nations toward Indonesia, where most of the journeys begin. A boat captain recently reported that Australian authorities paid him $30,000 to turn back. If true, that account, which the Australian government has not disputed, would represent a violation of international laws designed to prevent human smuggling and protect asylum seekers.’

(end quote)

Never mind that most Australians support the policy. The editorial is bristling with deceptions, inaccuracies and outright lies. It was immediately called out for being wrong by Mark Kenny of the Sydney Morning Herald, a staunch Abbott critic.

One important and critical point missing from the scathing editorial is that not one person, not one child, has drowned on Tony Abbott’s watch.

And isn’t that the most important consideration of all?

Far from inhumane, Abbott’s policies have ensured there are no more Abdullah Kurdis grieving for their lost children.

There are no little Alyans washing up on Australian shores.

In contrast, under the relaxed policy of the previous Labor government, border protection was dismantled in 2008 in the name of humanitarian relief.

That so-called humanitarian relief resulted in over 1200 deaths at sea including children.

If you follow the logic of the New York Times, Tony Abbott should be ashamed of his policies, which prevent little Aylans lying lifeless on our sand. It’s the same irresponsible shrug of the Greens, with their ‘tough luck’ response to deaths at sea.

“Tragedy happens. Accidents happen,” was Sarah Hanson-Young’s answer after a boat sank between Australia and Indonesia resulting in 200 deaths in 2011.

The greatest test of Abbott’s success is the grudging adoption of his policies by the opposition Labor Party, finally coming to the realisation that Tony Abbott’s policies are right, that they work, that they are indeed the true humanitarian relief.

Operation Sovereign Borders stops kids drowning.

The ALP has, through gritted teeth, adopted all aspects of the Abbott solution including turning back the boats.

If there’s any one underlying message that must be read into the story of little Aylan it is that illegal human trafficking must be stopped, that the Abbott government’s successful policies must be widely adopted or the drownings will continue.

This must be balanced with an increased selective intake by all nations of genuine refugees, fleeing persecution or war or both.

Addition:
Which brings us to ask just why it is that countries around the world are being beaten into shame for not taking refugees from the middle -east when middle east countries right next to the conflict are not taking them.

Perhaps the media should start asking that question. 

I am not holding my breath.

Australia has a proud history of settling refugees and migrants. This must continue.

Migration has been an overwhelmingly positive contributor to the growth, success and affluence of this nation - with exception, namely criminal ideologists who wish us harm, currently being addressed.

Careful, selective immigration and genuine refugee intakes - not open border anarchy - will strengthen Australia, save lives while meeting out international obligations.

The 'zozchial media' is alive with bleeding hearts dripping blame on everyone who does not share their warped understandings. They demand that Oz and other nations - such as Germany, France, Great Britain etc - take in any 'refugee' or 'asylum' seeker who shows up after travelling thousands of miles through friendly countries at huge financial cost put into the pockets of crooks, thieves and casual murderers. The 'compassionate' want you and I to pay for housing, feeding, clothing, and handing i-phones and plasma TVs to these 'refugees'. 

They never offer their own homes. They never offer to dip into their own pockets.

Whoops. Never say never.

Apparantly some people in Iceland are doing just that - opening their own homes to 'refugees'.

It remains to be seen what will transpire with that experiment.

More than 11,000 Icelanders offer to house Syrian refugees to help European crisis

More than 11,000 families in Iceland have offered to open their homes to Syrian refugees in a bid to raise the government’s cap of just 50 asylum seekers a year.

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/more-than-11000-icelanders-offer-to-house-syrian-refugees-to-help-european-crisis-10480505.html

They responded to a call by author Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir, who set up a Facebook group with an open letter to the country’s welfare minister, Eygló Harðardóttir, asking her to allow people to help.

Ms Bjorgvinsdottir said she knew someone who could house five Syrians fleeing the country’s brutal civil war, requesting work permits, residence papers and “basic human rights” in exchange for paying for their flight and helping them integrate into national society.

The Government Minister responsible says she is 'reading the Facebook page". Frankly she can get some 11000 extra votes if she simply doubles the intake to 100. The voters will be spared having to share their homes and supply prayer mats as it is most unlikely that the Icelandic Gummunt will heed their demands - and they will thank her accordingly with sighs of relief and a 'compassion club' to beat others with.

It is just as easy to offer to open one's own home when the odds of being allowed to are zilch, as it is to demand others do. Its kudos all the way to the flagpole.

We will drink a few pints in the Tavern awaiting the outcome.

Pax


(About Paul Zanetti...... http://www.zanetti.net.au/#!about/c10fk  )

Update.

An anonymous commenter took me to task. You can see the comment and reply below. 

To the point is a report today.

Canadian authority confirm drowned Aylan Kurdi’s father lied and never applied for entry

Lie after lie after lie, that’s the reality behind the so called “poor refugee from a war zone” who sent his own wife and small children to their death, even when he had no reason to do so since he never lived in a war zone, had funds to sustain him for over one year and was safely settled in Turkey for THREE years.

The Abdullah Kurdi lies are unfolding when his stories kept constantly changing, depending on who he told his tale to. Abdullah never was on the ship on which he supposedly was the only survivor. It was all lies. Adullah claims he “did not mind” that his wife and children died so his story could be told to the world? What story? The usual migration fraud, initiated by terrorists and funded from Saudi Arabia.

Since Kobani doesn’t have ISIS occupation Abdullah Kurdi had no problems flying there safely by plane two days ago, to attend a funeral. No real war zone then.

 https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/canadian-authority-confirm-drowned-aylan-kurdis-father-lied-and-never-applied-for-entry/

I can no more 'guarantee' the veracity of news reports any more than you can. But I can exercise discernment and a healthy skepticism with what appears in reports. 

People have agendas.