Letter: U.S. wrecking its global reputation

Saturday, May 12, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

I'm writing about Tim Pratt's May 7 story, "Painful odyssey, uncertain fate," which appeared in the May 7 Las Vegas Sun. An Iraqi woman, Dallal Muhamed, fled her homeland 14 years ago after being raped by a gang of thugs.

Now she and her daughter are seeking asylum in the United States, but it appears that we are going to reject her plea and send them back to a land that has become, because of us, a living hell. To grant asylum, the Bush administration would have to acknowledge that Iraq is a dangerous place, and this runs contrary to their spin that we are building a safe democracy in that country.

This tragedy parallels a recent "60 Minutes" story concerning Iraqis who have supported U.S. troops in Iraq, often acting as interpreters. These individuals have been targeted for assassination by insurgents, but the U.S. government refuses to grant asylum or to offer them any protection . Consequently, the few allies who we have are fleeing Iraq.

And, of course, there are the thousands of Iraqi citizens who we have arrested and jailed without charges. Most are not terrorists or even insurgents. They were detained on the flimsiest of suspicions, yet we deny them counsel and often torture them. Amnesty International has always pointed to the U.S. as an example of morality to the rest of the world. Now we have become their greatest concern.

Who is not humiliated and embarrassed for our country? It will take decades to rebuild our esteem throughout the world - if, that is, it will even be possible.

Albert G. Marquis, Las Vegas