Ome of my fraternity brothers is an Iraqi-born Christian. Needless to say, when Saddam came to power his family knew they had to escape or they'd certainly meet their deaths. Just ask the Kurds.
The story he told me was like something out of a James Bond movie - falsified passports from Egypt, falsified travel visas just to get the ability to travel to the US (and then claim asylum and eventually become citizens), underground networks of sympathizers literally smuggling people around the Middle East. He said they weren't really safe until they left Egypt, because if they were discovered to be using false papers they would be sent back to Iraq and be killed upon arriving via deportation. Oh, and at the time nobody spoke a lick of English. They settled in Sterling Heights, MI - an area with the largest concentration of Iraqis in the world outside of Iraq itself. Go figure, no war protests there.
IIRC he was a small child then, no more than 7 or 8 years old (and probably younger). His father stayed behind at first because he couldn't afford to all go at once, but he sent his wife and children out at first chance. Eventually they met up somewhere in Europe (put up by the network) before they came to the US.
Every time I see the numbnut sporting a "No war for oil" bumper sticker here in town, I wish I could take him to my bro and let him hear his story. His bumper sticker might as well say "Kiss me because I'm against the war" for as much sense as it makes.
