Crime

Iraqi Refugees in Oakland Say Violence Rivals Back Home

Oakland Worse Than Iraq? Refugees Not Sure

Oakland in the midst of Occupy Movement or Iraq?

Within four years from the start of the Iraq War, an estimated four million Iraqis were displaced, the largest exodus since the mass migrations associated with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Fifty of the thousands of Iraqi refugees who have migrated to the United States since the war have been relocated by the International Rescue Committee to East Oakland. In a San Francisco Chronicle report published Wednesday several of those refugees say the violence they witnessed back home is comparable to what they see in Oakland:

“It wasn’t long before Al-Sharif said he learned that there were parts of Oakland where violence rivals what he escaped in Iraq.

One night, he decided to walk home alone. Two men attacked him, bashing him in the face with a metal object and robbing him of some money, his cell phone and his ID. He was left screaming on the ground, his face gushing blood.

He said the police never identified his attackers.

Al-Sharif, 40, is one of more than 50 Iraqi refugees who have been moved to East Oakland by the International Rescue Committee. The nonprofit‘s officials say they won’t settle refugees in unsafe neighborhoods, but Al-Sharif and dozens of other Iraqis blame the organization for exposing them to an unfamiliar type of violence – one perpetrated by gangs rather than political militants.”

Another refugee in the story, Hariath Al-Kiate, says he is grateful for the urban lifestyle, public schooling and ability to find work in Oakland, but hasn’t forgotten a nighttime gunfight outside his home that left his car riddled with bullets.

The Chronicle spoke with several Bay Area Iraq refugees who say while rescue group’s have granted them jobs, homes and escape from their wartorn homeland, safety has not been guaranteed. Oakland has affordable housing, efficient public transportation and a welcoming multicultural society, but also one of the country’s highest crime rates, according to federal statistics and other studies.

“There are a lot of places you shouldn’t be,” said Al-Kaite.

Do you think crime in has reached out-of-control levels in certain American cities comprable to chaotic war zones abroad?

Comments (78)

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  • tmplarnite
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:38pm

    Any city in this country has the same dirtbag Black and Hispanic gangs that O’vomit and his liberals have perpetuated and keep breeding and feeding….It is not going to end well…for us or them!

    Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:04pm

      And now you know why it’s not a good idea to live in any large city anymore! The animals are taking over!

      Report Post »  
    • certified ethical hacker
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 8:30pm

      Back in the 60 or so many Detroit people moved to the suburbs to escape the garbage that the inner city became. Detroit lost thousands and thousands of its population (mostly to dearborn or lincon park etc) around the 70s early part Memphis Tn was really growing and at one point I think had near 8 o 9 hundred thou pop but then then all the whites moved to germantown. this is precisely why they have to force school busing on whites to make sure their poor can intimidate our young population . there is a reason why whites always migrate away from blacks and it is not because of skin color alone. To be honest about racism, the most racist people are the ones that have had to deal with blacks more , say than areas where there are few blacks. If you have a family and are raising small girls why the f would you want to live in an area where they will be raped before they get out of grade school? If you look at history you see every time a city gets a certain amount of blacks in their mist it becomes a war zone worse than IRAN but none of your US media is allowed to point any of this out because they would be classified as racist and giving blacks a poor reputation. black leaders want to keep seeing their kind cause these problems because they really want to push a race war

      Report Post »  
  • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:16pm

    “but Al-Sharif and dozens of other Iraqis blame the organization for exposing them to an unfamiliar type of violence – one perpetrated by gangs rather than political militants.””

    Does he mean Obama and Holder‘s ’people’? Naw….. I thought the whole world knew how bad Oakland is. After OWS they Do now.

    Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
    • freeweever
      Posted on December 29, 2011 at 9:41pm

      What is the common denominator in all these gang stories and mob rob videos, what seems to be the consistent theme and people…do you see…do you see? Can you see…can wee fix that which is not allowed to be seen… publicly or communicatively. It is the perfect disease and cancer… one that can’t be detected and will not be called out. Like the aids problem in Africa that the African people and leaders just deny and say it isn’t so… or it isn’t happening. Is there a common denominator here too in Africa… and does it have any comparisons to the problems we have here in America, like the above mentioned denominators. Do you see…can you see…will you see cause it is coming?

      Report Post » freeweever  
  • brother_ed
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:08pm

    When immigrants from Cuba tell you, “Wake up people, the government is taking away your rights” as a kindly old woman did at our town meeting 1 /12 years ago…

    When the Europeans say, “America is heading toward socialism”, as the talking heads claim…

    When Iraqi refugees are saying, “Oakland reminds me of back home”…

    Maybe we should take them seriously…

    Stay awake.

    Report Post » brother_ed  
  • mike_trivisonno
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:53pm

    I can see brining the non-muslim refugees into America. But the muslims should never be given refugee status and should be left in the nightmare countries that follow their faith.

    If the muslims find life in America unwelcoming, well that is just though crap. You can always self-deport.

    Report Post » mike_trivisonno  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 4:27pm

      Triv, change Muslim to Jew, and what’s the diff?

      Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:06pm

      If they’re islamists, I have no sympathy. Let them spread their “religion of peace” and see what happens in Oakland….more violence?

      Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:09pm

      SMAKDOWN33: Change muslim to jew, and you have people who are willing to work for a living and who do not promote a violent political system disguised as a religion. You’re obviously another jew hater, eh?

      Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:40pm

      C. Schwehr, Marx and the Bolshevik Revolution prove you wrong: http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/v14n1p-4_Weber.html

      Rosa Luxemburg proves you wrong. The Irgun, Stern Gang and Haganah all prove you wrong.

      Jews declaring war on Germany in 1933, before Hitler even consolidated his power, proves you wrong; and it is written in their own words: http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/jewishwar.cfm

      Israel proves you wrong. And, this is just a start. For more look no farther than the pushers of the Iraq war, again in their own words: http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/white-man-s-burden-1.14110

      Report Post »  
    • Melvin Spittle
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:56pm

      smackdown33, shut your Jew-hating pie-hole. You think that folks have not seen this propaganda you linked to? Your moral equivalence comparing Jewish response to Germany is laughable and one-sided just like the rest of your links.

      Report Post » Melvin Spittle  
    • tzion
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 8:38pm

      @Smackdown
      Focusing on the negative as usual? What about Irving Berlin, Albert Einstein, and Levi Strauss? Without them we wouldn’t have “God Bless America” or jeans. Israel’s national GDP is currently greater than that of all their Arab neighbors combined. And, as you’ve been quick to point out, Jews are an overrepresented minority in a number of fields. Isn’t it at least possible that Marx and others represent only a minority of Jews?

      Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:47pm

    What a cruel joke, from baghdad to Oakland…. Talk about bein dealt a crappy hand….i think i woulda rather stayed in iraq…

    Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:10pm

      They should have stayed there alright. We don’t need any more islamists here.

      Report Post »  
    • jasmer
      Posted on December 30, 2011 at 8:10am

      Pretty sad to read all these ignorant comments. Muslim Islamist, just as Christian KKK.

      That said, even at the height of the Iraq war, Baghdad was safer than New Orleans. Look it up.

      Report Post »  
  • heavyduty
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:43pm

    Keep it up California and you will have the Muslims bombing your butts. Then you will cry for everyone to help you. You want them so bad then you put up with them.

    Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:49pm

      Perhaps you’ve missed the point. It’s not the Muslim.

      Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:12pm

      SMAKDOWN33: Perhaps you haven’t noticed. It isn’t the islamists NOW. It soon WILL be! Please take your defense of terrorism somewhere else, eh?

      Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:44pm

      C. Schwehr, I guess the boogieman is the boogieman because you call him the boogieman? Using your logic, anything can be rationalized… any heinous act that the mind can conjure up. Yours is relativism void of principle.

      Report Post »  
  • FreeUsAll
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:11pm

    Honestly, I feel bad for the guy. He fled his home country due to the violence of war, only to run into the arms of another “war.”

    Report Post » FreeUsAll  
    • Heather
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:48pm

      Me too. And I certainly do think there are cities in America that down right scare me (the thought of living amongst the uncivilized, violent inhabitants). Oakland is one of them. Many in Cali. really.

      Report Post » Heather  
  • BlazingChance
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:06pm

    You want to see what it’s like in the war zone we call South Chicago? Here’s a raw video of bullets flying and the powerless local police. If you go to South Chicago, you’re on your own! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6LghG-fq7k

    Report Post »  
  • smackdown33
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:06pm

    Truth be told, it’s a black thing. Indifferent fact, not racism.

    Report Post »  
    • palerider54
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 9:57pm

      Its not a black thing, it is a moslem thing. The sooner the gov. puts a bounty on them the better, starting with you.

      Report Post »  
  • nykfan1
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:01pm

    top down bottoms up the way Oblamo likes it

    Report Post » nykfan1  
  • Carter John
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:01pm

    Why in the world are you people attacking the Muslim man? The story is about the gang violence and riots that are as bad as a WAR. Did these Muslim people cause it? No, our very own born and bred american gangs did. So if you want to attack someone attack the gang bangers, not a guy who got put in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Report Post » Carter John  
    • Jim in Houston
      Posted on December 29, 2011 at 12:00pm

      You make a very good point. This hatred shown to these refugees by some of these posters is ridiculous. They weren’t the problem, home grown gangs of ghetto trash are the problem. The article doesn’t say they are Muslim, It only say Iraqi refugees. They could be Iraqi Christians.

      Report Post »  
  • BlazingChance
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:00pm

    I hate to say this but there are some places in America where the National Guard should be on temporary patrol in order to restore peace and the rule of law. These gangs aren’t afraid of cops. In fact, they often have bigger and better guns than the local police. Now if each neighborhood had a Humvee full of American soldiers with M16′s, I bet the crime rate would dive. Anyone ever been to South Chicago? Talk about a war zone! Those people in South Chicago live in their own world with their own rules/laws. Cops are no where to be seen.

    Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:08pm

      That’s because our liberal legislating courts have granted more rights to the criminal than to the police. A totally predictable result, which is why it is not accidental. It is the Alinsky model.

      Report Post »  
    • Todd P
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:59pm

      There are a lot of places in America that I would be afraid to visit. Sad, but true. The police are out gunned – the eventual remedy may be the very police state we all fear.

      Report Post »  
    • C. Schwehr
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 5:15pm

      TODD P: That’s what the current government is hoping for…notice this is happening in cities that are bastions of progressive thought…..and crime, and graft, etc.

      Report Post »  
  • hauschild
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:58pm

    Another classic. I wouldn’t be caught dead in Oakland. You’d have to be out of your mind. It’s lawless. It is what the urban areas in America will all be like 20 or so years from now.

    Report Post »  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:58pm

    These times, they are a changin…..

    I guess Bob Dylan was right about that.

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:58pm

    With all of this violence here the Marxist in chief must be orgasmic,Barry’s bastards brigade on full display.All kidding aside the violence is getting out of hand and when it get‘s real bad Barry’s going to have to restore order,mind you he’s going to hate to do it but he will none the less.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:50pm

    They shoulda gave em all Air Jordans, and an ak-47 and let em fight it out with the brothas…

    Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:46pm

    Talk about , out of the frying pan and into the fire… Shheeeese

    Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:44pm

    Hey Achmed, be grateful they didnt send you to that other Liberal Democrat Utopia…… DETROIT… by the youre in America bro,,, you can move to TEXAS !!!! on second thought TEXAS doesnt want you… SORRY

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:50pm

      If SF is Little Iraq… the Detroit must be Little Egypt!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • BeingThere
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:43pm

    Might as well go back to Iraq!!!

    Report Post » BeingThere  
    • Obama Snake Oil Co
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:47pm

      Its probably safer in Bagdad than Oakland now……what ******* got the idea that Oakland was a safe place?

      Report Post » Obama Snake Oil Co  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:03pm

      @lukerw
      Quit insulting Egypt ; ))

      Report Post »  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 3:20pm

      @progressive
      Oh but, but , but their intentions are so noble and good, dont look at the total destruction of families and cities and work ethics and souls….. Just look at all their good intentions, Morons !

      Report Post »  
  • akairey
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:38pm

    Oakland? Why there? What they expect out of Oakland? Why not Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz where they can hang out with all the crazy liberals and the one percenters who can throw their money at them?

    Report Post »  
  • ronaldreaganthegreat
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:37pm

    Oakland, home of Van Jones :-)

    Report Post » ronaldreaganthegreat  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:33pm

    we dont send refugees to dangerous places

    …………………………oakland ????? not dangerous ?? in what reality do these people exist ???

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:31pm

    OWS has turned Oakland into Bagdad, and President Obama is turning America into Greece!

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  
  • Drakkhanlord
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:30pm

    dam , thats hardcore…

    Love that foreign policy…

    Report Post » Drakkhanlord  
    • scheduler
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:36pm

      A little overboard.

      http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos

      Report Post »  
    • Drakkhanlord
      Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:53pm

      what are you trying to show me…?

      Have know about this bs for 20+ years …
      and is not overboard…our foreign policy and immigration policies have lead to this.
      thanks for the info…wake someone up….

      Report Post » Drakkhanlord  
  • 1776freedomofspeech
    Posted on December 28, 2011 at 2:29pm

    Calphafornia!

    Report Post » 1776freedomofspeech  
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