The absurd U.S. policy on asylum should make room for Iraqis who are in danger because they worked for American agencies.

I RECENTLY HEARD FROM an Iraqi friend of mine, whose identity I am compelled to conceal. Until a month ago, Y was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development, helping in its multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq. After two years of sneaking into the Green Zone to work for the United States, his identity was exposed.

He was spotted leaving a checkpoint by someone from his neighborhood. The next day he found a note on his front steps that said, "We are going to cut off your heads and throw them in the trash." Beside it was the severed head of a small dog, writhing with maggots and flies.

Sadly, it wasn't the first time I'd heard of such threats. A year ago, when I was working for the USAID on the reconstruction in Fallouja, the first of many Iraqi employees was forced to flee the country. Insurgents raked her house with bullets after discovering that she was working for the Americans.

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