They're more focused on personal tragedy - piecing their lives back together and worrying about family members left behind. In this community, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and U.S. President Bill Clinton seem to receive equal condemnation. Like many Iraqi exiles, he was unwilling to give his full name for fear the Iraqi government would retaliate against his family. Every exile knows people who have been executed, deported or who have vanished, Jillood said. Brothers, uncles, cousins.
Nobody hears about the massacres that go on.
Those interviewed say America has betrayed the Iraqis. They point to 1991 when President George Bush publicly exhorted Iraqis to rise up and revolt after the Gulf War. When dissidents tried to overthrow Saddam Hussein, they found themselves with no support from the U.S. military. Saddam Hussein then proceeded to systematically kill tens of thousands of his own people, who were thought to have defied him. Hundreds of thousands fled the country, as the United States watched without acting.