I got an e-mail recently from my daughter Mary about some extraordinary people she met who work with Iraqi translators targeted for death by the insurgents in their country because these translators were helpful to the United States. Now they are trying to immigrate to the U.S. --- but they have no money.

Mary said some received help from the Education for Peace in Iraq Center. Wanting to know more about this humanitarian organization, I met with its founder, Eric Gustafson, who works continuously to inform Americans about the personal tragedies endured by Iraqis.

I wonder how many in the United States ever think about the people who used to live in their country of Iraq. I wager the answer is very few. Yet, "four million innocent Iraqi civilians have been displaced by the violence and face an uncertain future," said Gustafson, who served in Iraq during the 1990-1991 Gulf War as a member of the U.S. Army's 864th Engineering Battalion.

"I came away recognizing how disastrous war can be," Gustafson told me. His experience there led him to "become very active in human rights issues." His first stop, so to speak, was East Timor, when the country was invaded by Indonesia and 250,000 people, mostly Catholics, were brutally killed.

What was largely unknown to the world then, he said, was that Pope John Paul II visited East Timor, helping to put it on the radar. Other influential people such as then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Senator Russell Feingold also instigated U.S. support for East Timor, which became a sovereign state.

Through his work, Gustafson was approached by Catholics seeking to end the humanitarian crisis felt by the first Iraq war. "I went on a fact-finding mission to Iraq and found such a demoralized society," he said. "A half-million children under the age of 5 had died. All that galvanized me. I became an advocate for change, and in late 1998 I founded ... the Education for Peace in Iraq Center to aid people uprooted by violence in Iraq."

During that time Gustafson met Lynn Friedrickson, now his wife, who worked for humanitarian aid with Catholic groups. Gustafson also found that the best home for him was the Catholic Church. He converted and now belongs to St. Aloysius Parish in Washington.

EPIC has specific goals, according to Gustafson:

---President Bush needs to stop his silence about the refugee crisis.

---We have to generate more assistance for Syria and Jordan, where one in 10 people are Iraqi refugees straining the resources of these countries.

---Congress needs to fund humanitarian agencies to aid victims in Iraq and to compensate civilians for their extreme losses.

"To walk away and ignore Iraq is not an option," says Gustafson.

EPIC's supporters have stormed more than 300 House offices and 94 Senate offices with a call for Congress to assist and protect Iraqi refugees. They continue to build support for Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer's Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act.

Gustafson invites people to join in this "most important humanitarian work" by contacting EPIC at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Suite 203, Washington, D.C. 20003 or at www.epic-usa.org.

Antoinette Bosco is an author and columnist with Catholic News Service.