Iraqi Refugees Face Long, Often Dangerous Waits
We all know that living in Iraq can be dangerous. Trying to leave it can be a problem, too.
The number of displaced Iraqis has topped 4 million: 2 million within the country, along with 2.2 million refugees. The U.S. has said that it will help resettle more than 2 million refugees, but as Deborah Amos reported for Morning Edition today, that is often complicated by U.S. relations with Syria and other countries where the refugees are living.
But waiting for a visa in Syria is probably preferable to waiting for one in Iraq. Newsweek tells the story of Hazim Hanna and his wife, Emel Meskoni, two of the first Iraqis to work for the U.S.-led coalition after the fall of Baghdad. They passionately believed in a new Iraq, but as the situation in the country grew worse, life became too dangerous for them. They were waiting for final approval to immigrate to the United States in late May when kidnappers grabbed Hanna. Meskoni disappeared a few days later when she went to deliver the ransom for her husband. Their bodies were found about a month later.
Their deaths prompted Ambassador Ryan Crocker to send a memo pressing Washington to process visas for Iraqis more quickly. (Newsweek reports that the United States will have approved about 1,700 asylum requests by the end of September, according to a Homeland Security estimate.) Judging from the Morning Edition report, however, it doesn't seem to have sped things up.
4:10 PM ET | 09-18-2007 | permalink
