Iraq War Spawns Growing Refugee Problem

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Decades after the Middle East was hit by the mass uprooting of Palestinians, it is again struggling with a gigantic refugee problem - this time from Iraq.

The exodus - one million to neighboring Syria alone, according to the U.N. - is another unforeseen byproduct of the 2003 Iraq invasion. When it might peak, nobody knows, but if it continues at its present rate, the consequences for the region would be profound.

Iraqis now make up more than 5 percent of Syria's population, the U.N. refugee agency says. Jordan says its 700,000 Iraqis have swollen its population by 12 percent, and its officials say they have already moved to cut off the flow. So has Egypt, with 130,000 Iraqi newcomers.


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``Washington is spending about $2 billion per week on the war in Iraq, but has barely begun to address the human fallout from the war,'' said Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch's refugee policy director.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6391459,00.html