.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Born at the Crest of the Empire

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Maybe it's not security that's bringing the Iraqi refugees home

A very good point,
One-third of Iraqi refugees who fled to neighboring Syria expect their money to run out within three months, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday in a report highlighting what some believe is the main reason families are returning to their still-violent homeland......

A U.N. spokeswoman said those worries — not improved security in Iraq — appear to be the driving force behind the decision by thousands of Iraqis to return. And as savings draw down, U.S. and U.N. officials fear, many more could be forced to come back to a country still unready for them.

.

posted by mikevotes at 7:50 AM

4 Comments:

  • I heard this on the BBC earlier this week. They were interviewing a doctor (ophthalmologist) who is just trying to find a way to provide for his family.

    As you know, most of the refugees in Syria or people of means. Poor folks just had to stay behind and tough it out, but the upper middle class and above could afford the exodus. Now their nest egg is gone -- and I believe Iraqi refugees are prohibited from working in Syria.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:23 AM  

  • And, let's emember that the Iraqi government is paying $800 to each of those families who participated in the photo op of the bus trips back to Baghdad.

    $800 is a lot of money to a broke family in Iraq. IED's were set for $20-100.

    And, I don't remember where I heard it, but the thing to watch is the immigration from Jordan.

    Syria kind of opened its borders, but to get into Jordan, you had to pay a big fee, so the Jordanian refugees are generally the educated, middle class, and up, the doctors, lawyers, engineers, business owners, etc.

    They can afford to stay out, and the return of the skilled is what Iraq really needs, so an eye on their return is probably a better barometer of where we are.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:33 AM  

  • I didn't know that about Jordan.

    Can you imagine if we rushed in to a country to help it put out a forrest fire and we scared away all the fire fighters... It seems we scared away all the people who make up a functioning society and left only the dogs willing to fight for the scraps. I'm over simplifying to a great degree, of course, but you get my point.

    By Blogger -epm, at 4:43 PM  

  • Yeah. Alot of the professionals stayed into the first part, but by the time the kidnappings and ethnic cleansing had begun, they left. (Probably should add that some of the Shia went to Iran.)

    The foreign refugees are disproportionately rich and educated.

    The fact that we're trying to rebuild the society missing such a high number of these engineers and such is why the US is having to play such a huge role in everything from reconstruction and services management. The number of doctors is appalling.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 5:02 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home