DAR AL HARB-IRAQ: FLEEING IRAQI'S, AHHH THE RESULT OF THE RELIGION OF PEACE

Iraqis who aided U.S. find closed doors
Even those who helped during the war are rarely allowed sanctuary

BAGHDAD: With thousands of Iraqis desperately fleeing this country every day, advocates for refugees, and even some American officials, say there is an urgent need to change American policies limiting the number of Iraqis who settle in the United States.

Until recently the Bush administration had planned to resettle just 500 Iraqis this year, a mere fraction of the estimated 60,000 to 90,000 Iraqis now fleeing their country each month. U.S. State Department officials say they are open to admitting larger numbers, but are limited by a cumbersome and poorly funded UN referral system.

"We're not even meeting our basic obligation to the Iraqis who've been imperiled because they worked for the U.S. government," said Kirk Johnson, who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Falluja in 2005. "We could not have functioned without their hard work, and it's shameful that we've nothing to offer them in their bleakest hour."

Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who is taking over the immigration, border security and refugee subcommittee, plans hearings this month on the United States' responsibility to help vulnerable Iraqis. An estimated 1.8 million Iraqis are now living outside Iraq. The pace of the exodus has quickened significantly in the past nine months.

Some critics say the Bush administration has been reluctant to create a significant refugee program because to do so would be tantamount to conceding failure in Iraq. They say a major change in policy could happen only as part of a broader White House shift on Iraq.

"I don't know of anyone inside the administration who sees this as a priority area," said Lavinia Limon, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nongovernmental refugee resettlement agency based in Washington. "If you think you're winning, you think they're going to go back soon."

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1) Iraqis who aided U.S. find closed doors