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Bush to bring 7000 iraqis to U.S. for starters

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http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ_REFUGEES?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME


--- Quote --- Feb 15, 6:13 AM EST


Skepticism, Praise Greet Refugee Plan

By KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press Writer
 
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Iraqi House closed in October because of a lack of funding, but Samir Saleh wonders whether the former refugee assistance center might reopen in response to a new U.S. decision to allow more Iraqis to enter the country.

"It was very helpful to have that house, and hopefully, we'll reopen it," said Saleh, 57, a former chairman at the center.

Like many of his expatriate countrymen, Saleh applauded a Bush administration announcement on Wednesday that 7,000 Iraqi refugees will be allowed into the United States this year.

The announcement marked a major policy shift for the U.S., which has allowed only 600 Iraqi refugees into the country since the war began nearly four years ago.

The decision came out of a task force set up by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as grumbling increased on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations and among Arab nations that the United States was stinting on its responsibilities.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had said the administration "has been slow to react to a worsening situation, amid ample warnings." Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told Rice at a hearing last week that the United States could admit about 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year - exactly the number announced Wednesday.

Resettlement workers and Muslim groups said even the expanded number is a token gesture, especially since the United Nations estimates 3.8 million people have fled Iraq since 2003, most to other Middle Eastern countries.

"7,000 is a small number," said Ali Mahmoud, 60, also a former chairman at Iraqi House, which was set up after the first Gulf War. "It might encourage other countries to do the same."

Nashville is home to the nation's largest community of expatriate Kurds, estimated to number 8,000. They were a persecuted minority under Saddam's rule, as were Shiite Muslims.

Carolyn Saour, an Iraqi-American living in Houston, said new policy is fitting in that the U.S. is a "chief cause" of the refugee policy. Still, the new Iraqi refugee ceiling "is severely low for the amount of damage that's been done over the years," she said.

But many Iraqis living in the U.S. celebrated the announcement.

"There are a lot of miserable Iraqi people who want out of Iraq," said Ruad Ridha, 70, an Iraqi refugee who arrived in the U.S. in 1999 and lives in a Chicago suburb. "This is a very good decision, a very kind decision and a humanitarian decision."

The United Nations wants to resettle 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugees this year. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called the U.S. pledge "a relevant contribution."

"The problem is so huge that nothing is, any time, enough," he said.

The Bush administration said that in addition to allowing more Iraqi refugees into the country it will immediately contribute $18 million for a worldwide resettlement and relief program. The United Nations has asked for $60 million from nations around the world.

Abid Al-Marayati, a professor of government at the University of Toledo in Ohio, said the U.S. has a responsibility to help Iraqis who face danger in their own country for helping Americans topple Saddam Hussein's government.

"It's not a question of whether we should accept them or not. These people served the U.S. forces," said Al-Marayati, who left Iraq in 1958. "I think for our country, we could absorb that (number of refugees) quite easily
 

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