Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

A Debt Owed to Iraq's Refugees

by Travis Sharp [contact information]

Letter to the Editor published in the Washington Post on July 25, 2007

U.N. official Roberta Cohen was right to label the refugee crisis in Iraq "pretty dire" ["Envoy Urges Visas for Iraqis Aiding U.S.," front page, July 22]. The spillover of Iraqi refugees is destabilizing neighboring countries and threatens to hamper American efforts to move toward the endgame in Iraq.

Mukhaimer Abu Jamous, secretary general of Jordan's interior ministry, estimated recently that the nearly 750,000 Iraqis taking refuge in his country place a burden of no less than $1 billion a year on the economy.

Similarly, Faisal al-Miqdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister, reported that the 1.2 million to 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in his country have contributed to a 30 percent increase in the prices of foodstuffs and other basic goods, a 40 percent rise in property prices and a 150 percent jump in rental rates. Water consumption has increased by 21 percent, while the unemployment rate stands at 18 percent and threatens to go up.

Even if the United States were to successfully resettle 7,000 Iraqis by September, as is the State Department's stated goal, it would not begin to scratch the surface of the problem -- the estimated 4.2 million Iraqis who have fled their country or been displaced within it.

The United States has made an incalculable number of mistakes in Iraq. Providing more refugee assistance is one thing we can do to repay our debt to innocent Iraqi civilians and to alleviate the burden that has been placed on Iraq's neighbors.

Travis Sharp
Military Policy Analyst
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Washington