Iraqi refugees too scared to return home despite propaganda push

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/exiled-iraqis-too-scared-to-return-home-despite-propaganda-push-780708.html

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Monday, 11 February 2008


To show that Iraq was safe enough for the two million Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan to return, the Iraqi government organised a bus convoy last November from Damascus to Baghdad carrying 800 Iraqis home for free.

As a propaganda exercise designed to show that the Iraqi government was restoring peace, it never quite worked. The majority of the returnees said they were returning to Baghdad, not because it was safer, but because they had run out of money in Syria or their visas had expired.

There has been no mass return of the two million Iraqis who fled to Syria and Jordan or a further 2.4 million refugees who left their homes within Iraq. The latest figures from the UN High Commission for Refugees show that, on the contrary, the number of people entering Syria from Iraq was 1,200 a day in late January "while an average of 700 are going back to Iraq from Syria".

The reasons people are not going back, despite new stringent visa regulations in Syria, are that they know Baghdad is very dangerous, the chances of making a living are small and there is a continuing lack of electricity and water.

The case of Mohammed Salman al-Dlaimi, who used to distribute food rations in the Sunni enclave of al-Khudat in west Baghdad, explains why so many left and are dubious about coming back. He lived in his father's large house with his three brothers, making just enough money to survive, until he was arrested by the National Guard in 2007.

"They accused me of being a member of al-Qa'ida," he said, "and tortured me because I'm a Sunni. Everybody knows I am just a small businessman."

Released after three months, he fled to Syria, saying to friends: "I plan to move to Tartous and start a business on a small scale importing cars."

[tanyev]

1. This would be an excellent opportunity for President Bush to provide leadership

by example. When he moves out of the White House, he and Laura should go live in Iraq for a while to demonstrate how very safe it is now.