Iraqi refugees dismiss U.S. resettlement

February 14, 07

Associated Press Writers Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report

DAMASCUS, Syria - Some Iraqi refugees living in Syria dismissed on Wednesday a Bush administration plan to allow some 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the U.S., saying they preferred to stay closer to home and planned to return to Iraq.

"We live in Syria temporarily and will go back to our country when the situation there quiets," said Saif Thaher, a 22-year-old refugee who runs a taxi service between Damascus and Baghdad. He added that the U.S. "wants to disperse the Iraqi people in order empty Iraq" for their own benefit.

The U.S. plan comes at a time of mounting international pressure. Although the United Nations estimates that 3.8 million Iraqis have fled their homes since the war began nearly four years ago, the United States has allowed only about 600 to settle in the United States.

Nearly 1 million Iraqi refugees have fled to Syria alone.

We want to go back to our country in a normal way," said the Rev. Arkan Hanna, vicar of Syria's Assyrian Church, which represents some 40,000 Iraqi Christian refugees.

Most Iraqi refugees have fled to Syria and Jordan, both of which have recently tried to restrict the influx. The U.N. estimates that 40,000 to 50,000 people flee Iraq each month and have dwindling options of where to go.

Jordan's chief government spokesman also did not sound impressed with the U.S. plan.

Nasser Judeh said 7,000 is still a small number compared to the 700,000 Iraqi refugees Jordan has had to accommodate.

"Seven thousand Iraqi refugees is just 1 percent of the number we have," Judeh said.

Refugees fleeing Iraq say Syrian authorities now give them upon arrival a 15-day permit to stay, after which they have to apply for a three-month permit that can be renewed only once. After that, unless they are students or businessmen, they have to leave the country for at least 30 days before being permitted in again.

Syrian officials have refused to publicly confirm the new rules. On Wednesday, Syrian Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash affirmed the government's position that it will not deport any Iraqis.

"There will be no deportation or expulsion of Iraqis. This is an operation to organize their stay in Syria," al-Abrash said. He did not elaborate.

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Associated Press Writers Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this repo