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	Email this page Current News in Context October 23, 2006 1.6 million Iraqis have Fled their Country Since the War Patrick Cockburn attaches stories to the number of Iraqi refugees - internal and external. For sheer number, he draws an analogy to the expulsion of Palestinians in the 1940s. "Out of the population of 26 million, 1.6 million Iraqis have fled the country and a further 1.5 million are displaced within Iraq, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In Jordan alone there are 500,000 Iraqi refugees and a further 450,000 in Syria. In Syria alone they are arriving at the rate of 40,000 a month." The Exodus: 1.6m Iraqis have fled their country since the war By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, 23 October 2006 It is one of the largest long-term population movements in the Middle East since Israel expelled Palestinians in the 1940s. Few of the Iraqis taking flight now show any desire to return to their homes. The numbers compelled to take to the roads have risen dramatically this year with 365,000 new refugees since the bombing of the Shia shrine in Samara in February. Rich and poor, both are vulnerable. "I'll need more than five bodyguards if I am to live in Baghdad," said one political leader who has left Iraq. "The police came to my antiques shop and drove me around Baghdad," said an antique dealer from the formerly well-off district of Mansur. "They wanted money or they'd charge me with illegal traffic in antiques. I gave them $5,000 in cash, closed my shop and went with my brother to Jordan the same night. I haven't been back." One well-established consultant doctor escaped his kidnappers in Baghdad and fled to the Kurdish capital of Arbil where he reopened his surgery. Bakers, often Shias, have been frequently targeted. Some now make bread with a Kalashnikov rifle propped against the wall beside them. Many have left Sunni districts in some of which it has become difficult to buy bread. Comments: Post a Comment ^ Top of page		Search site Subscribe for email updates: Recent Posts Main page 655,000 Dead in Iraq Deadliest Year for Press since the Invasion 2003 NCCI Editorial - Weekly Highlight Study estimates 655,000 excess Iraqi deaths since ... Aid worker for Life for Relief and Development (LI... Declaration of Peace: DC Summary We Declare Peace - Next Steps Update and Report Back: Declaration of Peace Civilian Death toll 6,500+ (July and August) Washington DC Launch of Declaration of Peace Earlier Posts Week of... October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 April 2007 Atom Feed