Crocker: Speed Up Iraqi Refugee Policy

Ambassador says 10,000 expats could take 2 years to admit

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 17, 2007 10:41 AM CDT

(Newser) – Ambassador Ryan Crocker says the US needs to get moving on admitting Iraqi refugees. In a State Department memo titled "Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?", Crocker writes that thousands of desperate Iraqis are facing bottlenecks to their resettlement, and that at the present rate it would take two years to admit the 10,000 refugees referred to the US by the United Nations.

The issue didn't get much attention during Crocker and Petraeus' recent testimony before Congress, but the ambassador appears increasingly concerned. The subject has divided the parties, and will likely be a major topic of discussion when Condi Rice meets with congressional leaders this week. "The least we can do is our part to allow those at risk to resettle here," says Senator Ted Kennedy.

[Images (5)]

[Videos (1)]

This photo, supplied by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, shows Angelina Jolie talking to a wheelchair-bound woman, one of some 1,300 trapped at the makeshift Al Waleed refugee camp inside... (Associated Press)

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, right, accompanied by Gen. David Petraeus, left, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald... (Associated Press)

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, accompanied by Gen. David Petraeus, left, arrives to testify on the future course of the war in Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services... (Associated Press)

Kurdish refugees sit near the village of Shewe Perde Hasso, an a improvised refugee camp, in Iraq, near the Iranian border, Thursday Aug. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed) (Associated Press)

Iraqi refugees gather in front of the offices of the United Nations High Committee for Refugees to register their names in Damascus, Syria, in this Feb. 11, 2007 file photo. U.N. Secretary-General Ban... (Associated Press)

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Crocker: Speed Up Iraqi Refugee Policy