Nir Rosen on responsibility for the Iraqi refugee crisis

Duration: 73 seconds Upload Time: 07-05-14 22:08:11 User: Politicstv :::: Favorites

Description: (This is a clip from Rosen's speech before the New America Foundation the day after his article was the cover story of the New York Times magazine on Sunday, May 13, 2007) From NewAmerica.net: While the public gaze is fixated on the reasons for and success of the Iraq war, few policy analysts, commentators, and journalists are paying attention to the largest refugee problem in the Middle East since 1948. New America Foundation Fellow Nir Rosen-internationally recognized for his groundbreaking journalism on Iraq since the beginning of the war in April of 2003—will present his piece titled "The Flight from Iraq" which is the cover story in the Sunday, May 13, 2007 edition of the New York Times magazine. The figures are startling—nearly 2 million Iraqis have fled Iraq for neighboring countries and another 1.9 million Iraqis have been internally displaced amounting to roughly 15% of the Iraqi population abandoning their homes. Meanwhile, since 2003, the United States has only allowed in 466 Iraqis. Compounding the damage to Iraq, the greater issue of concern is the destabilizing effects this will have on Iraq's neighbors who have absorbed both the refuges and the political and economic baggage that accompany them. This all leads Rosen to contend that the spillover from the Iraq war has already transformed the Iraq War into a regional conflict.