Tom Fudge: We hear about the political turmoil and the violence in Iraq just about every day. But we don't often hear about the refugee crisis that war has created. The United Nations estimates that up to two million people have left Iraq since the beginning of the war. And, ironically, the country that started the war has taken very few of them in.
At last count, the United States has given fewer than 500 Iraqis political asylum since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This fact resulted in several outraged speeches in the U.S. Senate last month. Senators on both sides of the aisle asked why the U.S. wasn't giving refugee status to people, many of whom have been persecuted for supporting the American war effort.
Guest
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Bob Carey, vice president of Resettlement for the International Rescue Committee.
End Music: Through Toledo by Greg Laswell, from the album Through Toledo (2006)
