The Other Iraq Study Not Getting Much Attention

Not to imply that the report from the Iraq Study Group isn't worth covering, but how about what's "quickly becoming the largest" refugee crisis in the world?
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Not to imply that the report from the Iraq Study Group isn't worth covering, but how about what's "quickly becoming the largest" refugee crisis in the world, according to the London Guardian.

Last month, the UN estimated that 100,000 people were fleeing the country each month, with the number of Iraqis now living in other Arab countries standing at 1.8 million.

The newspaper was flagging "Iraq: The World's Fastest Growing Refugee Crisis," a new report from the Washington-based Refugees International.. The report's major findings:

* The violence in Iraq has reached a deadly tipping point: Most Iraqis feel threatened.
* Neighboring countries are being overwhelmed by the massive influx of Iraqi refugees.
* The UN High Commissioner for Refugees does not have enough resources to assist Iraqi refugees in the Middle East.
* Conditions for Palestinians from Iraq and other third country nationals are especially desperate and bleak.

The group's recommendations call for a greater role by Western nations -- which, incidentally, are becoming the destination of choice among many fleeing Iraqis, legal or not. "The United States and its allies sparked the current chaos in Iraq," the group's president, Kenneth Bacon, told the Guardian, "but they are doing little to ease the humanitarian crisis caused by the current exodus."

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