Click photo to play
Length: 3:45
PAULA ZAHN: This is World
Refugee Day and we're devoting much of this hour to a
crisis that is swirling all around us. It is a crisis
that is a whole lot worse than you probably think.
Worldwide, almost 10 million people are refugees.
And, for the first time in five years, that number is
going up, not down.
Look at this. Since the war in Iraq started in 2003,
some four million Iraqi civilians have been forced
from their homes. Two million of them have fled the
country completely, including a million just last
year. The numbers are staggering. We're talking about
children, as well as adults.
Where are they going? Is anyone taking care of them?
As part of CNN's special coverage of World Refugee
Day, we are devoting all of our resources to finding
some answers tonight.
And we get started in Iraq itself, where the chaos is
creating new refugees every day.
Let's turn to Michael Ware, who is in Baghdad.
We talked about those stunning numbers, four million
Iraqis displaced. Where have they all gone?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, as you
say, almost two million of them are still here in
Iraq.
They have been forced into fetid refugee camps that
have popped up within the capital and beyond, or they
have gone to relatives' already overcrowded homes,
anywhere, just to get away from the death squads.
However, another almost two million have crossed
Iraq's borders, mostly into neighboring Jordan and
Syria. Now, Jordan has all but closed its borders to
many of these Iraqis now. Syria, for the time being,
is keeping the floodgates open.
But there's many rumors that, soon, they too, will
shut their gates. Once these people leave their homes
-- be it in Iraq or be it in Syria or Jordan, or some
of the other Arab countries -- there is very little
to offer. Men are going without work. Children are
going without school. And, by and large, most people
are going without health care -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, you have told us a little about what some
of the Arab countries are doing to help. What is the
United States doing for these people?
WARE: Paula, quite frankly, not a great deal at all.
Indeed, after the Vietnam War, President Ford spoke
about America's profound obligation to help
particularly those Vietnamese who helped America.
Well, now there's nothing but a profound shame. Since
the war began, only as many 701 Iraqis, according to
the State Department, have made it to U.S. shores.
The vast majority of that 700 are applicants from the
time of Saddam's regime. Only a handful are actually
victims of this war.
Now, the State Department has admitted: That's not
enough. That's not good enough. We have been slow to
respond, and we have not met our moral commitment.
Now a new system is in place, trying to balance
America's security concerns post-9/11 with what the
State Department acknowledges is its very real moral
commitment. We're now going to see, according to the
latest figures, as many as 15,000 come to America
this year alone.
And people like translators, Iraqis who have worked
for the U.S. government, they can never come home.
They have a death sentence. So, by the end of the
day, America can expect to have tens of thousands of
Iraqis come to U.S. shores -- Paula.
ZAHN: And that poses a whole new set of questions for
us here.
Michael Ware, thanks so much -- the pictures, of
course, telling a very powerful story
there.