WASHINGTON - The United States aims to accept about 7,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of the year, US officials said on Wednesday as the State Department sought to blunt criticism that it took in only 202 last year. The move, disclosed as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, follows sharp questions from US lawmakers about why the United States has welcomed so few Iraqi refugees.The UNHCR estimates that up to 2 million Iraqis have moved to neighboring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, before and since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, while 1.7 million Iraqis are internally displaced.
Since 2003 the United States has taken in fewer than 500 Iraqi refugees, leading congressional Democrats and Republicans to question whether it was doing enough.
| We ought to take our fair share, but the goal is to make Iraq a country where the refugees return. |
US officials later said the processing of the refugees, which include security and medical checks, should be completed by the end of December.