Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Baltimore Sun
August 12, 2008
Premier's plane conducts first official flight
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- Several hundred Iraqi refugees flew home from Egypt yesterday on the Iraqi prime minister's plane, the first government-organized flight aimed at accelerating the return of Iraqis now that violence has waned.
Many of those returning on the free flight, however, said they had come back only because they were broke after years of living outside Iraq and still feared the dangers in their homeland.
The Iraqis arrived the same day King Abdullah II of Jordan made an unannounced visit, the first by an Arab head of state since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
King Abdullah called on Arab governments to "extend their hand to Iraq" because a strong Iraq "is a source of strength for the Arab nation," according to a statement released by the royal palace in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
An Iraqi government statement said Abdullah had "frank and positive talks" with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on relations between the two countries. Al-Maliki told the king that Iraq wanted to improve relations with all Arab countries, the statement said.
In turn, King Abdullah expressed Jordan's support for Iraqi "efforts to impose stability," the statement added.
Ties between the two neighboring countries had been strained since the fall of Hussein because of Jordanian fears that Iraq's Shiite-led government was too friendly with Shiite-dominated Iran.
But U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to Iranian influence.
The International Organization of Migration says some 13,000 Iraqis have returned from nations in the region - a tiny proportion of the estimated 2.5 million who fled Iraq's turmoil after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Nearly 3 million more Iraqis have been displaced inside the country, the Switzerland-based humanitarian group says.
With violence down sharply over the past year, Iraq's government is eager to encourage more to come home.
Most Iraqis who have returned arranged their own trips. The government previously organized a few free bus trips from Syria, and yesterday it offered the first plane ride at no charge.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad, said the government hoped to arrange up to two flights a week for returnees from countries around the Middle East.
"God willing, the flights will continue in order to fetch all families that wish to come back. ... We welcome all our citizens who want to come home," he told Iraqiyah TV.
Imad Abbas, head of Iraqi Airways operations at Cairo International Airport, said further trips would depend on the numbers ready to return. Syria and Jordan have the largest concentrations of Iraqi refugees, with smaller ones in Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt.
Yesterday's group flew back on the Iraqi Airways Airbus A300 used by al-Maliki, and he was on hand to greet the returnees at Baghdad airport in a televised ceremony. Children carrying Iraqi flags were the first to stream out of the airplane.
The United Nations has welcomed the plan, saying a voluntary return is always the best solution to a refugee problem. But it also has expressed some concern that Iraqis may be coming back for the wrong reasons.
"Some Iraqis are choosing to return because the situation has improved in their areas, but many others find themselves under many pressures in the host countries as their savings and resources have been exhausted," said Abeer Etefa, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency.
Many Iraqi refugees are unable to get work permits and eke out a living on the dwindling funds they managed to bring out of Iraq. In Egypt, where an estimated 150,000 refugees live, most complain of ill treatment by authorities and their lack of legal status.
August 12, 2008
Premier's plane conducts first official flight
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- Several hundred Iraqi refugees flew home from Egypt yesterday on the Iraqi prime minister's plane, the first government-organized flight aimed at accelerating the return of Iraqis now that violence has waned.
Many of those returning on the free flight, however, said they had come back only because they were broke after years of living outside Iraq and still feared the dangers in their homeland.
The Iraqis arrived the same day King Abdullah II of Jordan made an unannounced visit, the first by an Arab head of state since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
King Abdullah called on Arab governments to "extend their hand to Iraq" because a strong Iraq "is a source of strength for the Arab nation," according to a statement released by the royal palace in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
An Iraqi government statement said Abdullah had "frank and positive talks" with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on relations between the two countries. Al-Maliki told the king that Iraq wanted to improve relations with all Arab countries, the statement said.
In turn, King Abdullah expressed Jordan's support for Iraqi "efforts to impose stability," the statement added.
Ties between the two neighboring countries had been strained since the fall of Hussein because of Jordanian fears that Iraq's Shiite-led government was too friendly with Shiite-dominated Iran.
But U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to Iranian influence.
The International Organization of Migration says some 13,000 Iraqis have returned from nations in the region - a tiny proportion of the estimated 2.5 million who fled Iraq's turmoil after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Nearly 3 million more Iraqis have been displaced inside the country, the Switzerland-based humanitarian group says.
With violence down sharply over the past year, Iraq's government is eager to encourage more to come home.
Most Iraqis who have returned arranged their own trips. The government previously organized a few free bus trips from Syria, and yesterday it offered the first plane ride at no charge.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad, said the government hoped to arrange up to two flights a week for returnees from countries around the Middle East.
"God willing, the flights will continue in order to fetch all families that wish to come back. ... We welcome all our citizens who want to come home," he told Iraqiyah TV.
Imad Abbas, head of Iraqi Airways operations at Cairo International Airport, said further trips would depend on the numbers ready to return. Syria and Jordan have the largest concentrations of Iraqi refugees, with smaller ones in Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt.
Yesterday's group flew back on the Iraqi Airways Airbus A300 used by al-Maliki, and he was on hand to greet the returnees at Baghdad airport in a televised ceremony. Children carrying Iraqi flags were the first to stream out of the airplane.
The United Nations has welcomed the plan, saying a voluntary return is always the best solution to a refugee problem. But it also has expressed some concern that Iraqis may be coming back for the wrong reasons.
"Some Iraqis are choosing to return because the situation has improved in their areas, but many others find themselves under many pressures in the host countries as their savings and resources have been exhausted," said Abeer Etefa, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency.
Many Iraqi refugees are unable to get work permits and eke out a living on the dwindling funds they managed to bring out of Iraq. In Egypt, where an estimated 150,000 refugees live, most complain of ill treatment by authorities and their lack of legal status.