Give them shelter

ONE OF THE WORLD’S worst refugee problems is one you’ve heard little about. Every month, while Americans debate their options in Iraq and whether the troop surge might reduce sectarian violence by the fall, another 30,000 to 50,000 terrorized Iraqis flee their homes.

Of a population of about 27 million, at least 1.9 million are now internally displaced; another 2 million have sought refuge abroad, mostly in Jordan and Syria but also in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Yet this Darfurian-sized refugee crisis, this largest population displacement in the Middle East since 1948, has largely been ignored by a U.S. government whose war created the exodus in the first place.

Even Sweden is doing a more responsible job of absorbing asylum cases than the United States. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt promised last week to resettle 25,000 Iraqi refugees, more than three times as many as the Bush administration plans to accept this year.

And even though Washington promised to take 7,000 asylum cases in 2007, it admitted only 69 from Oct. 1, 2006, to April 30, according to State Department statistics. In March, the U.S. gave refuge to a whopping total of eight Iraqis. In April, we welcomed to our shores just one.

Thousands of Iraqis who have risked their lives to serve the U.S. effort in Iraq are now marked men and women and have been fleeing by the score. The State Department has been given an informal list of 350 Iraqis known to have worked for the U.S. Embassy, the military or for U.S. contractors involved in reconstruction or security. Yet the U.S., shamefully, has no plan to help them. Instead, a State Department official recently suggested that the endangered Iraqis should leave their country -- which would conveniently shift the burden for helping them from the United States to the United Nations. This abdication of responsibility amounts to turning our back on loyal friends in dire need. It also creates the impression that the White House would rather risk lives than admit that its policies and the failures of the Iraqi government have caused Iraqis to be driven from their homes.

What is to be done?

* Announce that protecting displaced Iraqis, at home and abroad, is an urgent humanitarian priority. Refugees must not be made pawns in the unending blame game about U.S. mistakes in Iraq, held hostage to the success or failure of the surge or left in limbo in hopes that they may someday be able to return to their homes.

* Recognize that the U.S. will be judged by how it treats these casualties of war -- our war, after all -- and adjust policy accordingly. Iraqi insurgents brandish pictures of South Vietnamese clinging to the skids of U.S. helicopters leaving Saigon in 1975 and warn today’s “collaborators” that they will be similarly abandoned. The rest of the Middle East will be watching to see whether the traditional American welcome mat to friendly refugees from U.S. wars will still be extended when the victims are Muslims.

* Quickly pass legislation to bring in more refugees. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has introduced a thoughtful bill that would allow resettlement of up to 15,000 endangered Iraqis for each of the next four years. It also would set up processing centers inside Iraq so that the most vulnerable would not have to cross a border first, provide funding for refugee processing and work with Iraq’s neighbors to address the problem.

* Negotiate in earnest with Iraq’s neighbors, including Syria, and not merely over refugees. Jordan and Syria are already experiencing rising housing and food prices, unemployment, lack of space in schools and other stresses as a result of the massive influx of Iraqis. They need international help. Diplomatic recognition of Iraq and support from its neighbors is essential to stabilizing the country and policing its borders.

The consequences of allowing this refugee crisis to fester ought to galvanize the U.S. public and policymakers. Our moral standing is at stake; so is our strategic position. Refugee camps could easily become centers of despair, havens for terrorist recruiting and symbols of American failure. Such a terrible outcome still can -- and must -- be averted.