Empty Baghdad

As 'Iraqis stream into Syria ahead of visa clampdown,' internal migration data obtained by the New York Times from the Iraqi Red Crescent, "indicate that in Baghdad alone there are now nearly 170,000 families, accounting for almost a million people, that have fled their homes."

  Cursor

There has been talk since the "Petraeus" report that there have been fewer incidents of violence in Baghdad since "the surge" began. I guess if you clear the place of people, you'll eventually have no incidents.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Iraqi Refugee

Yesterday I heard the tail end of a story on NPR about Iraqi refugees in Syria. Not insurgents. Iraqi civilians trying to get out of harm's way.

Since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, a young Iraqi woman has been blogging her experience at Baghdad Burning. As the years have gone by, and the situation has grown more and more desparate in Baghdad, her family has been agonizing over whether to stay or get out. They have finally made the momentous and painful decision, leaving their house in the care of a relative and taking a few possessions with them to Syria.

Read the post she created about the leaving. One thing she talks about is the choice of escaping to Jordan or Syria. She says that Jordan treats the refugees badly, but what I'm thinking about her family and other Iraqi refugees is that the choice of Syria might just be keeping a few steps ahead of the carnage. How soon before they have to find another place to go (or wish they'd gone to Jordan.) After all, the neocons always considered Iraq simply the first step on the road to Syria.