Holbrooke Blasts Bush Over Iraq Refugees

Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at the Clinton Presidential Library, Thursday, April 12, 2007, in Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo/Mike Wintroath) (Mike Wintroath - AP)

LITTLE ROCK -- Former United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke blasted the Bush administration Thursday for bringing too few refugees of the Iraq war into the United States.

Many fled to Jordan and Syria to escape the violence in Iraq, and among those are thousands of Iraqis who worked with U.S. troops, diplomats and countries, he said in a speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

"This is crazy," he said. "Even Iraqis who were given security clearances to work with U.S. troops in combat positions in Iraq where they could have betrayed the Americans to ambushes are now waiting years and years to get approval."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates 1.7 million Iraqis have fled their homes to other parts of Iraq and up to 2 million have fled the country.

Holbrooke suggested the United States adopt a process more like the one used at the end of the Vietnam War. Then, officials processed refugees through other countries and screened them before being allowed into the United States.

The State Department has said much of the delay in granting refugees visas comes from increased security concerns since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In February, the Bush administration announced it would allow 7,000 Iraqi refugees to enter the country this year, up from the 600 allowed into the country in four years since the war began.

The administration also said it will immediately contribute $18 million for a worldwide resettlement and relief program. The U.N. has asked for $60 million from nations around the world.

The White House referred questions Thursday to the State Department.

Peter Eisenhauer, a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migrations, said the 7,000 number came from a request by the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees.

So far, he said, there's been about 2,000 referrals by the U.N., U.S. embassies and other organizations.

"The 7,000 is by no means a limit," he said. "It is just an estimate."

The process takes two to eight months from referral to landing in the United States, Eisenhauer said, with the majority of that time taken up by a security screening.

He said the program accepts the most vulnerable cases, such as Iraqis fleeing after working for U.S. forces, but wouldn't allow any of them to bypass any security screenings.