Sunday, January 28, 2007

Perspective: The hunted -- Iraq’s forgotten refugees


THE tragedy of Iraq is written on the anguished faces of Abu Khaled’s six children. Pallid, tear-stained and haunted by fear, they shelter on the floor of a cold and draughty Baghdad classroom with their father after fleeing at gunpoint from their home. Food is scarce — they rely on charity — and the prospects of finding work and permanent accommodation are grim.

Nearly four years after the American and British invasion, the rising toll from bombs and death squads has forced the Khaled family — and hundreds of thousands of other ordinary Iraqis who used to lead peaceful and blameless lives — to be refugees in their own country.

Read the rest at the Times of London