'Bottlenecks' keeping out Iraq refugees

BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Bureaucratic obstacles may force Iraqi refugees to wait as long as two years for resettlement in the United States, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq warns.

A State Department memo by Ambassador Ryan Crocker indicates the estimated 10,000 Iraqis the United Nations has referred to the United States are being held up by administrative problems, The Washington Post reported.

In Jordan, where many of the refugees are clustered, for example, there are only a few U.S. officers available to vet them, the memo says.

The delays are particularly problematic for many of the Iraqis who are targets of insurgents and militias, because they worked with Americans, the newspaper said. The 2.2 million Iraqis who have fled to neighboring countries also threaten to destabilize the region, and some of Iraq’s neighbors have already indicated they plan to close their borders.

In response to the problem, Congress has allocated $122 million in refugee aid to Iraq’s neighbors. The annual quota on visas for Iraqis working as interpreters and translators for the U.S. Embassy and military has also been increased from 50 to 500.

But the government continues to fall short of its targets for processing refugees, the newspaper said.