Iraq update, including the fate of refugees

Air Date: January 10, 2012

People walk past destroyed buildings at the scene of a bomb attack north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday, the day after a series of bombings targeting members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority killed and injured dozens of Iraqis. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Hour 1

Last week bomb attacks targeting Shiites in Iraq killed more than 72 people. Since the American troop withdrawal last month, there’s been growing concern about the increase in sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq. This hour, we’ll get an update on the attacks and evolving political crisis from NPR foreign correspondent KELLY McEVERS. Then, millions of Iraqis have been displaced and uprooted since the start of the war and many Iraqis who assisted the U.S. military are particularly vulnerable now that the Americans have returned home. We’ll examine the humanitarian concerns and challenges facing millions of Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries and in the United States, as well as those awaiting U.S. Visas. Our guests are BOB CAREY, Vice President of Resettlement and Migration Policy for the International Rescue Committee, and ANDREW HARPER, chief of Iraq operations for United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

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[audio: 011012_100630.mp3]

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