U.S. grapples with refugee challenge in Iraq

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BAGHDAD -- Handling the return of millions of Iraqis who fled to other countries or were driven from their homes during Saddam Hussein's rule stands as one of the most daunting long-term challenges for the U.S. administrators running Iraq.

About 200,000 Iraqis are living in neighboring Iran, whose government is now eager to send them home. But U.S. officials are balking, worried that a flood of mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iraqis would further destabilize a situation that is precarious.

"We're facing problems created by the occupying powers that prevent us from returning these refugees," Ahmad Hosseini, Iran's director general for refugee issues, recently told reporters at the Geneva offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"The occupying powers believe it's not the proper time for all Iraqis who reside abroad to go back," he said without elaborating.

More Iraqi exiles live in Iran than in any other country, except Jordan, most of them Shi'ites who are viewed with suspicion by Sunnis in Iraq as well as policy analysts in Washington because of their religious links to Iran's mainly Shi'ite population.

U.S. officials say they support an orderly return of the refugees but decline to offer any specifics on a timetable, or what conditions would have to be met to create a stable environment.

"As a practical matter, we simply do not have at the moment the capacity to perform adequate security checks on people returning in large numbers," said L. Paul Bremer, the chief of the civilian Coalition Provisional Authority, the occupying power in Iraq.

Returning refugees "must be well looked after once they get here," he added.

Looming crisis