What a fantastic article! It was amusing that our lovely new Prime Minister, dedicated to ending social injustice and human rights violations at every turn (not a word to say about the most recent beheading in Saudi Arabia, though), wrote an article for The Independent a few days ago about British "responsibilies." In it, he detailed his concern, which I've no doubt is genuine and sincere, for the millions of suffering Zimbabweans. Mr. Brown states that he is "determined that Britain continues to do everything it can to help the Zimbabwean people," and that "we will not shirk our responsiblities." As your article details, another group of people suffering by the million passes safely under the radar.

At the end of July, Syria's Minister of Health said that while Syria--not a rich country, and yet the only one that allows entry to Iraq's refugees without visas or residency permits--had been able to face the challenge of Iraqi refugees alone for the past three years, "the suffering has surfaced now and Syria is no longer capable of enduring this burden." How did we in the UK let it get to this? Way back on 25 March this year, in a letter to the Times, Human Rights Watch pointed out that "Britain has done almost nothing to help or relieve the burden on Iraq's neighbours; in the past four years it has had no programme of resettlement nor has it earmarked significant humanitarian aid for Iraqi refugees."

No support was forthcoming.

On 28 June, the UNOCHA's IRIN warned of a "looming crisis [in Syria] as [the] Iraqi refugee influx continues." It reported a study by Syria's National Organization for Human Rights that had "estimated that the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Damascus had risen from $160 in 2005 to $400 today. In a country where an average state wage in the bloated public sector economy remains little more than $120, many Syrians are forced to do two jobs, and still struggle to pay rent." Additionally, since the Iraqi influx began in early 2005, the demand for bread in Damascus--home to the majority of the refugees--"has increased by 35 percent, electricity by 27 percent, water by 20 percent and kerosene by 17 percent." The IRIN report goes on to mention that Syria's social services "are under intense strain." Syrian economist Nabil Sukkar is quoted pointing out that Iraqi refugees "are increasing the claims on all of the subsidised services, particularly our education and health systems which Iraqis have free access to." There are "an estimated 75,000 Iraqi children registered in Syrian schools, with many class sizes doubled to 60 students and schools working double shifts to cope."

No support was forthcoming.

On 6 July, a Reuters report contained the words of the UNHCR's spokesperson: "It is unconscionable that generous host countries be left on their own to deal with such a huge crisis." The report also warned that "the UNCHR needs hundreds of millions of dollars to help the host countries cope or risk seeing them grow reluctant to accept new refugees."

No support was forthcoming.

On the 30 July, IRIN reported that "Syria's minister of health said providing free medical care to the over 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria is costing the country around US$60 million a year, a burden he criticised the international community for failing to take responsibility for." The minister was speaking at the end of the conference on Iraqi refugees--but, of course, the conference did nothing to meet refugee or Syrian needs.

So, again, no support was forthcoming.

On 13 August, in its most recent report, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee wrote that it was "concerned that the Government does not appear to have provided any financial support to the UNHCR to assist the plight of [Iraqi] refugees between 2004 and 2006." It went on to "recommend that the Government provide financial assistance to Syria and Jordan to help them cope with Iraqi refugees."

Still no support was forthcoming.

On 4 September, the the Financial Times revealed that, as predicted back in July, Syria would be tightening entry rules for would-be Iraqi refugees. The FT article pointed out that "a recent Syrian government report estimated the economic burden from the refugees at £495m per year." It went on to quote the despair of a senior Syrian government official: "No one in the international community is helping us and the Syrian government can no longer shoulder the responsibility alone."

Also on 4 September, another report (this time in the the Daily Telegraph) pointed out yet again that "Syria's infrastructure and government-run facilities are strained to breaking point by an Iraqi influx equivalent to almost 10 per cent of its population."

And still nothing!

To bring us right up to date, on 20 September an Associated Press report revealed that in response to the tightened visa restrictions, "more then 20,000 Iraqis were pouring across the [Syrian] border every day, compared to 2,000 a day normally." In response to the massive deluge, the Syrians announced that the postponement of the new restrictions until the end of Ramadan. The massive deluge then returned to its previous state of deluge.

The AP report carried part of an interview with Samira Ali Hassan who had crossed the Iraq-Syria border clutching a picture of her son who had been murdered by militants on 17 September. "I came to Syria to save my other son after he was threatened," she said.

DFID's line to me in their latest e-mail response is that "the Iraqi Government has the primary responsibility for providing funding from its own resources to meet the needs of its people." Sickening.

Mr. Brown said in this article that the UK can find an average £40m a year to give to Zimbabweans, with an additional £8m this year. Yet according to our own government Select Committees, we seemingly cannot find anything to give to the more than 2 million Iraqi refugees whose flight was precipitated by our illegal invasion.

When will the Prime Minister and the rest of our politicians show the same concern for Iraqis, people whose lives we have trashed and terminated with our illegal invasion, and their "generous host countries" as they do for suffering Zimbabweans? When will British citizens?

Simon Barker

London, England

I have read your article regarding the number of refugees flooding out of their homes. While most of the refugees that are getting attention are the people going to Syria and Jordan, we ignore how many families have to leave their cities as the war snakes thru the country impacting Iraqis that are refugees inside of Iraq.

Another big concern for me personally, as an American citizen, is how my country has the plan to split my Iraqi husband from me in order to send him back. Twenty years is the current ban on his return to our safe home here in Michigan. But as a wife, I will not let my country dictate my marriage. How can we deny political asylum and refugee status to Iraqis in the United States at the same time as we plan to assimilate refugees staying in Syria and Jordan? The plan looks like a show for the world to see how generous the United States is being about this situation. The truth is that these people are getting less than the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans...

We conveniently forget that for 30 years Iraqis have been sneaking out of their homeland away from Saddam's regime and reign of terror and making it to the United States, and suddenly our broken immigration laws are trying to send these same people back. How can you send an American womans husband into a war-torn country with nothing to claim in that country? But bring others over here?

We will never do the right thing by these people and for now we should consider ourselves lucky that they are still in "awe" of the USA.

Karen Sitto

Shelby Township, Michigan