Mar 9, 2010 (Morning Edition) — Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, about 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes. Another 2 million have fled the country entirely. Throughout the war, NPR's Deborah Amos has spent much of her time with Iraqis who fled to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. She has a new book out: Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile and Upheaval in the Middle East.
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An Iraqi Sunni woman sits in her tent in a refugee camp in 2006. (AFP via Getty Images)
Sunnis Who Fled Iraq Remain In Exile
by Deborah Amos
Mar 9, 2010 (Morning Edition) — Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, about 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes. Another 2 million have fled the country entirely. Throughout the war, NPR's Deborah Amos has spent much of her time with Iraqis who fled to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. She has a new book out: Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile and Upheaval in the Middle East.American troops are starting to come home from Iraq, but many Iraqis have yet to return to their homes. In the violence since the U.S. invasion, about 4 millions Iraqis had to leave their homes. Another 2 million left the country entirely, and many are still outside its borders.
Throughout the war, NPR's Deborah Amos has spent much of her time with Iraqis who fled to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Many of them are Sunni Muslims, a minority sect in Iraq.
"One of the reasons I wanted to call this book Eclipse of the Sunnis is because I thought that part of the story has been under-reported and misunderstood," Amos says. "They are a testament to how far Iraq still needs to go."
She says that majority rule, as it stands in Iraq, is not democracy. In the U.S., there is a rule of law; there are religious protections and protections for minorities.
"That is still missing," says Amos. "And as long as that is still missing, Iraqis will not come back."
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