January 15, 2010 | More than 40 years after she first moved to the city, Patti Smith is enough of a New York icon that despite her less-than-ostentatious manner — she arrived alone at NPR's New York studios wearing a knit cap and scuffed snow boots — some people who see her on the street stop her to say hello.
September 10, 2009 | One of the enduring legacies of the war in Iraq is the large number of Iraqis still displaced by the violence unleashed after the U.S. invasion. The majority of refugees outside the country have not returned, and most of the displaced inside the country are struggling to survive in tent communities and shantytowns.
June 22, 2009 | The Iraqi refugee crisis has been out of the headlines for awhile. But few of the more than two million people who fled the country have gone back. Aid agencies are looking for new ways to find money to support the refugees who are mostly living in Jordan and Syria.
May 25, 2009 | No one knows better than Juan Estrada about the value of having a reliable guide in a foreign land. Estrada, a National Guard sergeant from California, served in Iraq and depended on an Iraqi translator named Ali Jabber Yasary, who risked his life alongside the U.S. troops. Now, the roles have reversed.
December 20, 2007 | With visa restrictions lifted for Homeland Security in Damascus, Syria, a huge backlog of refugee cases is moving — slowly. The U.S. government has pledged to resettle 12,000 Iraqis this fiscal year but has fallen short of those numbers so far. Some cases were finally cleared in Damascus, and the first batch of refugees is departing.
November 27, 2007 | Congress is opening the door to America a little wider for Iraqis who served as translators for the U.S. military. Thousands of Iraqis risked their lives in those jobs. Congress boosted the number of visas authorized from 50 to 500 a year, and there are bills to expand that number up to 5,000.
September 09, 2007 | Lebanon could be the next place Iraqis turn for refuge. They officially number 50,000 in the country, but a new report from Human Rights Watch puts the number at twice that figure. In response, Lebanon's security services have begun a crackdown.
July 06, 2007 | As the deaths of Iraqi journalists have mounted along with the civil war between Shia and Sunni, hundreds have fled into exile. Iraqi journalists in Jordan have formed their own television station, called "Exile TV," and are trying to get their message home.
June 12, 2007 | An exodus of Iraqis to Syria and Jordan puts a heavy burden on the countries and aid agencies charged with helping them. Iraq's neighbors are waiting for the Iraqi government to honor pledges to help.
June 13, 2005 | Iraqi doctors and other medical personnel have become the targets of an organized campaign of killings and kidnappings. The government has launched a television campaign, appealing to citizens to help protect doctors.
