The Iraq refugee crisis deepens.  Elaine McKewon at BayouBuzz fills in some details:

The
UN estimates that 3,000 people are leaving Iraq
every day, including a substantial number of the country’s professional
and skilled classes. Most insist they do not want to return to Iraq.
Among these refugees are 120,000 Christians, most of whom say they want
to resettle in the US.

The sheer scale of the refugee crisis has called into question the
US policy which accommodates only 500 refugees from Iraq next year. As
a historical comparison, the US
took in 823,000 refugees as ‘boat people’ in the wake of the Vietnam
War. Currently, even the Iraqi refugees who have officially requested
resettlement in the US
have been caught in a tug-of-war between the US State Department and
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who has not yet determined their
status.

As the Battle of Baghdad
gains momentum against the backdrop of civil war in Iraq, so will the
refugee crisis continue to escalate. In the coming months, this will no
doubt raise additional issues concerning US responsibilities associated
with the war in Iraq.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush reassures People magazine: "I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume."  Sleep, like stuff, happens.