The humanitarian activist and actress Angelina Jolie said Thursday that the reinforcement of American troops in Iraq has created an opportunity for humanitarian programmes to strengthen assistance to Iraqi refugees.In an op-ed piece published by the Washington Post, entitled "A reason to stay in Iraq," Angelina Jolie details the plight of refugees and said their conditions have not improved since she visited the country last August , to urge governments to provide more support.
Angelina Jolie, who has been a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations since 2001, was in Baghdad earlier this month again highlighted the problem of refugees. She talked with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the American army in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the United States Embassy.
Petraeus' told me that he would support further efforts to resolve the humanitarian crisis "as far as possible", which gives me hope that further progress can be made, "wrote the actress.
Angelina Jolie said she stressed to the Iraqi leaders must be a coherent plan to help some 2 million Iraqis who are taking advantage of the decline in violence to begin arriving from abandoned houses havens elsewhere in the country . A similar number fled Iraq to escape the bloodshed.
"It will be a long time before Iraq is ready to absorb more than 4 million refugees and internally displaced persons," wrote Angelina Jolie. "But it's not too early to start working on solutions."
The actress, who works on behalf of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees, urged America's presidential candidates and congressional leaders to increase aid funding to displaced Iraqis. UNHCR has requested 261 million dollars this year - "unless the United States spends every day to fight the war in Iraq," she wrote.
Addressing the question of whether the "wave of troops" worked, Angelina Jolie said: "I can not but what I witnessed in the state."
"When I asked the men if they wanted to return home as soon as possible, they said they would feel at home but miss invested in Iraq," she wrote. "They have lost many friends and who want be part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible. "
