Story Published:
Aug 19, 2008 at 9:09 AM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 19, 2008 at 2:21 PM EST
While headlines are dominated by the deadly sectarian violence engulfing Iraq, the refugee crisis – the biggest in the Middle East since the displacement of the Palestinians in 1948 – is all but ignored. WIDE ANGLE reports from the frontlines of this staggering emergency in the Middle East as Iraqis flee their war-torn country at the rate of up to 50,000 people per month. Since the war began in 2003, more than four million Iraqi civilians have fled their homes – half of them becoming exiles in neighboring countries, and the rest dislocated within Iraq’s borders.
Our story takes us to the heart of the crisis – to Syria and Jordan, which harbor the vast majority of uprooted Iraqis. Iraqi Exodus explores the displaced Iraqi community in Syria – from the middle class suburbs where Iraqis have sent housing prices soaring to the cramped Damascus slums where one out of three residents is now Iraqi-born. WIDE ANGLE’s anchor, Aaron Brown, was recently in Jordan to speak with regional leaders – including Queen Noor – about how the catastrophe is impacting the Middle East and what the future holds for Iraq’s lost generation.
Iraqi Exodus follows aid refugees as they cope with their new surroundings amid government pressure and rising resentment from the local population whose health, education, and housing resources are being stretched to the limit.
Aaron Brown - Anchor
There are very few stories in our lifetime that Aaron Brown has not covered. Beginning with the Vietnam protests and Watergate in the 1970s to the beginning of the Iraq war he has, quite literally, been there. But it is likely that he is best remembered for one story – the attack of 9/11. A newcomer to CNN, he was on the air a half-hour after the first attack, broadcasting from a rooftop in lower Manhattan. Brown’s coverage has been called courageous, calming and insightful.
Before he arrived at CNN, Brown was the anchor of ABC's World News Tonight Saturday and reported for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline and other ABC news broadcasts. He was the founding anchor of ABC's World News Now. Brown played a lead role in covering many news stories, including the British return of Hong Kong to the Chinese government, the Columbine High School shootings, the trial of O.J. Simpson, and Nelson Mandela's historic election as president of South Africa. He also reported on the restoration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the head of Haiti's government, the death of Princess Diana, the trial of Susan Smith in Union, S.C., and the California earthquake in 1994. Additionally, Brown spent a year reporting and covering the tobacco industry. As an essayist for ABC News, Brown covered subjects ranging from the impeachment of President Bill Clinton to the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Brown has garnered numerous awards including three Emmy awards, a DuPont-Columbia Award, a New York Film Festival World Medal, and an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of 9/11.
Brown is the first Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Wide Angle: Iraqi Exodus airs Tuesday, August 20 at 10 p.m. on Valley Public Television
Go to faiths@ksee.com to contact Faith Sidlow with questions, comments or story ideas.
