Donate Now Matthew Hay Brown, for the Pulitzer Center
Amman, Jordan
The flood of Iraqis into Jordan is crowding classrooms, straining the health care system and draining the limited water supply here. It is blamed for driving up housing costs and -- although it is illegal for most Iraqis to work here -- creating more competition for jobs.
The influx is seen generally as another burden on a developing nation in which the people are struggling, as in other places, with the rising costs of fuel, food and other necessities.
But one Jordanian I met today says the local population isn't holding it against the refugees.
"I don't think you're going to find Jordanians angry at Iraqis," Neime Ali, a local laborer, told me. "You'll find Jordanians angry about what happened in Iraq. Jordanians blame the Americans, because the Americans led the Iraqis to the situation that they are in."