‘Little Baghdad’ thrives in Sweden-Sodertalje has taken in more Iraqis than U.S.

[underpants]

Source: MSNBC

SODERTALJE, Sweden - In this lakeside town, once best known as the home of Swedish tennis hero, Bjorn Borg, neighborhoods nicknamed "Little Baghdad" and "Mesopotalje" now echo with arguments over Assyrian soccer.


Change has come to Sweden because of the Iraq war, driven by an open-arms refugee policy and word of mouth in Iraq. Most of the 2 million externally displaced Iraqis are living in Syria and Jordan, but Sweden tops the list of Western nations that have offered a haven.

In 2007, Iraqi citizens claimed asylum in 89 countries, with almost half those claims — 18,600 — reported in Sweden, the U.N. refugee agency reported this week. And Sodertalje, a city of 83,000 people, took in more Iraqis than the United States and Canada combined.

The welcome approach to the refugees has been a point of pride to Swedes, who were opposed to the Iraq war. But the unyielding flow is taking its toll and the country is slashing the number of asylum approvals.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25004140

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“Iraq is the worst refugee disaster in the Middle East since 1948,” Sweden’s Minister for Migration and Asylum Tobias Billstrom told msnbc.com. "We want to do as much as we can but we can't help everybody."

[Quantess]

1. Sweden is a fairly generous

"welfare state". That's a big reason why they have so many refugees / migrants to the country.
At this point, however, I believe the spigot is about to run out.
Sweden has around 9 million people. At this time, about 10% of that population is foreigners.
It's too much of a drain for their generous social network, and they've started sending people back to Syria, Iraq & other places.