US says inflow of Iraqi refugees will speed up

AMMAN, Aug 28 (Reuters) A senior US official today said the United States would speed up the immigration of Iraqis who worked with its military in Iraq, after congressional criticism that it has taken in so few since the 2003 invasion.

US Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey said a faster resettlement policy into the United States this year could more than double the rate of migration.

''Two thousand will have made it to the country, we hope if not by the end of September, by the end of October, and a couple of thousand more in November,'' she said.

''So by the end of the calendar year, there might be a possibility we will have moved the entire original 7,000 number that was talked about,'' Sauerbrey said, referring to figures for the number of Iraqis recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for resettlement in the United States.

Sauerbrey said over 400 Iraqi refugees were expected to travel this month to the United States from Turkey, Jordan and Syria and be ''resettled in many cities across our country''.

''There is a very strong feeling it is our moral responsibility to do this but we also equally want to make sure we are doing it right and that the resettlement process is a welcoming one for Iraqis that are coming to our country,'' she said.

MORE REFUGEES TO US Sauerbrey said she expected an announcement soon that would raise significantly the numbers of refugees for US resettlement.

''So you will see that we are anticipating resettling a much larger number of Iraqis coming to the states ... you will see it is moving much more rapidly, the pieces are in place and over the coming months we will see a much faster movement,'' she said.

The US Congress has been pressuring the administration to open the door to Iraqi translators and others whose lives are threatened by militants who view them as traitors for working with the Americans.

''It has taken time and we are the first to admit that this has been a slow cumbersome process to get it moving ... I have to admit my own frustration we have not been able to move larger numbers more quickly,'' she said.

Washington was also drawing up contingency plans with international UN aid bodies led by UNHCR to cope with a bigger refugee flow in the event of greater violence following a US troop pullout, Sauerbrey said.

''We are certainly always are thinking ahead as to what the policy changes with (what the) implications would be,'' she said.

Sauerbrey also said Washington would expand aid beyond the 183 million dollars extended to UN aid bodies for schemes to help over 4 million Iraqis who have either fled Iraq or left their homes for safer places within the country.

REUTERS MS BST2333