Iraqis consider return home: 'Maybe in a million years'

Since the war began four years ago this month, up to 2-million Iraqis have fled their violent, chaotic country. The diaspora has spread throughout much of the region, with Iraqis now living in Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

Ahmed and Sara Jabar were among the first to move to Jordan, soon after the Americans captured Baghdad in 2003 and the city descended into a hell of looting and thuggery.

They found a $105-a-month walkup in a run-down building, its dim halls littered with trash and broken glass. But "the most important thing is to feel secure," says the 31-year-old Ahmed. "The rest you can manage."

Until a year ago, he worked as a taxi driver ferrying other Iraqis from Baghdad to Amman. One day, Jordanian authorities refused to let his passengers enter, so they turned back toward Baghdad. Near Ramadi, the taxi came under fire.

Five passengers were killed. One passenger and Jabar survived, though he was in a coma for two months. Bullets broke his right leg and three bones in his face.

When he recovered well enough to walk, albeit with metal pins in his leg, Jabar got a job in a bakery. He makes $12 a day, barely enough for food and rent. And not nearly enough for the $250 taxi ride to the Iraqi border, 200 miles away. The Jabars have only a three-month residency permit, meaning every 90 days they are supposed to go back to Iraq and re-enter Jordan.

The latest three months were up Feb. 14. As long as they don't cause trouble, the authorities won't bother them, the couple hope.

It is rare to find an Iraqi here who hasn't lost someone to the mayhem back home, and the Jabars are no exception. In September, Ahmed Jabar's brother disappeared. He had been married three months.

In October, Sara's nephew and niece were killed in a suicide bombing. He was 14. She was 10.

Do the Jabars think they will ever return to Iraq?

"No," says Sara.

"Maybe in a million years," says Ahmed.

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