IRAQ:A million Iraqis of all classes and sects have fled over the border, observing events in their homeland from afar, writes Michael Jansen in Amman
Jordan is being inundated by a new wave of Iraqis fleeing violence and uncertainty. Last week 5,000 crossed the border daily, more than double the number entering the kingdom before the surge in sectarian cleansing that followed the bombing of the Shia mosque at Samarra on February 22nd.
At the land frontier, passage can take 12-24 hours, although King Abdullah has promised a new terminal and simplified procedures. Many are turned away and must make the perilous 500km (311 mile) journey back to Baghdad.
Jordanians are wary of the influx, fearing infiltration by militants who might mount suicide bombings like last November's bloody attacks on three hotels in Amman. Security at major hotels is tight and armed police patrol the streets.
A million Iraqis are living in Jordan, which has six million citizens. Two-thirds of those Iraqis became exiles since 2003 and three-quarters live in Amman. Wealthy Iraqis inhabit vast white and pink stone villas on the hills of Abdoun, the capital's poshest residential district.
Desperately poor Iraqis share dingy digs in the city centre and scramble a living in low-paid jobs. Iraqis with influential local connections obtain residence permits, others are given 90 days' leave, return to the border and reapply for another three-month visa. Many illegals overstay, risking fines and deportation.
Some go to Egypt where there are fewer refugees and life is cheaper.
Middle class Iraqis cluster in Iraqi neighbourhoods. Doctors and dentists open surgeries and treat patients who journey from Iraq. Businessmen open offices; bakers make flat loaves of Iraqi bread stuffed with meat or herbs for homesick exiles; works of Iraqi painters grace walls of galleries; certain cafes are taken over by Iraqis. They are blamed for rising prices and water shortages.
Amal, a matron from a grand family, observed: "Everyone in Iraq is afraid of kidnappers. Rich people aren't the only ones who suffer. Gangs take the children of poor people and demand $100 or $200. Many families leave after a member has been ransomed or killed."
A strong opponent of the ousted regime, she said: "Under Saddam, people could manage if they did not criticise or plot. People who did disappeared. No one said anything. Then everything was camouflaged; now the killing is in the open. They don't care who knows."
In Amman there are no distinctions between Sunni, Shia, or Kurd. "We live together as we always have," said Amal, whose extended family is mixed.
"No one used to know a person's sect. There was a lot of intermarriage and not just in the upper class. In all classes. Tribes are both Shia and Sunni.
"This is why it is wrong for posts in the government to be allocated according to sect or ethnic background."
Yusif, a businessman, was furious over last weekend's cabinet appointments. "I'm insulted. Those people are unknowns. I'm better known than they are."
He liquidated his busy Baghdad internet cafe because it made a loss due to the cost of electricity.
"I couldn't rely on power from the grid so I subscribed to a generator which cost $3 (€2.40) per ampere, the most expensive electricity in the world. I needed to operate 18 hours a day to break even but had to close after 10 because of the curfew."
"Without electricity there can be no industry. Small firms need government subsidies but the politicians put all the money in their pockets.
"Corruption is worse than under Saddam. It will take 12-15 years and three or four governments before we can begin to get on our feet again."