than 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes , around 2 million to neighboring states , mostly Syria and Jordan , and another 2.2 million displaced inside Iraq . The flight was aggravated by the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra , an attack that stoked pitched sectarian warfare . Many of the internally displaced live precarious lives amid conditions of squalor , crowded into camps and slums that often lack basic necessities , such as proper food , health care and shelter . `` How Iraq settles in the years to come is going to affect the entire Middle East , '' said Jolie . `` It 's in our best interest to address a humanitarian crisis on this scale because displacement can lead to a lot of instability and aggression . '' Read transcript of interview Jolie has been working to help draw attention to the problem and has called for governments to bolster their support of the U.N.H.C.R. . In August , Jolie first visited Iraq and Syria to get a sense of the problem . She heard stories from refugees about their plight . Watch as Jolie lunches with troops '' This visit
BAGHDAD , Iraq -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie is visiting Iraq to boost what she sees as lagging efforts to deal with the problems of 2 million `` very very vulnerable '' internally displaced people in the wartorn country . Angelina Jolie has been working to focus attention on problem of refugees in Iraq . `` There does n't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them , '' said Jolie , speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN 's Arwa Damon Thursday . `` There 's lots of goodwill . Lots of discussion , but there seems to be a lot of talk at the moment , and a lot of pieces that need to be put together . I 'm trying to figure out what they are . '' A goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees , Jolie wants to find ways to help the agency be more active inside war-torn Iraq . Watch CNN 's exclusive interview with Jolie '' Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in the country has sparked a displacement crisis that is considered the most significant in the Middle East since the 1948 creation of Israel . More