Al-Mu'tamar
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Iraqi universities, which were among the best in the Arab world during the 1970s, are on the verge of a disaster now. Approximately 80 professors have either been killed or assassinated and approximately 1,000 more, in addition to 220 doctors, have emigrated since the downfall of the former regime in 2003.
Dr Tahir al-Bakka, former minister of higher education and scientific research, announced that many college deans are worried and have expressed fear and indicated that they might abandon their posts, causing a disaster.
Iraqi University Professors Association published a list of 75 university professors, who were either killed or kidnapped last year.
The armed groups responsible for killing and kidnapping university professors took a daring step when they kidnapped Al-Anbar University Dean Dr Abd-al-Hadi al-Hiti, and demanded a ransom of $60,000 for his release. Al-Hiti was the first university professor to be kidnapped from a university campus, while all previous assaults on professors took place either on the street or at the victim's house.
An official source at the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry said that it is illogical to continue conducting classes in such an atmosphere, especially when 13,250 university professors work in the Iraqi universities.
Al-Nahrayn University dean, who paid a ransom of $50,000 to release his 22 year old son, expressed concern at having exhausted all his savings to pay the ransom. The kidnappers went even further and gave his son a letter demanding him to leave the country. The dean is currently moving around with heavy protection. This is a testimony of the intention of these groups to destroy Iraqi universities.
Several professors wonder who is responsible for the threats. Some of them say that it is very difficult to speculate or reach a logical conclusion in this regard. One cannot presume that these armed groups are trying to liquidate a particular political, ideological or religious trend or sect because matters on the ground are different. The victims are not from any particular trend, sect, religion, or political group. The only link between them is their high scientific qualification. Therefore it is clear that the entire operation is targeting Iraqi masterminds and is a plan to empty Iraq of its intellectual property.
Professors indicate that a large number of professors have been leaving Iraq despite their high salaries. This reminds one of the large-scale emigration of university professors under the former regime, due to low salaries. They emphasize that Iraq and Iraqis will loose a great deal of Iraq's enlightened skills and intellectual property, Iraqi universities will face a shortage of qualified professors, and several courses and departments will be closed as a result, if Iraqis do not help stop this bleeding.
In a related issue, an official source at the Health Ministry indicated that more than 30 doctors were killed recently, while over 220 doctors were forced to leave the country. Several more doctors were kidnapped. The source affirmed that the ministry has demanded protection for doctors, in order for them to be able to perform their humanitarian duty.
An official source at the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry confirmed that over 2,000 professors and doctors have emigrated, forcing the ministry to close more than 152 postgraduate branches. The source added that most of those who have emigrated, have settled down in Jordan and Syria. He added that the Syrian Government inaugurated a special hospital recently, to employ Iraqi doctors. In addition, Syria is receiving a large number of highly qualified university professors. The source expressed concern and wondered who is behind this conspiracy to empty Iraq of its scientific and medical wealth.
(Description of Source: Baghdad Al-Mu'tamar in Arabic -- Issued by the Iraqi National Congress, led by Ahmad Chalabi)
lauramansfield.com
Or was it "Dog disease"?
Thank you for posting this report and my thanks to Laura for writing it for us.
Remember what Dr. Gaia said? " that the dead scientists would not be dead if they knew the correct people to work for."
Are they also dead for not working for the "right" people?
Several of them have come out and talked about the WMD that Saddam was working on, now that we know they were forced out, how does that affect their statements?
I will be very interested in others info on why they are missing.