Free Republic

Extremists threaten teachers and students who take Saturday off. The Iraq interim government’s decision in February to extend the Friday weekend to include Saturday has led to a climate of fear in schools south of Baghdad where religious fundamentalists have threatened teachers and students with beheading if they take off a day associated with the Jewish sabbath. Cabinet ministers decided to extend the weekend to Saturday rather than Thursday to allow Iraqis to do business with the outside world four, rather than three, days a week. While most Iraqis are happy to have Saturday off, insurgents in Latifiyah and the...

<p>You come in-country on a military cargo plane, traveling from a military airfield in Kuwait. Your plane comes down steeply from the sky (to avoid Saddamist rocketeers) to the military side of the international airport in Baghdad. You're a senior adviser on education for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), recruited by the White House and the office of the secretary of defense and approved by Ambassador Paul Bremer. Your five-month mission is to help revive teaching and learning in a country on the mend from a fascist despotism. What's it like?</p>