BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sami al-Muthafar, a former chemistry professor at Baghdad University, survived a car bomb attack in early February, walking away unscathed although several of his guards were wounded. He knows many other scientists and academics who were not so fortunate. "It is a big loss when we lose a professor or a scientist because they are the elite of society," said Muthafar, now minister of higher education. "It is too hard to replace those we lose." Some 182 Iraqi university professors and academics have been killed in violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Another 85 senior academics...
