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Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

Iraqi academics targeted in murder spree
(Robert Fisk, The Independent, 14 July 2004)
The Mongols stained the Tigris black with the ink of the Iraqi books they destroyed. Today's Mongols prefer to destroy the Iraqi teachers of books. . . . Since the Anglo-American invasion, they have murdered at least 13 academics at the University of Baghdad alone and countless others across Iraq. History professors, deans of college and Arabic tutors have all fallen victim to the war on learning. Only six weeks ago - virtually unreported, of course - the female dean of the college of law in Mosul was beheaded in her bed, along with her husband. . . . Just who the modern-day Mongols are remains a painful mystery of our story. Disgruntled students they are not. Baathist-hunters some of them might be - all heads of academic departments were forced to join Saddam's party - but none of the murdered Baghdad university staff were believed to be anything more than card-carriers. . . . Even the former president of the university, Dr Mohamed Arawi - a surgeon shot at his clinic a year ago - was regarded as a liberal, humane man. But professors now watch the doors of their lecture theatres as carefully as they do their students. And who can blame them? After all, Dr Sabri al-Bayatiy of the department of geography was shot dead only a month ago, just outside the arts department, in front of many of his students. . . . Talk to the academics at Baghdad University, and the names roll out. Dr Nafa Aboud of the department of Arabic was murdered just two months ago. Dr Hissam Sharif of the department of history was sitting at the door of his Baghdad home when the killers came, shooting him and two friends. . . . Dr Falah al-Dulaimi, assistant dean of college at Mustansariya University in Baghdad, was shot in his college office last year. . . . "What can we do?" Saad Hassani of Baghdad University's English department asked me. "Just a month ago, my son Ali - a student in our biology department - was kidnapped. . . . Other university staff suspect that there is a campaign to strip Iraq of its academics, to complete the destruction of Iraq's cultural identity which began with the destruction of the Baghdad Koranic library, the national archives and the looting of the archaeological museum when the American army entered Baghdad. . . . "Maybe the Israelis are trying to make sure that we can never have an intellectual infrastructure here." . . . "Yes, you suggest it could be the 'resistance'. But what is the 'resistance'? We don't know who it is. Is it nationalist? Why should they want to get rid of us? Is it religious? The arts department has become a pulpit for Islamism. But these people are part of the university." . . . In the early weeks of his occupation proconsulship, Paul Bremer fired all senior academics who were members of the Baath party. "They went home and tried to leave the country," another Baghdad arts professor complained. "But those who stayed are now mostly too frightened to return because they have been named - and they fear for their lives." . . . Yesterday morning, I visited one arts department at the university to find it entirely empty of staff. Each teacher's room was closed with a large padlock.

posted by Lorenzo 12:18 PM