196 professors killed, more than 100 kidnapped since U.S. invasion

[sabra]

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2007-03-15/kurd1.htm

196 professors killed, more than 100 kidnapped since U.S. invasion

Since the 2003 U.S. invasion 196 university professors have been killed and more than 100 abducted, said Minister of Higher Education Abduldhiyab al-Aujaili.

He said the ministry has almost lost hope for the return of those who had been abducted and the violence targeting Iraqi universities has terrorized faculty members.

“Houses of hundreds of professors have been stormed and hundreds of them have been arrested though later most of them were released,” he said.

The rising violence has forced ‘thousands’ of Iraqi professors to flee the country, he said.

[angstlessk]

1. They might not have teachers, but all the schools have fresh paint

that's gotta be worth something?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Is this disproportionate...

to the 600,000+ Iraqis that have been killed?

[Igel]

5. Yes.

Because the number of professors dead probably doesn't include those hideously murdered with intent and forethought by more or less natural causes, exacerbated by the conditions around them.

The authors of the report you allude to take pains to distinguish between those killed and those that died who (statistically speaking) wouldn't have done so otherwise. The report had something like 55,000 killed, IIRC. That makes the number of faculty killed disproportionate.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Nope.

The 600,000 number is people killed by the war. That is, they would not have died if not for the war.

So with a nation of about 30 million (is that about right?) then 1 in 50 or so Iraqs (rounding) have died due to the war. (and this is several months ago).

So if it's proportionate, and 196 professors have died, then you'd need about 10,000 professors in all of Iraq at the outset of the war. I've no idea how many their actually were.

[sabra]

7. one thing to note is reports have indicated that 40% of the professionals

have fled the country...

[TheBaldyMan]

15. academics are targeted within Iraq, along with reporters and other professionals

nearly everybody that earns a wage has to be wary of kidnapping. If you are trade unionist or a secular academic you can be targetted for political reasons. Everybody is targeted for sectarian or ethnic grounds.

The outcome is the same, a lot of them flee, sometimes they end up dead.

Nobody in Iraq today can associate freely and freedom of speech is only exercised in a guarded fashion. Death squads, secret police and 'rape rooms' are back.

[tanyev]

3. Calling Laura, calling Jenna.

Iraq needs teachers.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. "Let Freedom Reign!"

[AngryAmish]

8. Why does Bushitler want to kidnap professors?

Revenge?

[stillcool]

9. dead men don't talk?...n/t

[cassiepriam]

11. They hate smart people. Repugs like people poor and stupid.

Easier to control.

[anotherdrew]

12. bingo - that's exactly it. n/t

[cascadiance]

10. Damn, it's sounding like the tragedy in Cambodia...

... documented in "The Killing Fields".

[Psephos]

14. That came to mind immediately for me, too. n/t

[Vidar]

13. Killing profs in Iraq accomplishes the same thing as the charter

school movement here: it destoys education for the majority.

[ellisonz]

16. Is it elitocide yet?

:cry: