Dreams of college destroyed in Iraq..."We've lost over 200 professors, being killed."

[ProSense]

Dreams of college destroyed in Iraq

By Damien Cave
Published: June 4, 2007

BAGHDAD: They started college just before or after the American invasion with dreams of new friends and parties, brilliant teachers and advanced degrees that would lead to stellar jobs, marriage and children. Success seemed well within their grasp.

Four years later, Iraq's college graduates are ending their studies shattered and eager to leave the country. In interviews with more than 30 students from seven universities, all but 4 said they hoped to flee Iraq immediately after receiving their degrees. Many said they did not expect the country to stabilize for at least a decade.

"I used to dream about getting a Ph.D., participating in international conferences, belonging to a team that discovered cures for diseases like AIDS, leaving my fingerprint on medicine," said Hasan Tariq Khaldoon, 24, a pharmacy student in Mosul, north of Baghdad. "Now, all these dreams have evaporated."

"Staying here," said Karar Alaa, 25, a medical student at Babel University, south of Baghdad, "is like committing suicide."

<...>

Instead, after an initial period of hope after Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, the students said they watched in awe as Iraq's underlying sectarian and ethnic conflicts emerged and flourished. At the country's 21 universities, the decline started with chaos. Looters stole ancient artifacts and destroyed buildings at Basra University, for instance, only days after British troops reached the area in 2003.

Violence followed. In June 2004, a geography professor at the University of Baghdad was murdered after leaving the campus. He would not be the last.

"We've lost over 200 professors, being killed," said Abid Dhiyab al-Ujayli, the minister of higher education. "A number of others have been kidnapped."

<...>

The mood was even darker last week at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. In January, two car bombs and a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people at the school. A month later, a woman laced with explosives blew herself up at the university entrance, killing 40 more.

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[globalvillage]

1. 55% of returning troops have mental health issues.

I wonder what the rate is for civilians.

Bush and the neocons have sacrificed our own kids to destroy the future of other people's kids.

What have we done?

[ProSense]

3. Excellent graphic! Thanks! n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

6. I remember that poster from the Viet Nam War days

I think it was advertised in the boy's magazine I was subscribing to, among other publications.

[FloridaJudy]

2. A "decade"?

I fear those college grads are being optimistic. I don't see Iraq stabilizing anywhere near that soon. And those 200 professors killed are probably just the ones who tried to stick it out: I expect the vast majority have fled by now.

It's probably going to take many decades to sort this mess out, if it even can be sorted out. Thanks, George.

[jarnocan]

4. so heart breaking k&R for ACCOUNTABILITY ! nt

[ProSense]

5. Kick! n/t

[ellisonz]

7. Elitocide. n/t