Saddam and Bush are taboo subjects in Iraq schools

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5184PK20090209

Mon Feb 9, 2009 10:43am EST

By Mohammed Abbas

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For Baghdad schools, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and the sectarian slaughter unleashed after U.S. troops invaded six years ago are non-issues, banned from books and their discussion taboo.

After years of dodging bullets and bombs to get to school, Iraqi teachers face new challenges as the violence ebbs, such as students traumatized by war, and finding a way to explain Iraq's tragic past without reopening old wounds and risking its future.

"The Baath Party, the fact that it ruled and failed and Iraq suffered is mentioned, but that's it," said Mutamayezaat Secondary school headmistress Anjel Matti, referring to what is taught about former Iraqi leader Saddam's political party.

Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, brutally repressed Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Kurds. The now Shi'ite-led government has not yet devised a new curriculum dealing with Iraq's recent history. Until then, the topic is closed.

[Solly Mack]

1. I got nothing

[Submariner]

2. I wonder if Baghdad has dedicated Bush Square or Bush Boulevard yet

[thereismore]

3. Those two in the same breath... till the end of time. How fitting. nt