Iraq's intellectuals as targets

Iraq's descent into chaos is leading its best and brightest to leave, as academics become targets of kidnappers and murderers.

"Since the war ended 18 months ago, at least 28 university teachers and administrators have been killed, while 13 professors were kidnapped and released on payments of ransom, according to the Association of University Lecturers. Many others have received death threats.

The result: an exodus of academics and other intellectuals, who are urgently needed by a shattered society, from their schools and often the country, joining an earlier generation of exiles who fled the regime of Saddam Hussein."

I have two reactions to this. First is frustration with the US for not providing stabilty and security for a population living under its administration. Second is a sense of belwiderment at the Left for seeing these mafia types and theocrats as carrying the torch of Iraqi liberation.

Comments

[J. M. Tyree]

I've been following this tragic story for awhile and it's strange how long it's taken for the coverage to make any impact. Here is a CS Monitor story from February:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0223/p09s01-cogn.htm

The latest reports are terrible, of course, but it's even worse to realize how long it's been going on.

In my opinion, for what it's worth, foreign military occupation plays to the hand of these terrorist groups. I'm not sure that it's all that difficult for thinking leftists to be critical of both.