Iraqi professor gunned down (yet another assassination)

Iraqi professor gunned down
From correspondents in Baghdad
June 13, 2004

AN Iraqi geography professor, Sabri al-Bayati, was shot dead today moments after leaving a Baghdad university campus, said a witness and a medical official.

"It was 12.15pm (6.15pm AEST). I heard three shots and I saw a man collapse on the street," said Sabah Shukur, whose shop stands directly across from Baghdad University's College of Literature in the western district of Bab al-Muawdam.

The killing followed the assassinations in Baghdad of two senior Iraqi officials in 24 hours.

Kamal Jarrah, director of cultural relations at Iraq's education ministry, was gunned down in front of his home today, a day after deputy foreign minister Bassam Kubba was shot dead as he left for work.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9836338%255E1702,00.html

which is why we need to stay.

We don't have any idea who is behind it, and it wouldn't be unprecedented for the US to have motives for disposing of intellectuals -- especially in a country with a history of socialism.

and I don't think I saved the link, unfortunately, was a remark by an academic that intellectuals/academics in Iraq are being eliminated at an alarming rate.

also many Physicians are being held hostage for huge sums of money and many are being killed or scared out of the country. What a fucking mess.

We also heard that one of the assistant deans of the college of engineering in Baghdad University was assassinated recently. It's terrible news and the subject has been on my mind a lot lately. I don't know why no one focuses on this topic in the news. It's like Iraq is suffering from intellectual hemorrhaging. Professors and scientists are being assassinated right and left- decent intelligent people who are necessary for the future of Iraq. Other scientists are being detained by the Americans and questioned about- of all things- Al-Qaeda.

The stories they tell after being let go are incredible. Most of the scientists are college professors and have dedicated their lives to teaching and research. Many are detained only because they specialize in a certain field, like heredity, for example. One man who was recently let go told about the ridiculous interrogation that lasted 3 days and involved CIA and military police. They showed him picture after picture of his family, confiscated from the family home during a raid, and kept pointing at his two teenage sons and their friends and asking, "Aren't they a part of Al-Qaeda?!"

And it doesn't stop with the scientists. Doctors are also being assassinated by some mysterious group. It started during the summer and has been continuing since then. Iraq has some of the finest doctors in the region. Since June, we've heard of at least 15 who were killed in cold blood. The stories are similar- a car pulls up to the clinic or office, a group of men in black step down and the doctor is gunned down- sometimes in front of the patients and sometimes all alone, after hours. One doctor was shot brutally in his house, in front of his family. There was a rumor that Badir's Brigade (the SCIRI militia led by Al-Hakeem) had a list out of 72 doctors that had to be killed for one reason or another. They include Sunni, Shi'a and Christian doctors.

Scientists, professors and doctors who aren't detained or assassinated all seem to be looking for a way out. It seems like everyone you talk to is keeping their eyes open for a job opportunity outside of the country. It depresses me. When I hear someone talking about how they intend to leave to Dubai or Lebanon or London, I want to beg them to stay… a part of me wants to scream, "But we need you here! You belong here!" Another more rational part of me knows that some of them have no options. Many have lost their jobs and don't know how to feed their families. Others just can't stand the constant worrying about their children or spouse. Many of the female doctors and scientists want to leave because it's no longer safe for women to work like before. For some, the option is becoming a housewife or leaving abroad to look for the security to work.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_riverbendblog_archive.html

I think most Iraqis think it's the work of Mossad and the U.S..


...The dead man's name was on an ominous list naming professors, intellectuals and academics marked for assassination after the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Although al-Rawi heard he was on the list, he did not take it seriously, says Bushra.

"He would say that he had no enemies. He would say to me 'I am a scientist and a doctor'," she says.

Purge suspected

During the years of UN-imposed sanctions, thousands of Iraq's most talented professionals left the country. And almost one year after the recent US-led war, about 2000 professors and academics have fled.

Many academics fear a deliberate brain drain is now being executed through murder.

"The mukhabarat (secret intelligence) of all the surrounding countries are active here: Mossad, the Iranians, Turks, Kuwaitis, Jordanians, Syrians," says one academic who asked not be named. "They are settling scores with each other, with the Americans and the Americans with them."

General Ahmad Katham Ibrahim, deputy interior minister, claims Baathists, fearing that intellectuals will divulge information on alleged weapons programmes, are assassinating them.

However, not all black-listed professors come from the field of science: many have either journalism, political science or even literature backgrounds.

But Ibrahim insists all those threatened have or had knowledge of illegal arms.

Dreams

Under the former government, academics wanting to join educational institutions had to swear allegiance to the Baath party, making virtually everybody a member.

..snip..

Professors formerly detained by US forces recount harrowing tales. Some were held in suspended cages and ordered not to speak to their neighbours. Others are too traumatized to discuss the ordeal.

Gulshan, refusing to have her picture taken, is terrified her husband will share al-Rawi's fate.

Many academics describe how they began receiving single bullets and verbal warnings for their staunch anti-occupation stances and calls for Iraqis to resist the invasion.....

http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/iraq/022904_iraqi_intellectuals_under_siege.htm

In connection with Iraq.

Wave of Assassinations
Bombing wounds 2 US Soldiers, 2 Iraqi troops
Sunday, June 13, 2004

Al-Hayat and AFP: Guerrillas attempting to destabilize the caretaker government carried out one successful assassination of a high official and two other failed attempts. Assassins killed the assistant foreign minister, Bassam Kubbah when he emerged from his home in al-Azamiyah, Baghdad, on Saturday morning. He had just returned from London after having accompanied a foreign ministry delegation to New York. Kubbah had served in the Baath foreign ministry, but appears to have been thought relatively clean, since he was given this high post in the caretaker government. He refused to have guards or take security precautions.

The automobile of the assistant secretary of health was sprayed with gunfire, but he and others in the car escaped unscathed. Likewise, the commander of the border guards, General Hussein Mustafa Abdul Karim, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Last weekend a high official of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq was killed.

Three civilians employed by foreign companies were found with their throats cut Saturday, on the road between Baghdad and Jordan. They had been kidnapped on Thursday. Two were Iraqi and one was Lebanese.

In contrast, 7 Turkish hostages were released.

Two US troops and two Iraqi soldiers were wounded by roadside bombs in central Iraq. Another bombing of a US convoy was reported by eyewitnesses near Fallujah.

(more)

http://www.juancole.com/2004_06_01_juancole_archive.html#108710200897483076

Which is why the only moral thing to do is to get out of Iraq immediately.

if one thinks as cynically as I do. First, I would tend to argue that the assassinations of the academics and physicians are probably done by eitehr Mossad or CIA. Then the obvious question is why, and I believe the answer could be that without 'native' intelligensia, the positions would be filled with people who would be hand picked to fill the positions vacated. This would ensure that American propaganda permeates the Iraqi educational system and simultaneously creates a fee for service healthcare system, both of which would be advantageous for the American economy in the long term. Just my thoughts.

the fact he was a professor or 'intellectual' is being overemphasized.

They can't all be part of the new government. I'm not trying to deny the importance of what you have said, in fact, I think that it perfectly consistent with what we will be seeing in the not too distant future (like, 17 days), but if there are a great many 'vacancies' in the academe and in healthcare, I suspect that it would lead to justifications for bringing in 'talent' from elsewhere (American friendly, that is).

of the Iraqis trying to remove the occupiers and puppets.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: