Academics become casualties of Iraq War
Reuters:, 9 March 2006
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed some 182 Iraqi university professors and academics since the U.S. invasion in early 2003 and a group representing Iraqi academia said on Thursday the killings constituted a war crime.
Another 85 senior academics have been kidnapped or survived assassination attempts, according to the Association of University Lecturers in
Iraq
From the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Report on Science and Human Rights, Fall/Winter 2005 Vol XXV, No. 2:
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, academics working at universities and hospitals have been specifically singled out for attack. Dr. Issam al-Rawi, geography professor, member of the Association of Muslim Scholars and chair of the Iraqi Association of University Lecturers, has reported that over 250 academics and professors have been assassinated, and many others have disappeared. The list of those killed includes Arabs, Kurds, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Christians: scientists and academics from all backgrounds. In response to these killings and general unrest, it is estimated that an additional 1,000 scientists have fled the country.