Iraqi Educator Accuses US and Israel of Assassinating Best Iraqi Minds

Dr. Saad Jawad provides some needed insight from an intelligent, informed Iraqi about the present condition of his country and the US occupation. While his views may not be the final word on the subject, they do have the virtue of proximity to the situation, historical knowledge of the area, and persoanl involvement. ...

Notable answers he gives include the following:

The possibility of civil war does exist but it is very much a remote one. Judging by how Iraqis have reacted to attempts to ignite such a war currently and the old social history of inter-marriage and fraternity I strongly believe the possibility is very remote.

That would counter the fears in the US that a pull-out of troops would cause a civil war. On the other hand, Jawad does not recommend an immediate pull-out but instead wants the US to reinstate a fully functioning Iraqi army and police force. How this accords with the same strategy of the Bush administration is an important question.

Another issue addressed by Jawad is the systematic assassination by death squads of Iraq's inellectuals. I have posted about this before. Jawad suggests two culprits: the insurgents and the US/Israel--the latter accusation is quite shocking in its implications:

Iraqi intellectuals and scientists are targeted by many elements. [When we analyze who is targeted and by what methods it is clear that] the Israelis and the Americans are after one part of them. Iran and the sectarian parties are after some others. The Baathists liquidated some of their old comrades when they noticed that they were cooperating with the Americans, and the local mafias kidnapped and assassinated others after making them pay ransoms. The problem of security, or the lack of it, is the main reason why intellectuals have become such easy targets for any act. Yet, precisely because of the chaos, the systematized assassinations of Iraqi intellectuals have gone largely unnoticed in the outside world. Iraq is being drained of its most able thinkers, thus an important component to any true Iraqi independence is being eliminated.

This is a stunning statement; I do not know the validity of this, but it certainly has some credibility, given Jawad's closeness to the events both as an observer and as a potential target.

Update 1/22/06 According to the Washington Post,

"Professors have been threatened. Doctors have been killed in their clinics. Killing has become common," Fayed said. "Some people believe this is intentional, to try to empty Iraq of its elite."

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Related arrticles:

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• The slaughter of Iraq's intellectuals