Rebuilding Iraq's shattered universities

This article argues that despite the recent opening of Baghdad's Al-Mansour University College, Iraq's once-proud university system is weakened by more than a decade of economic sanctions, brain drain, and political oppression. Scores of academic buildings around the country were bombed, looted, and burned during the US invasion. And science departments were especially hard hit.

The article presents the problems universities face with looting, scarce resources, poor security and lack of staffing (dozens of top administrators have been fired because of ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party). It states that US officials are promising a clean sweep to put the universities on firmer footing, but all sides agree that this won't be achieved without large doses of outside help and domestic tranquillity.