Newsweek: Before Iraq war 30,000 physicians registered - now there are 8,000

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997100/site/newsweek/

Iraq's Quiet Exodus
More than 2 million Iraqis have left their country, seeking safety abroad—and robbing the nation of its best and brightest.

<snip>

Now those same professionals are a coveted prey, targeted by insurgents and robbers for shakedowns, kidnapping and extortion—prompting more and more to flee. Before the war there were 30,000 physicians registered in Iraq's main medical syndicate, or union. Now there are 8,000. "Doctors are prime targets," says Abdul-Hadi from his humble quarters in Amman, where he works in a public hospital for a fraction of the pay he once earned in Iraq. "It will take 10 years to rebuild the Iraqi health sector." The same can be said of Iraq's universities. Advanced studies are no longer available at many elite colleges in Baghdad. In many classes, students are taught not by tenured professors but by teaching assistants. Engineers, scientists, teachers, civil servants, shopkeepers and businessmen—all are following Abdul-Hadi's path out of Iraq. "All that's left in Baghdad are bandits and fools," says Hind Al Aazamy, a Sunni Iraqi who arrived in Jordan last summer and now runs a fashion boutique with her husband in west Amman's upscale Sweifieh district. "It will take a generation to restore what's gone."

[DireStrike]

1. What! Balderdash! Post some good news!

:sarcasm:

[BeyondGeography]

2. But now they have freedom

<"All that's left in Baghdad are bandits and fools," says Hind Al Aazamy, a Sunni Iraqi who arrived in Jordan last summer and now runs a fashion boutique with her husband in west Amman's upscale Sweifieh district. "It will take a generation to restore what's gone.">