Doctors Are Reportedly Fleeing Iraq

[cal04]

Iraq's top doctors are under threat and are fleeing the country, leaving hospitals in the hands of medical students or junior physicians, an Iraqi lawmaker said Wednesday.

Doctors have been kidnapped and killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said Dr. Rajaa al-Khuzai, an obstetrician who is an elected member of the Iraqi National Council.

''They have been targeted since the fall of the regime,'' she told The Associated Press during a visit to Austria. ''Some of them have been kidnapped and found dead in the streets, some have been released after paying a ransom.''

She also told reporters earlier Wednesday that Iraqi hospitals face a shortage of medicines and are in dire need of new equipment.

''We were promised, or we believed, that we would have many new hospitals being built, and many health centers ... but none of this has been done,'' she said. ''No hospitals have been built so far; only some of the hospitals have been serviced.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraqs-Doctors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Educators are also under attack

Just a little while ago I heard the term "Civil Violence" on news (CNN). It sounds like the Pentagon's media minders are in full swing. It's a full blown Civil War and we're smack dab in the middle of it.

[soothsayer]

2. There's been a brain drain since the war began. Not just doctors

but also academics, engineers, and all well trained professionals. For three years there have been targeted assassinations against these types of folks, too, so they line up at the borders every day to try to get out.