Juan Cole: Physician exodus in Iraq

i've gotten on the juan cole bandwagon somewhat late but now that i'm a regular reader, i can see why so many are impressed with the rational, level-headed and clearly very informed pov that he presents...

62 percent of Americans believe that Bush is handling Iraq poorly, and 57 percent of Americans say that the Bush administration does not have high ethical standards.

It makes you wonder what it would take to convince the other 37 percent that Iraq was going badly. Some 6 or 7 provinces, including that of the capital, are the scenes of frequent violence, the economy is in shambles, militias have infiltrated the police and army, looting and sabotage have undercut services and oil production, thousands of people have died, and now the violence is spreading to neighboring countries like Jordan. Is it that they do not know what is going on, or that they are waiting for a civil war or genocide before they entertain doubts?

Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports a wave of assassinations against prominent physicians in Baghdad. Five of the most well known physicians in the capital have been killed in the past few days. The campaign aims at forcing medical personnel to emigrate. Nearly 3000 physicians have left the country, with 150 killed by unidentified guerrillas. The Iraqi government has been powerless to stop it.

another illuminating item from professor cole today is a profile he writes on the filmmaker, Moustapha Akkad, who was among those to die in the jordanian hotel bombings... in the panoply of two-dimensional tv news images, we should never forget the very real, three-dimensional people that have been caught up in such tragedies...

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