I'm hearing this echoed across Right-blogostan.
Well...what if?
July 6th, 2006
The letter was slipped under the dean's office door, in an envelope slightly bulging from the AK-47 bullet tucked inside.
"You have to understand our circumstances. We cannot perform well on the exam because of the problems in Baghdad. And you have to help," the letter began, said its recipient, A.M. Taleb, dean of the College of Sciences at Baghdad University. "If you do not, you and your family will be killed."
It's finals time in Iraq. Black-clad gunmen have stormed a dormitory to snatch students from their rooms. Professors fear failing and angering their pupils. Administrators curtailed graduation ceremonies to avoid convening large groups of people into an obvious bombing target. Perhaps nowhere else does the prospect of two months' summer vacation -- for those who can afford it, a chance to flee the country -- bring such unbridled relief.
...
"One of the students was wounded as he was hit with a bullet in his leg. If you go inside the dorm now, you'll find bullet holes and broken windows," said Abdul Naba, 26, a junior. "They even shot the laundry that was hanging outside."
...
"From the point of view of exchanging or expressing opinions, there is no comparison. Back then, there was no possibility to express your views in any way," said the school's president, Mosa al-Mosawe. "But in terms of security, during the Baath regime it was much better."
January 17th, 2007
Bombings and shootings in Baghdad on Tuesday killed 107 people and wounded more than 285, most of them in neighborhoods where the militia of a powerful anti-American Shiite cleric holds sway.
A suicide bomber and a car bomb killed at least 70 people and wounded 170 more at entrances to a once-prestigious university in Baghdad.
The strike at Mustansiriya University was a dual bomb attack. The suicide bomber detonated a vest at the back entrance of the school, and a parked car exploded at the main gate under a pedestrian bridge where students and employees get public transit. (Watch aftermath of 'massive' bombing Video)
February 25th, 2007
A suicide bomber struck Sunday outside a college campus in Baghdad, killing at least 38 people and injuring dozens as a string of other blasts and rocket attacks left bloodshed around the city. Most of the victims were students at the college, a business studies annex of Mustansiriyah University that was hit by a series of deadly explosions last month. At least 44 people were injured in Sunday's blast.
April 13th, 2007
Political science students at Baghdad University had barely begun a discussion of comparisons between the Iraq and Vietnam wars when suddenly nearby explosions shook the classroom.
The talk instantly shifted from a past conflict to the here and now -- and what it's like to live in a war zone when it's unknown if a trip to school will be your last.
Yasser Thar, a junior, said such bombings fill him with fear and anxiety.
"I wonder if my family is OK because we have no idea where those bombs are landing," he said.
...
Such is the way of life for students at Baghdad University, where they could be killed at any time simply for trying to get a diploma. Extremists have terrorized this campus over the last four years.
Just this week, a car bomb exploded at the university's entrance, killing five students and wounding 18 others. Since the war in Iraq began in March 2003, at least 70 security guards and employees have been killed and 100 professors have been assassinated, officials said. The death toll from car bombs on campus isn't even known because there have been so many.
Perhaps if the students at Iraqi colleges and universities were allowed to carry RPG's, AK-47's, fully-automatic assault rifles, grenades, mortars, and god knows what else on campus, then perhaps a brave Iraqi could've stood up and prevented one of those attacks.
Right?