In just 20 years, then, the Iraqi university system went from being among the best in the Middle East to one of the worst. This extraordinary act of institutional destruction was largely accomplished by American leaders who told us that the US invasion of Iraq would bring modernity, development, and women's rights.Rest of the article here.
After the first Gulf War, we imposed sanctions on Iraq which meant no journals or equipment for the Universities. Then in 2003 we invaded and started occupying the country, which destroyed the place. We failed to protect the Colleges and Universities when we invaded, we fired all leaders and top personnel in the Universities (Bremmer's decision), we failed to fund the Universities, we failed to stop the sectarian violence we set in motion, we failed to protect the professors and staff from murderers. It is (again) a massive, massive war crime by the US government and the US military.
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