Staff Editorial: Iraq's universities face midterms and mayhem

We expect a certain amount of safety as students, and fortunately, we get it. But not all college students across the world are so lucky, and we take this fact for granted. If school were a life and death situation each and every day, would we go?

Unfortunately for students in Iraq, going to school has turned into just that: having to make the choice between getting an education and staying alive. In a seemingly senseless act of violence in the midst of a senseless war, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a college campus in Baghdad on Sunday in front of the business school at Mustansiriyah University, a school that also suffered explosions last month. A bomber, who had a belt rigged with explosives, attempted to get past security guards at the entrance, and the explosion rocked the area during a period of midterm examinations, killing dozens of students and injuring dozens more.

If the same thing happened to the UW School of Business outside of Balmer Hall, we would be in utter shock and disbelief. And we would be outraged. The amounts of disturbing news that come out of Iraq have become so commonplace for us that we barely flinch when we read the latest headlines sprinkled with body counts.

But as disturbing as bombings are, the problems in Iraq reach far beyond the explosions that occur on a nearly daily basis. The bombings are leading to a severe case of brain drain, and America's political decision-makers can talk about a pullout or troop build up until they turn blue in the face. But if they can't find a way to entice educated and trained Iraqis to stay in their own country, then what happens after the war dies down is a big question mark. Iraqis are leaving their country by the tens of thousands each month without looking back. Are Americans ready to face the fact that it does not appear there will be enough people to run the country once the violence stops?

As recently as the late 90s, Iraq was the thriving go-to place in the Middle East for its education and medical facilities. The country has a wealth of resources at its disposal: Besides the oil reserves it contains, it is also the world's Fertile Crescent, and if the country can get its act together with help from the United States and the international community, it could thrive again. The question is, do Americans want that for Iraq?

Our condolences go out to the friends and families of the Iraqi students who died this weekend in a senseless act of violence. Better security needs to be implemented to protect what is looking like the dimming future of Iraq.