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Iraq-Jordan
Palestinian kidnapped in Iraq
2005-05-11
GAZA, May 11 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old Palestinian studying in Mosul has been kidnapped by militants in Iraq, his family said Wednesday.
I know when I think advanced studies, Mosul comes to mind.
The West Bank family said in a statement published in the Palestinian dailies that Rami Da'aas was kidnapped by militants near his residence. "He is in his last year and he was going to graduate this year," said the family, adding "we call on the kidnappers to release him as immediate as possible." The family urged the Palestinian Authority help find him and asked all parties in Iraq to help secure his release. "Rami had an accident before he went to study in Iraq and he needs an essential surgery in his brain, so he is sick, needs treatment and kidnapping him is not justified," the family said.
Brain damaged Palestinian "kidnapped" in Iraq - I think we just found our next car bomber
Posted by:Steve

#11  I have considerable confidence in the wisdom of some of the Kurd leaders. Having heard some of them speak, I was impressed with two things: first, the leaders themselves are highly intelligent, well-educated, erudite, focused on pragmatic success, and intent on developing strong alliances with those who can help their cause; and second, that the Kurdish people *respect* and follow leaders with these qualities. This is a powerful combination that bodes well for their future. Added to this is the feeling that for the first, and probably only time, they have been offered a chance to have a chance, so from their greatest to their least, they must all strive for their goal as a people.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-05-11 21:55  

#10  The Kurds are setting up Kurdish language institutions. It unlikely a paleo could speak fluent Kurdish.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-05-11 20:18  

#9  Kurds are Wayyyyyyyyyy ahead on the curve at self-determination. I hope they're selective at who they help from the 7th century to the 21st. Arabs are not their friends. I can see an Israeli/Kurdish alliance
Posted by: Frank G   2005-05-11 20:15  

#8  Well, that confuses ethnic group with nationality. Granted, those mentioned in the article are Kurds, but they are Syrian and Iranian Kurds. And there is considerable variation among Kurds, in religion, dialect and appearance, many being blond haired and blue eyed, many dark like Arabs. Now, the bottom line is whether in future these universities diversify to offer a rare (for that region) liberal education to other, non-Kurd, students more attracted to their studies than bothered by who they are learning it from. Remember that wealthy middle-easteners of all kinds regularly export their children for western educations: a quality education, closer, could attract large numbers of burgeoise children, whose parents could not afford sending them to England or the US, but who could pay premium prices for quality in Kurdistan. Education is big bucks.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-05-11 20:09  

#7  thx! but that refers to Kurdish students:

Kurdish students living in Iraq’s neighbours are flocking to universities in the Kurdish areas to escape repression at home and to benefit from the opportunities they say the region offers.

The University of Sulaimaniyah alone has so far accepted more than 110 Kurdish students from neighbouring countries, mainly Iran and Syria, under a programme that reserves five per cent of all places at Iraqi Kurdish universities for high school graduates educated elsewhere.

I see no "damaged Paleo subsidization nor seething Arab Salafist or Wahhabist scholarships. Sounds like the Kurds are tending to their own...human nature
Posted by: Frank G   2005-05-11 19:22  

#6  Frank G: Certainly.
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_94_2_eng.txt

"Foreign Students Flock to Iraqi Kurdish Colleges"
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-05-11 19:02  

#5  moose - while welcome - I've not seen any other reference to N. Iraq becoming th eUniversity magnet you say - any references for that? Just curious. I would think the overwhelming Kurd pop. might make that modern education possible, but not for Paleos, Arabs, Sunnis, who continue booming Kurds for fun
Posted by: Frank G   2005-05-11 16:13  

#4  As they say, it's not a bug, it's feature.
Posted by: Sobiesky   2005-05-11 15:53  

#3  If he's so damn brain-damaged, what the heck was he majoring in at college? Gender studies?
Posted by: Captain Pedantic   2005-05-11 15:52  

#2  Especially northern Iraq is turning into a magnet for students from all over the region. It has something to do with a lack of secret policemen, being able to ask honest questions of teachers who don't spout dialectic and/or believe that all knowledge is contained in the Koran. In Kurdistan, I gather they are building a whopper big university.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-05-11 15:27  

#1  A brain damaged palestinian is special? By some standards you could rightfully call them all "brain damaged" in a sense! One has to wonder what was the point of grabbing him off the street. Then again, madness and brutality between idiots is something of a professional courtesy thing.
Posted by: Tkat   2005-05-11 15:05  

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