Iraqi scientists accused U.S. forces of encouraging looting of universities

CAIRO, April 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Appealing to the world community to protect them from the U.S. aggression aimed at obliterating Iraq’s minds, a number of Iraqi scientists and university professors sent an SOS e-mail complaining American occupation forces were threatening their lives.

In their e-mail, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnlin.net Friday, April 11, they said they have dictated their message to a respected Iraqi scientist in the Netherlands over phone, urging him to circulate it to all parties concerned to protect them from the arbitrary inquires and arrests by the U.S. occupation forces.

Iraqi scientists asserted that occupation troops demanded them, particularly physicists, chemists and mathematicians, to hand over all documents and researches in their possession.

The appeal message also said that looting and robberies were being taken place under the watchful eye of the occupation soldiers.

The occupation soldiers, the e-mail added, are transporting mobs to the scientific institutions, such as Mosul University and different educational institutions, to destroy scientific research centers and confiscate all papers and documents to nip in the bud any Iraqi scientific renaissance.

The frantic scientists also underlined that some of them were placed under house arrest and deprived of going to their laboratories and universities.

Some of them were also approached by agents from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to entice them away to foreign scientific centers, the message cautioned.

The e-mail also noted that occupation forces had drawn up lists of the names, addresses and researches of the Iraqi scientists to assist them in their harassment tasks in light of the chaos and anarchy that sit in after the toppling of the Iraqi regime on April, 9. 

Reports Claim Scientists Fled To Syria

Mrs. Ammash has been placed on the U.S. most-wanted list of 55

As part of the "concerted campaign" campaign against Syria, The Washington Times newspaper claimed Saturday, April 12, that some of Iraq's top scientists have already fled their country and are in Syria, from where they may seek political safety in France.

Quoting U.S. administration officials, the American paper said there are intelligence reports that Iraqi scientists are seeking safety in France.

According to the daily, U.S. officials declined to put a number on how many Iraqi weapons scientists have entered Syria, but estimated it is fewer than 10 at this point.

Among those claimed to have made it to Syria are Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash and Rihab Taha, both top scientists in Iraq's alleged biological-weapons program, said The Washington Times.

The two women are notable not only for their scientific expertise, but also because they attained senior positions among the male-dominated Ba'ath Party, the paper said.

Mrs. Taha, a British-trained microbiologist, is married to Iraq's oil minister Amir Rashid Mohammed Ubaydi, on the American most-wanted list of 55.

The Times claims she ran Iraq's biological-warfare program at a research lab in the town of Hakam beginning in the mid-1980s.

Mrs. Taha was not listed, although she is wanted for questioning.

Mrs. Ammash has been photographed at Saddam's Cabinet meetings, and at a meeting with his son, Qusay, according the U.S. daily.

On Friday, April 11, Mrs. Ammash's picture and name were listed by the U.S. Central Command as one of 55 “most-wanted” Iraqis.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has warned Syria several times publicly to stop helping the Iraqi regime, asserting that some Iraqi leaders had fled to the country.