The L.A. Times actually has a reporter in Iraq who found out some facts, and they are pretty discouraging. In an article headlined Iraq too dangerous for many professionals, Tina Susman writes about an educated family about to leave Iraq.
Their imminent departure is a major problem facing Iraq, which has suffered a brain drain in the last five years and is struggling to lure back or hang on to educated professionals.
In June, the government raised civil servant salaries 50% to 75% to attract state employees such as teachers and doctors, many of whom were fired after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration says tens of thousands of people have returned since last fall.
But more than 2.5 million Iraqis have fled, and the exodus continues. Political and business leaders believe it will be many years before the loss of professionals can be reversed.
Our refugee policy is working at cross purposes with Iraq’s needs.
“It’s counterproductive,” said Raad Ommar, president of the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Baghdad. “They’re trying to achieve their goal on one hand of taking Iraqis to the United States, and on the other hand they’re trying to get Iraq stabilized and improve the economy and everything else. The flight of qualified Iraqis is not going to help that.”
Anyone who honestly looks at the situation agrees. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was all for bringing in a lot of Iraqi refugees until she talked to Prime Minister Maliki, who explained why Iraq needs its refugees back. The (former) head of Iraq’s Red Crescent asked who will rebuild Iraq if the refugees are resettled in other countries. Ann has posted many times on the dim prospects for Iraqi professionals who come to the United States — one post is here.
Although Iraq has become far safer, it is still not a good place to live, with a lack of basic services, and scattered violence that is still frightening to the population. Those who can leave have left, and continue to leave. Here are some numbers:
More than 7,000 physicians have left, including virtually all who had 20 years’ or more experience, said Mustafa Hiti, a member of parliament who sits on its health committee. About 600 have returned, he said, but none are the sort of top-flight specialists needed here.
Some of the problem is sectarian.
Most specialists were Sunni Arabs who, to achieve their professional status, were members of Hussein’s Baath Party. Even if they did not adhere to its ideology, they were ostracized and forced from their jobs after Hussein was ousted. Now, they do not feel comfortable in a country run by Shiite Muslims, said Hiti, who expressed doubts about the government’s commitment to moving away from the so-called de-Baathification policies.
Other professionals want to return.
Spokeswoman Shujairi said the Ministry of Higher Education has received hundreds of e-mailed requests from professors outside Iraq who want to know how they can return to their jobs.
It could be that many more professionals will want to return when they find out they cannot automatically practice their professions in other countries. The government is taking steps to protect doctors, and those who have left might find it better to go back to a less than ideal Iraq than to face life as a taxi driver or hotel cleaner in America.
Meanwhile, of course, the drumbeat for bringing more Iraqis here continues. And that harms Iraq beyond the actual numbers of refugees admitted. Everyone wants to come to the United States, and as long as Iraqi professionals think they have a good chance to do that they will not focus on improving their own country.