Rebuilding Iraqi science

The post-war reconstruction of Iraq is barely a month along, and most science departments in Iraqi universities have only begun to clean up the charred wreckage left by looters. They are getting help from the American Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), a newly established office within the US Department of Defense, staffed mostly by civilians drawn from a variety of agencies. ORHA's principal advisor to Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Andrew Erdman, is a long-time US State Department employee with a PhD in History. He does have some knowledge of the sciences thanks to his wife, Washington University microbiologist Petra Levin. "I know what it takes to stock a lab," says Erdman. "And I haven't seen a lab in Iraq that is anything more than empty benches with at most a microscope. We have a long way to go." The Scientist's reporter Sam Jaffe talked with Andrew Erdman at ORHA's Baghdad headquarters recently about the current state of Iraq's science and education infrastructure and what's needed to begin rebuilding.Q: What is the main priority of ORHA in the fields of higher education and scientific research?A: It's essential that we have rapid leadership transition. It's an exciting process to see people expressing themselves freely. Most people said this hasn't happened in decades.Q: How large is the Iraqi university system?A: There are fourteen major universities in the public system, and then a handful of private schools that are outside our control and free to operate as they see fit. Baghdad University is the crown jewel of the system. There are 44,000 students at B.U. [and] 65% of all Iraqi doctorates come from B.U.Q: Was there significant damage from the war at the universities?A: Most of the damage came from looting. Some colleges are completely gutted and burned. At Baghdad University there was some damage from the percussion of distant bombs, but to our knowledge, nothing landed on university grounds. The looting was the real problem. Most institutions in Iraq are back to square one thanks to the pervasive looting.Q: What is the state of scientific research in Iraq? Was there research going on here outside of the program for weapons of mass destruction?A: My primary mandate is not to deal with WMD. That's a matter handled by a different unit of ORHA and the military. The general state of science in Iraq today is decay. You can see the systematic neglect of academic pursuits as military research crowded out the academic research. Basic lab equipment is outdated and shoddy. I couldn't distinguish anything that would be of value to an American or European university laboratory in any lab I've visited here.Q: Are the elections that were just held for new university presidents and deans for the long-term?A: No. They are just for the end of the school year, which ends in July. By then, new elections will be held for next year. Meanwhile, we are urging faculties to be extremely lenient on any students or professors who miss a large amount of classes. Between the war and the horrible security situation, there are lots of good reasons to miss class. But it is one of our goals to complete this semester no matter what it takes, and everything points to that being accomplishable.Q: What happens if an ineffectual or fraudulent individual is elected to be president by the faculty?A: There's a two-stage transition process. These transition elections are very temporary. Even so, the winners of the elections have to be accredited by ORHA, to make sure no leading Baathists resume control. The accreditation process isn't complete, but we haven't encountered any winning candidates that we have a problem with. We only have one criterion for accreditation: Anyone who doesn't share coalition objectives for a smooth and peaceful transition to a democratic system is disqualified. Consistently, the process is working. The candidates are distinguished scientists and scholars, not apparatchiks. The process is working.Q: Are all Baath party members going to lose their jobs in the universities?A: That's an undesirable and frankly impossible goal. The directive [from ORHA director Paul Bremer] is that the top three levels of Baath Party membership be disqualified from public employment. That represents less than 5,000 people in all of Iraq, and at most a few dozen in the universities. Most of those people have already fled the country anyway. The few in the university system that are still here refuse to go back to work anyway because they know they will be rejected by their former underlings. At most, they've asked for a simple lecturing position at a different college than where they previously worked, and sometimes that has been arranged. This isn't a purge. It's just an attempt to make sure not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We also have to avoid violence. Last week, a former assistant dean at Mustansiriyah [University] was shot dead. We still haven't been able to figure out if it was a random street crime or a retribution killing.Q: Has there been any student unrest at the universities against the American presence?A: I disagree with the premise that a lot of Iraqis don't want this. We have some military presence at Baghdad University because the faculty and student representatives pleaded with us for it. As a result of that, the looting and arson have been minimized there. They are pleading for security and for an American military presence on campus, not demonstrating against it. Everybody's primary concern is security.Q: How are you helping to reconstruct the Iraqi science infrastructure?A: The primary goal right now is to maintain security so that they can finish the school year. Nobody expects to get new lab equipment before the end of the summer. In the long-term, we're looking at grants from USAID [US Agency for International Development], private donors and US academic institutions who have expressed support in trying to rebuild the country's science infrastructure.Q: Are the professors getting paid now?A: After security our number one priority is paying salaries. So far we've only paid emergency payouts of $20 to each person. That's nothing, but it's symbolic. People will be paid. Right now the coalition provisional authority is setting up a payroll system. It will be ready by the end of May we think. The long pole in the tent is the banking system, and that is still a mess. But once that gets figured out, we'll be able to pay salaries.Q: Are you worried that now that Iraqi borders are relatively open, there will be a brain drain?A: I see the opposite happening. There are so many Iraqis that want to return home with training and experience. There's going to be a reverse brain drain. There's an extraordinary talent pool of Iraqis overseas. There's been some discussion about setting up science academies, like in Russia and Ukraine. But so far it hasn't left the discussion stage. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen. It just means that it's farther down the road than keeping looters out or paying salaries. That would just deal with people involved in WMD anyway. A bigger problem than WMD research seeping into the universities was that all other research suffered neglect. That's the primary need we have to address.Q: What can individual foreign scientists do to help rebuild Iraqi science?A: There's a lot the individual can do. The most important thing is to set up exchange programs. Reintegrate Iraqi scientists into the world. Invite them to meetings. Pay for their way to meetings. Offer to host them on sabbaticals. Offer to host Iraqi PhD students and postdocs. Be aggressive on scholarships and fellowships for Iraqis. Send any surplus lab or computer equipment. Professional associations can play an enormously important role also. They can organize large shipments of equipment. Palletize them and arrange for transportation through USAID. Eventually we'll need research funding, but that's farther down the road. Right now we're in an austere environment: no libraries, no journals, no equipment and sometimes no lighting.Q: When will you leave Iraq?A: When there's an Iraqi Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, my job will be complete. I might stay on a little longer as an advisor, but my role is purely transitional. That will happen when there's an Iraqi government, and hopefully we'll see that soon.

Rebuilding Iraqi science

A conversation with the US official in Baghdad trying to help Iraqi scientists pick up the pieces

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