I was completely outraged today to learn that I am going to miss out on an opportunity to hear Dr. Riyadh Lafta, who teaches medicine at Al-Mustansiriya University’s College of Medicine in Baghdad. Dr. Lafta is perhaps most well known as the co-author of this article published late last year in which he and four other researchers used vigorous research methods to show that if one compares pre and post war death rates in Iraq, there were 650,000 more deaths in the 42 months following the U.S. led invasion in March 03 than there were in the 42 months prior to that invasion. It seems to me that this makes sense if you think about it. Pre invasion, the infrastructure of the nation was more or less intact, whereas post invasion it has been less and less intact. So people who wouldn’t have otherwise died did die because of lots of simple things quite outside all the violence, like roads, electricity, water, hospitals, etc. etc. not working. The research is actually quite fascinating and very approachable. I recommend reading the whole article.
That paper was co published by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The School of Medicine at Dr. Lafta’s University. Dr. Lafta was scheduled to speak at my very own university, the University of Washington, tonight, Friday the 20th of April, as part of a collaborative research project documenting elevated levels of pediatric cancer in Basra, Iraq. Although he applied for a visa 9 months ago, he was denied, according to this articlein the UW daily. the article continues
After being denied a U.S. visa, the doctor’s colleagues at Simon Fraser approved a plan to host Lafta and set up an interactive video conference to be broadcast this Friday at Kane Hall. Lafta’s Canadian visa was issued within one week of application.
Stuck in Amman, Jordan, Lafta learned late Tuesday that the trip to Vancouver would not happen either, because he was denied a transfer visa by the British government. His itinerary required a four-hour layover at London’s Heathrow Airport.
“This was clearly meant to deny the free flow of academic freedom and the exchange of ideas and information,” (spokesman for U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott,) Mike DeCesare said. “When that free-flow can’t happen, it’s a very scary day.”
Read the rest of this entry »04-20-2007 |
9 Comments »