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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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6

Student Rape-Murder Gang Shuts Iraq U

Shia student group accused of campus campaign of terror

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(Newser) – One of Iraq's leading universities has been shut down while authorities attempt to purge it of a sectarian student gang accused of carrying out a campaign of murder and rape. Professors, administrators, and fellow students have been targeted by the Students League, a shadowy group of Shia students said to hold sway over campus security and even the courses of study of Mustansiriya University's engineering and law programs.

The university descended into chaos ahead of the closing, professors and students tell the New York Times. Two rival administrators claimed to be chancellor, and the Students League openly paraded on campus to intimidate Sunni and Kurdish students. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Mustansiriya graduate, finally stepped in this month after a professor who had been pistol-whipped by the group arrived at his office still wearing his bloodied clothes  and with untreated gashes on his face.

Iraqi students hold banners during a demonstration in front of Baghdad's Al-Mustansiriya University.
Iraqi students hold banners during a demonstration in front of Baghdad's Al-Mustansiriya University.   (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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They have spread an atmosphere of terror at
the university. - A Mustansiriya University professor

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6 comments
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Jayster999
Oct 20, 09 2:43 AM CDT
These people are knuckleheads. We should leave them to their own devices. Of course, that won't be happening as the (continuing) goal seems to be spending money we don't have on a mission to make arms dealers and government contractors rich while things here go to hell in a hand-basket. Reply
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UrUndertaker
Oct 20, 09 6:52 AM CDT
Jay, you never cease to amaze me with your bigotry and self loathing, the article clearly states that these acts were the acts of a very small gang of "sectarian student gang" who follow Shia teachings, that is a bastardized version of the Muslim religion and has little to do with the main stream populace except to form groups and grab attention through the threats of violence, Your blanket statement charging all the people there is offensive and dead wrong.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
RogerMohajir
Oct 20, 09 8:45 AM CDT
@UrUndertaker: would you describe Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican (and the dozen or so other major Christian denominations) as "bastardized versions" of Christianity? There are Sunni who invoke Islam to impose ridiculous edicts (see Saudi Arabia) and Shia who do the same (see Iran, and now Iraq). Who are you to say that one branch of Islam is true and the other is "bastardized?"
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IN RESPONSE:
bewilderbeast
Oct 20, 09 9:36 AM CDT
@UrUndertaker, don't respond to everything Jayster writes in kneejerk fashion. READ first. His description of the goal of the Bush/Cheney USA in Iraq is spot-on. Get the hell out of Iraq already, Obama! Go home - there is plenty that needs doing there.
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+4
Middleman
Oct 20, 09 2:43 AM CDT
Ahhh... the Arab culture. Sad part is that there are a lot of really great people in Baghdad, but they (like most of the good people in the world) aren't newsworthy. Reply
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