“After the Virginia Tech massacre a few weeks ago, the last place Americans looked for support was in Iraq. However, a week after the attack, Iraqi university students in Baghdad reached out to their fellow students from around the world. Near their campus gate, Baghdad Technology students hung a banner that read We, the students of Technology University, denounce the attack at Virginia Tech.”
“

After the Virginia Tech massacre a few weeks ago, the last place Americans looked for support was in Iraq.

However, a week after the attack, Iraqi university students in Baghdad reached out to their fellow students from around the world.

Near their campus gate, Baghdad Technology students hung a banner that read We, the students of Technology University, denounce the attack at Virginia Tech. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims who face a situation as bad as Iraq’s universities do. The sanctity of campuses must be protected around the world.

Iraq’s universities are a constant target for attack. This year alone, at least 111 students have been killed in just two attacks.

Zahra Hussein, a fourth-year engineering student, explained that such attacks have become normal, even when they target students.

But students aren’t the only ones who are attacked. More than 200 professors have been killed in the past few years, and many professors have left Iraq to teach elsewhere.

All students are searched before entering the Technology University campus, and many kinds of cell phones are completely banned.

In an environment more like a war zone than a place of learning, it is compelling that college students in Iraq feel a sense of community with U.S. college students.

Especially when it is obvious that most American students feel no such sense of community when these attacks happen in Iraq.

In January, for example, two car bombs exploded at Mustansiriyah University, killing at least 70 people and leaving more than 130 wounded.

There were, however, no banners hanging on American campuses.

It seems that many Iraqis feel a sense of brotherhood with all of humanity – a connection to all students around the globe. It would be a beautiful thing to see that sense of global community in America.

But first, we have to stop thinking of Iraqis as the enemy.

“