American University of Iraq

The empire strikes again

Sex, oil, chaos and corruption at the American University of Iraq

Wikipedia/Whitehouse.archives.gov: The American University of Iraq. Inset: Lynn Cheney

Feb 16, 2011 - Anyone who still wonders why the Bush administration invaded Iraq would do well to become familiar with an institution whose existence few Americans are aware of: the American University of Iraq-Sulaimaniya.

Located in Kurdistan, at the nexus of northern Iraq’s border with Iran and Turkey, AUI-S opened its doors in 2007. At the time, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote about it with the sort of wide-eyed enthusiasm that had generally accompanied the invasion itself four years before. "Imagine for a moment if one outcome of the U.S. invasion of Iraq had been the creation of an American University of Iraq ... Imagine if we had created an island of decency in Iraq ... Well, stop imagining."

You don’t have to imagine, though, when history provides enough clues. For more than 100 years, American business leaders (usually with the cooperation of local potentates) have funded Christian missionaries to set up universities in foreign countries with valuable resources to exploit. This collaboration has served to create a more friendly environment for establishing a business foothold while simultaneously fulfilling the missionaries’ desire to spread the Word around the globe.

In the Middle East -- where the business has primarily been oil -- the Rockefellers and others generously funded such institutions as the American University of Beirut, which was established on the bedrock of conservative Christian values more than 100 years ago. It began modestly, with one class of 16 students in 1863. Over time, it became a venerable academic oasis, characterized by values that could be accurately described as cosmopolitan and liberal. {continued}