Students at Baghdad's medical college are upbeat about the future of Iraq
By Dan Damon
BBC News, Baghdad
It is hard to overemphasise the importance of Iraq's second parliamentary elections.
In the four-and-a-half years since the formation of the last government, very little has improved for most people.
Jobs are hard to find and water and electricity hard to come by.
The danger of bombings, drive-by-shootings and kidnapping haunts Iraqis every day.
Shared Nouri and Zahra Hasan say they are certain to vote
Yet the great majority I have spoken to say they will vote and believe they must, even if their leaders have disappointed them so far.
I have met a few who say: "Ahh! They're all scoundrels, I won't vote for any of them!"
But the overwhelming response to the question "Will you vote?" is that to rebuild Iraq and eliminate the violence, and to prove that Iraqis can govern themselves, they must vote in some kind of a government.
'We love our country'
Among the young, that feeling is especially strong.
I went to the Medical College in the predominantly Sunni area of Babalmuadham, to meet Lubna Naji, a 24-year-old Shia about to graduate as a doctor.
We cannot keep them here unless we improve security
She introduced me to her best friends Shared Nouri and Zahra Hasan.
They all told me they would certainly vote.
"We love our country, and we've decided to do something for our country," Ms Nouri told the BBC World Service. "So even if things do not go well, even if there is not peace, we must vote and hope."
She is not sure who she will vote for yet.
Ms Hasan will vote for current Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his State of Law bloc.
"Things were very bad with killings and bombings," she says.
"He took some decisions that made things better. I will vote for him of course."
Next generation
Ms Naji took me to meet the dean of the medical college, Dr Fadhil al-Khafadji, who did his medical training in Southampton University in the UK.
Security is the central issue for Dr Khafadji too.
Without it, the Western companies he needs for the latest medical technology simply will not come to install and train the next generation of Iraqi doctors.
"Top of my list is to refurbish our laboratories with modern equipment and instruments - laser scanners, microscopes, specialist equipment for chemistry, pharmacology and physiology," he says.
"We have some money. But some equipment needs to be installed by the firm itself and most of these companies are scared to come."
That will worsen the already serious problem he faces - keeping his graduates in Iraq rather than seeing them go abroad.
"I can't keep them here," he says.
"Before we used to, but now with democracy and the general situation, I suppose we cannot keep them here, unless we improve security and give them salaries to compare with what they can get elsewhere."
City of 'pain and hope'
Many health services in the West benefit from the high level of education and skill of Iraqi doctors.
Britain's National Health Service would be in serious trouble if all the Iraqis went home.
Lubna Naji says she is determined to stay in Baghdad
Ms Naji is in her last few months at the college.
She says she is determined to stay in what she calls her "city of pain, hope and magic tales".
She took me to the anatomy department, where dozens of students in white coats were crowded around some long-preserved and crumbling cadavers.
After an interesting discussion about the religious challenge of handling dead bodies - normally forbidden to devout Muslims but permitted under a special dispensation for these students - Ms Naji told me how much she loves the small details of anatomical study.
And her professor told me how much he admires Ms Naji's dedication to learning - "My best student!" he said proudly.
The risks surrounding this election are many: violence, of course; fraud; the losers refusing to accept the result; and a long period of political vacuum while politicians wheel and deal to form a governing coalition.
If Iraq's brightest and best, like the dedicated students at the Baghdad Medical College, are to be persuaded to stay and help remake their country, those politicians had better move quickly to seize whatever opportunities come out of Sunday's vote.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
One-Minute World News
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~){kind=small}
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
We cannot keep them here unless we improve security
Angelina Jolie visits Pakistan
© MMX
Bookmark with:
What are these?