MADELEINE BRAND, host:
From NPR West, this is DAY TO DAY. I'm Madeleine Brand. Alex Chadwick is away.
Coming up: The president will rack up a lot of Air Force One frequent-flyer miles in the next week. We'll hear where he's going and what he wants.
First, some horrifying news from Iraq today. Gunmen dressed as police commandos kidnapped about 100 people from an Education Ministry building, according to the minister. There have been many kidnappings and killings of educators in post-war Iraq. I'm joined now from Baghdad by NPR's JJ Sutherland. Hi, JJ.
JJ SUTHERLAND: Hi, Madeleine.
BRAND: Well, what happened today with these kidnappings?
SUTHERLAND: Well, what happened was around 9:30 this morning a group of about 20 SUVs pulled up in front of this Ministry of Education building in central Baghdad in a neighborhood called Karada, which is a very busy shopping district and many office buildings.
So they pulled up. They blocked off streets. They burst into this Education Ministry building, which did have blast walls and guards and everything. Then they started at the top floor of this building and started working their way down. They handcuffed every single person in the building. They separated women and men, and they kidnapped everyone there.
According to reports, they shoved them into the backs of pickup trucks and took them away.
BRAND: And reports are also saying that they were dressed as police commandos. Is there suspicion that the police were actually involved?
SUTHERLAND: Well, they were driving the cars that did look like police vehicles and they were wearing uniforms according to the minister of higher education.
The police have long been accused in Baghdad, and Iraq in general, of being infiltrated by illegal private militias. It just seems about - that just about every political party has one, and it's been a contentious issue where America pressuring the Iraqi government to disband them.
The Karada neighborhood itself is controlled by the Badr Militia, which is loyal to SCIRI, which is the largest Shiite political party in Iraq. But there are many other militias that may have taken over parts of the police force, including the Mahdi Army, which we talk about a lot which is loyal to the radical Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr.
BRAND: And, JJ, I've also heard that the people who were kidnapped were separated in terms of their Shia or Sunni affiliation.
SUTHERLAND: That's correct. And this kind of sectarian violence - and again, we do not know which group is behind this, though it's likely it was a Shiite group - but the sectarian violence is really why people, some people are saying that Iraq is slipping into civil war.
And in Baghdad alone, scores of bodies are brought to the morgue daily. Last month there were 1815 victims of violence taken to the morgue. Most of them were bound hand and foot, shot in the head and chest. Many showed signs of torture. The device of choice for that seems to be an electric drill.
And the victims are pretty much split right down the middle between Sunnis and Shias. And many people in Baghdad are so frightened of these death squads that they aren't even leaving their homes anymore.
BRAND: Why target higher education? I understand there's been quite a brain drain there in Iraq of academic talent, people fleeing Iraq.
SUTHERLAND: That's right. Just in the past few weeks two very highly placed academicians were killed, both near their homes and often with their families. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled this country and a lot of academics are among them, as well as doctors, lawyers, any professional group. Because -they are being targeted partially because that they have money, that they have education, and also that that education, their practice, might violate strict Islamic law, either Shiite or Sunni. Baghdad University, and education in general in this country, has been drained of much of the academic talent they had before the war.
BRAND: NPR's JJ Sutherland in Baghdad.
Thank you, JJ.
SUTHERLAND: Thank you, Madeleine.
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