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Source: Sabre Foundation, Inc. via IraqCrisis email announcement
Breaking News
August 22, 2007

Support for Iraqi libraries, not so good

Last week brought two front page articles on Iraqi universities and scholars. The Financial Times, August 26, 2007 article, "Gates Foundation to help Iraqi academics escape persecution" describes a new fund, administered by New York City-based International Institute of Education, to relocate persecuted Iraqi scholars to neighboring countries. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 August 2007 article offers a sharp contrast, "Oasis in Iraq: Universities Flourish in Kurdistan", with a subtitle: Campuses are packed with students in a region largely untouched by war.

We thought this a good time to circulate as widely as possible information on the work Sabre has been doing in Iraq over the past several years (please see attached article). In summary, Sabre has sent three ocean freight containers holding over 34,000 new books (and CD-ROMs) and an additional 1,476 books by air. A version of this article will appear in the forthcoming Summer Update and will be online shortly. I believe you will find it interesting to read.

We are trying to build interest in our activities Iraq in order to expand the program so please circulate the article as you see fit. The needs are truly great!

It is important to note that our efforts on behalf of universities in Iraq would not have been possible without the dedicated support provided by the individuals referenced in the article, namely:

Dr. Ekhlass A. Jarjees, Entomologist & Manager of the Hawaii-Iraq Education Partnership at the University of Hawaii
Michael Masterson, former Economics Advisor at the Mosul office of the US Embassy
Jeff Spurr, Sabre Advisory Committee Member and Islamic and Middle East Specialist, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University

One name conspicuous in its absence is that of Sabre's primary contact person for the Baghdad-based Al-Sharaka Program. This is at his request.

*****************
Tania Vitvitsky
Executive Director
Sabre Foundation, Inc.
872 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 2-1
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
tel: 1 617/868-3510
fax: 1 617/868-7916