The BRussells Tribunal refers both to a series of hearings taking place in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, April 14-17, 2004, as part of the World Tribunal on Iraq

World Tribunal on Iraq

The World Tribunal on Iraq was a people's court consisting of intellectuals, human rights campaigners and non-governmental organizations, and was active from 2003-2005. Set up following the 2003 invasion of Iraq it sprung from the anti-war movement and is modelled on the Russell Tribunal of the...

, and to the group of people who organised these hearings.

The hearings focused on the programs and policies of the Project for the New American Century

Project for the New American Century

The Project for the New American Century was an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that lasted from 1997 to 2006. It was co-founded as a non-profit educational organization by neoconservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan...

 (PNAC), its role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

 and subsequent occupation, and the role of the invasion and occupation of Iraq as part of the PNAC's program of military domination of the Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

.http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Tribunal.htm

Claim of assassination campaign against Iraqi academics

In January 2006, the BRussells Tribunal distributed a statement (as part of a petition) supporting Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...

's earlier, July 14, 2004 statement that "University staff suspect that there is a campaign to strip Iraq of its academics, to complete the destruction of Iraq's cultural identity which began when the American army entered Baghdad."

The BRussells Tribunal claimed that violence against academics in post-invasion Iraq

Violence against academics in post-invasion Iraq

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iraqi academics have frequently been threatened with violence, kidnapped, or murdered. Although it is impossible to determine the exact scale of the violence and intimidation, the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education reported that over 3,250 academics had fled the...

 amounts to a systematic campaign to liquidate Iraqi academics

Academia

Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

, with the assassination of over 250 academics and disappearance of hundreds of others, was occurring. Combined with Iraqi academics leaving the country due to fear for their safety, the claim is that the Iraqi academic community was being literally destroyed, and that , the campaign has not stopped.

While Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...

 cited some hypotheses of the groups behind the killings, the BRussells Tribunal claimed that the wave of assassinations was "non-partisan and non-sectarian, targeting women as well as men, countrywide, indiscriminate of expertise: professors of geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

, history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and Arabic literature

Arabic literature

Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....

 as well as science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 are among the dead."

According to the tribunal, no suspects have been apprehended in connection with the assassinations as of early 2006. The group note that "as an occupying power, and under international humanitarian law, the final responsibility for protecting Iraqi citizens, including academics, lies with the United States."

External links

• BRussells Tribunal: Iraqi Academics
• Academics targeted as murder and mayhem hits Iraqi colleges, Robert Fisk
  Robert Fisk
  Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
  
  , July 14, 2004