Yesterday, as no doubt you all have noticed, there was a mass kidnapping of civil servants at the Higher Education Ministry yesterday perpetrated by men dressed in police uniforms. They abducted around 55 persons according to the NYT (although initial reports had the figure as high as 150)

From today’s NYT: Dozens Abducted in Brazen Raid on Iraq Ministry

Gunmen dressed in Iraqi police commando uniforms and driving vehicles with Interior Ministry markings rounded up dozens of people inside a government building in the heart of Baghdad on Tuesday and drove off with them in one of the most brazen mass kidnappings since a wave of sectarian abductions and killings became a feature of the war.

In this context we have a rather astonishing response from the Prime Minister of Iraq (via Reuters): Iraqi PM plays down kidnap as ilitia dispute

“What happened was not terrorism, rather it was due to dispute and conflict between militias from one side or another,” Maliki said in televised remarks. He later said the government’s response had been strong and vowed to catch those responsible.

[…]

In a speech at Baghdad University, apparently timed to allay academics’ fears for their security, Maliki said universities would remain open and should be free of sectarian influence.

“Most of the hostages have been released and we will pursue those who were behind this,” Maliki said.

First off, the tactics in question are clearly terroristic, so we are splitting hairs semantically at this point.

Second, the sort of “don’t worry, everything’s fine” routine wouldn’t be too comforting to me, if I worked at the University.

Third, and most importantly, the sectarian violence is far worse for Iraq than the terrorists, especially when it is masked behind official uniforms and when it is striking directly at the attempts of the creation of some normal state functions. The increasing inability of the Iraqi people to trust uniformed security personnel is a devastating problem.

If people who work at the education ministry, who should be considered noncombatants and innocuous, are not safe to go to work, who is? There is also an undercurrent here that is suggestive that the militias are trying to disrupt higher education purposefully because it will cause educated, secularly-oriented individuals to flee the country.