Displacement of qualified Iraqis is catastrophic- speaker

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Monday described the displacement of qualified Iraqis as a “real and big catastrophe.” “The death of a writer under normal circumstances is catastrophic, then how would the immigration of flocks of Iraqi scientists and intellectuals be like?” Mashhadani said in a speech during the first Conference on Iraqi Elites and Efficiencies, which opened earlier today in Baghdad. This morning, the first Conference on Iraqi Elites and Efficiencies opened in the capital Baghdad under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker Sheikh Khaled Atiya and with the participation of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker al-Mashhadani. SS (P) 1