With the war in Iraq all but over, the nation’s opportunitiesmight be endless — if only academia could get there.

But some professors say they are unsure whether the end ofSaddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq would make Iraq available toresearchers.

“I’m a little skeptical,” said anthropology Prof. William Irons.”I wouldn’t pack my bags right now.”

Few academics are planning a trip to Iraq or neighboringcountries in the Middle East because of recent military action inthe region. Irons, who traveled to Iran on three separate occasionsduring the 1970s, said he is hesitant to return due to concernsabout his personal safety.

Irons said his main concern is that the Kurds in northern Iraq,who have long pushed for an independent state, will be a source offurther strife in the country — making research opportunitiesdifficult for foreigners.

Prof. Helen Schwartzman, chairwoman of NU’s anthropologydepartment, said the state of the Iraqi government is also inlimbo.

“The question in my mind is not what research opportunities areavailable but what is going to happen to the country in terms ofchange or transformation,” she said.

Although University of Chicago researchers canceled anexcavation trip to Egypt this spring because of the war, TonyWilkinson, an associate professor at the university’s OrientalInstitute, said aborted research programs should not be a mainconcern at this time.

“The first need now for the community is to do some sort ofdamage assessment to find out what needs to be done next,”Wilkinson said.

Since the start of the war, looters have stolen more than170,000 artifacts from Iraq’s National Museum, located in thecapital city of Baghdad. NU art history Prof. Ann Marie Yasin saidrecovering those items will be difficult because an inventory wasincomplete at the time of the looting and many records weredestroyed.

“One hopes that the more valuable objects are stashed awaysomewhere,” Yasin said. “But those that got destroyed were still ofhistorical value.”

Wilkinson called the pillaging “a huge loss” for the academicworld. But Yasin said curators in Iraq prepared for a possible warby making an effort to protect some of the more important items.Curators from both the United States and Britain are also in Iraqto aid with the process of cataloging the missing items from themuseum, she said.

The war also had prevented students from traveling abroad toconduct research. Megan Keefe, a Weinberg senior, said she wouldlike one day to do research in Iraq but will not be going thereanytime soon. The prospect of professors and students experiencingthe country first-hand seems like a great opportunity, theanthropology major added.

“I think it’s going to be also very interesting because most ofthe information we get is from journalists,” Keefe said. “(It willbe valuable to have) a more academic assessment of what’s goingon.”

But Wilkinson said not even U.S. Secretary of Defense DonaldRumsfeld knows when Iraq will be safe for travel to conductacademic research.

“Our own needs as a research community are probably lessimportant that those of the Iraqi people,” he said.