For two months, someone has been kidnapping the best doctors in Iraq. Health officials and doctors estimate that as many as 100 surgeons, specialists and general physicians have been abducted from their homes and clinics since the beginning of April. Some were beaten and tortured. Most were released after the payment of between $20,000 and $200,000 in ransom.

Already plagued by outdated equipment and drug shortages, Iraq's fragile health-care system is buckling under this new security threat. Some doctors who have not been kidnapped have fled Iraq - just as the nation most needs their help. "We are losing the brain power of our most brilliant doctors," said Dr. Sami Salman, internist and medical director at the Special Care hospital at Baghdad's Medical City health-care complex. "You can't just replace these people overnight."

Ransom, it seems, is not the only motivation for the crimes. In many cases, abductors have ordered the physicians to leave Iraq, sometimes setting a deadline. Iraqi officials fear that the abductions and threats are an organized attempt to cripple the country's healthcare network, likening the tactics to terrorist attacks on the country's oil pipelines or electricity plants. "These are not purely thieves," said Dr. Amir Kuzaii, deputy health minister. "These people have different aims. They are professionals. They want to paralyze the basic functions of the country."