Like many oil-rich countries in the Middle East, Iraq uses its oil revenue to employ people, often in jobs in government — the country’s largest employer — that do not require a lot of effort. After the United States overthrew Mr. Hussein, tens of thousands of highly educated Iraqis who had run the government fled the country, and many who stayed were excluded from remaining in the government.

Iraqis from the countryside flocked to Baghdad as the government was slowly rebuilt, hoping to become civil servants, jobs that come with significant salaries and perks like free land. The problem for these people, however, was that an Iraqi law that dates from before Mr. Hussein seized power requires government workers to have completed certain levels of education.

Many people seeking jobs in the reformulated government lacked the appropriate diplomas, but they were able to exploit the fact that many public documents had been destroyed after the fall of the Hussein government. Without adequate records about who had graduated from which school, many Iraqis pressed school officials to sign documents that said they had graduated from schools that they had never even attended.

Some school administrators resisted the pressure to issue phony diplomas and certificates, and like Dr. Essawi some were threatened. Meanwhile, the post-Hussein government began to fill with unqualified employees, many of whom had not finished elementary school.

“This is a big reason why Iraq hasn’t progressed,” said Alya Nusaif, a member of Parliament who serves on the integrity committee.