Legacy ignored, still threatened
Michael Jansen; 10/4/08
While surfing the net some time ago, I chanced upon one of my own articles published early in February 2003. The article, sent from pre-war Baghdad, was about the certain catastrophic consequences for Iraq and the region of the expected US war on Iraq. In that piece, I reported the words of the keeper of the campus of mediaeval Mustansariya University who said that a US war would be as devastating as the sack of Baghdad in 1258 by Hulagu, the Mongol chief. His followers threw into the Tigris all the books and manuscripts in the city’s many libraries. If this modest man could predict what would happen if the US conducted a “shock and awe” campaign, far more sophisticated Western experts had no business claiming that the pillage of the country’s cultural heritage was an “unforeseen consequence” of the US invasion and occupation. In fact, a Hulagu scenario was predicted confidently by a number of leading archaeologists with long experience in excavating in Iraq. They warned the White House and the Pentagon that massive pillage would be an ineluctable consequence of a war. Looting almost always accompanies war, revolution, unrest and natural disaster.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=7044
Tags: Human Rights, Terrorism, USA