There have been reports that are truly disgusting and at the same time pathetic……ISIS is destroying archeological sites…..what kind of MORONs want to destroy their history?
Hopeful my readers have seen the reports of ISIS in Northern Iraq destroying historical sites…..ISIS has set about destroying some ancient Assyrian sites…..
ISIS militants have trashed museum pieces in Mosul with sledgehammers, bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, and yesterday destroyed the Hatra ruins in Iraq, reports the BBC. But while the New York Times catalogs everything that antiquities ministers and workers are doing to stave off the annihilation of some of the world’s oldest artifacts in Iraq and Syria, Iraq’s tourism ministry is pointing the finger at the rest of the world for just watching it happen. “The delay in international support for Iraq has encouraged terrorists to commit another crime of stealing and demolishing the remains of the city of Hatra,” a statement read, per the BBC. “A fool criminal can come with one hit of a hammer and destroy all our efforts, and we can do nothing,” Qais Hussein Rashid, deputy minister for tourism and antiquities, tells the Times. “It’s a great grief.”
Why this destructive mission? To ISIS, ancient art represents idolatry and must be destroyed, the Times notes. But militants have also pilfered many of the artifacts to raise money, experts tracking the thefts tell the Times. Rashid and Minister Adel Shirshab have been lobbying for the US to redirect airstrikes to target militants heading toward other historic sites, the Times notes. And officials took another step yesterday toward designating the ancient Babylon ruins as a Unesco World Heritage Site to offer it more protection. A Babylon “preservation” plan is also in the works, which would include a brick-by-brick rendering of the site so if it were ever destroyed, it could be rebuilt. “This is Iraq’s history,” a visitor at the National Museum of Iraq’s reopening yesterday tells the Times. “You can say it’s the world’s history.”
I think it is great that there is so much concern over the preservation of these sites and antiquities…..but then where was the concern back in 2003 when the protecting of the oil ministry was far more important than protecting the antiquities in the Baghdad Museum?
Now there is a call for air power to be used to help save the historic sites…….
Iraq urged a U.S.-led military coalition on Sunday to use air power to protect the country’s antiquities from Islamic State fighters looting and destroying some of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures.
Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab said only the U.S.-led coalition could put an end to the pillaging.
“Our airspace is not in our hands. It’s in their hands,” he told reporters. “I am calling on the international community and coalition to activate its air strikes and target terrorism wherever it exists.”
Shirshab and the head of Iraq’s state body for antiquities and heritage said Iraqi authorities were still trying to assess the full extent of the damage in Hatra and Nineveh.
“We have confirmation that they bulldozed sites at Nimrud and Hatra. What we don’t have is information about the size of the area which has been razed,” said Qais Rasheed, head of the antiquities board.
I think it is great that someone cares enough to consider the protection of these sites…..but how serious would the US and its coalition partners be about such protection? It is touching that they seemingly care about these sites…..and yet a bit pathetic.
It is a shame that the Cradle of Civilization is now the Cradle of Barbarism.
