Submitted by Arun Gupta (United States), Apr 13, 2003 at 09:00
The looting of the Baghdad National Museum is of the same magnitude as the burning of the ancient library of Alexandria, the burning of books of China by the Qin dynasty, the sacking of the ancient Buddhist universities of Taxila and Nalanda by Muslim hordes,....
the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas.
Under the Geneva Convention, the US is responsible for law and order in the conquered cities. The news is that many academics had contacted the government; in January, a list of prioritized 150 historical and archaelogical sites was provided to the White House and the Pentagon, and the understanding was that all efforts would be made to secure these sites.
Among the items likely lost are the cuneiform tablets recording Mesopotamia from 2000 BC to 200 AD.
Nobody today remembers the wars that accompanied the disasters mentioned above, or the people who died. All that is remembered is the loss of irreplaceable artifacts of human culture. It is not just Iraqis that lost, it is all mankind - it is the heritage of us all.
This is a day of infamy for the American government and its armed forces. Long after 9/11 is forgotten, the Americans will be bracketed with the Taliban as a people who at the turn of the 20-21st century, were causes of some of the greatest losses of human heritage.
To put it in another way, Islamists would like to make it true that there was no history, only jahilliya, before the Prophet Muhammad. Well, this erasure of history that happened through American negligence and dereliction of duty brings us closer to that day.
Rejoice, o Iraq, you are free - liberated of your 7000 year old history !
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