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Iraq Invasion ‘Biggest Cultural Disaster Since 1258′
February 23rd, 2006 at 19:07 Björn Hallberg
“Civilization” comes to Mesopotamia …
One million books, 10 million documents, and 14,000 archaeological artifacts have been lost in the U.S.-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq - the biggest cultural disaster since the descendants of Genghis Khan destroyed Baghdad in 1258, Venezuelan writer Fernando Baez told IPS.
See also:
Razing Iraq, Barbarians in Babylon
Entry 461 filed under: Middle East. This entry was posted 2 years, 9 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.
The presence in Iraq is not an occupation. Occupying forces do not engage terrorists on a daily basis. The situation is not like any “occupation” in history. I know not what to call it, but it is something new.
Right, except the “terrorists” aren’t terrorists at all. Had this been Nicaragua of the recent past, they would have been billed as freedom fighters. It’s all a question of whether or not they support U.S. policies.
Historical analogy: U.S. invading the Philippines, while it initially seemed like a reasonable idea routing the Spanish, America quickly transformed into the next occupier. The brutal oppression and fierce resistance that followed in all likelihood killed, directly and indirectly, as many as 1.000.000 people. This is also relevant since America frequently used the term “insurgents” to denote the opposition to colonization. In fact the word “war” never came up in official pennings. The “Philippine Insurrection” doublespeak made it seem as though the conflict was between rebels and a legitimate government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_War
Of course, since then we have come a long way and now rely on “democracy”, economics, constitutional mumbo jumbo and trumped up elections to provide further legitimacy.
Or one could take an example from Nazi Germany, which is unrelated to American history but nonetheless very poignant. Because obviously, Nazi Germany did not occupy Eastern Europe as they also engaged partisans (and slaughtered civilians)?
“Partisans Then, Terrorists Now…”
http://utah.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/12544.php
Clearly, a nation that was founded on the actions of “terrorists” rejecting British rule should not be so quick to judge.