In Mourning for History
Apr. 15th, 2003 03:29 pmWhy is this happening? Why are they doing this?
Why are they doing this?
According to Robert Fisk, The National Library and Archives of Baghdad was burnt down.
So... were this happening in Washington D.C., first the Smithsonian buildings would have been looted, and then the Library of Congress and the National Archive would have been burnt to the ground.
This despite widely reported international calls to protect the archives. This despite UNESCO and the British Museum publicly deploring the loss of the Museum.
This despite multiple confirmed reports that U.S. Forces actually were within a block of the Museum, and could have intervened in force, in safety.
But I'm beyond questioning why the U.S. and British Forces aren't doing more. It's clear that's their policy. The Ministry of Oil was fully garrisoned after Baghdad was taken. The priorities are clear, and they are unquestioned and it's too late for anything to be done, so what's the point.
(It is in the Geneva Convention that Occupying Powers must protect cultural properties. Must. And the United States has publicly admitted they didn't expect this to happen, so they didn't plan for it and would make what restitution they could. Why they didn't respond when Fisk went and begged for help saving the National Library is beyond me, but once again one assumes the policies and priorities didn't actually change.)
But who burned the Archives? Who burned the Library? Who burned a thousand years of correspondence, of history of the Ottoman Empire? Who went out of their way to burn the Koran Library? Who?
Why?
Iraq has had a loss of more than life. Iraq has lost a huge part of its soul. It looks like the piece of our collective World's Soul that has also been lost.
I feel loss. Intense, personal loss. I don't know why. Unless perhaps it is because I will never know what that library might have told me. And perhaps because this was a worthless, stupid act that benefits no one, feeds no one, teaches no one a lesson, stops no one and hurts everyone. Every last person.
God, why?
Why are they doing this?
According to Robert Fisk, The National Library and Archives of Baghdad was burnt down.
So... were this happening in Washington D.C., first the Smithsonian buildings would have been looted, and then the Library of Congress and the National Archive would have been burnt to the ground.
This despite widely reported international calls to protect the archives. This despite UNESCO and the British Museum publicly deploring the loss of the Museum.
This despite multiple confirmed reports that U.S. Forces actually were within a block of the Museum, and could have intervened in force, in safety.
But I'm beyond questioning why the U.S. and British Forces aren't doing more. It's clear that's their policy. The Ministry of Oil was fully garrisoned after Baghdad was taken. The priorities are clear, and they are unquestioned and it's too late for anything to be done, so what's the point.
(It is in the Geneva Convention that Occupying Powers must protect cultural properties. Must. And the United States has publicly admitted they didn't expect this to happen, so they didn't plan for it and would make what restitution they could. Why they didn't respond when Fisk went and begged for help saving the National Library is beyond me, but once again one assumes the policies and priorities didn't actually change.)
But who burned the Archives? Who burned the Library? Who burned a thousand years of correspondence, of history of the Ottoman Empire? Who went out of their way to burn the Koran Library? Who?
Why?
Iraq has had a loss of more than life. Iraq has lost a huge part of its soul. It looks like the piece of our collective World's Soul that has also been lost.
I feel loss. Intense, personal loss. I don't know why. Unless perhaps it is because I will never know what that library might have told me. And perhaps because this was a worthless, stupid act that benefits no one, feeds no one, teaches no one a lesson, stops no one and hurts everyone. Every last person.
God, why?