(no subject)
Apr. 12th, 2003 06:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireNothing remained, museum officials said, at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded by archaeologists and other specialists as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 -The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters.
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It's heart breaking to me that the lowest common denominator must drive life in so many ways and at so many times. Because I'm sure there are people out there sincerely overjoyed that Saddam Hussein is gone, and who want to live peaceful lives in their country. CNN has recently begun talking about the torture of Iraqis working for them, which they never reported on previously for fear of endangering the lives of their employees. These people are happy. But then you have people who just want to grab and take and behave with the same crudeness as the people who were in power before. I understand the psychological and social implications of cycles of violence, fear and repression. But it still makes me sad. I suppose that I hope every day people will take the chance to be better than what they are, and so few do. Too few.
I am far too cynical these days to feeel great joy about the liberation of Baghdad. But I do cry, at least once a day, reading about the war.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 -The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters.
~~~~~~
It's heart breaking to me that the lowest common denominator must drive life in so many ways and at so many times. Because I'm sure there are people out there sincerely overjoyed that Saddam Hussein is gone, and who want to live peaceful lives in their country. CNN has recently begun talking about the torture of Iraqis working for them, which they never reported on previously for fear of endangering the lives of their employees. These people are happy. But then you have people who just want to grab and take and behave with the same crudeness as the people who were in power before. I understand the psychological and social implications of cycles of violence, fear and repression. But it still makes me sad. I suppose that I hope every day people will take the chance to be better than what they are, and so few do. Too few.
I am far too cynical these days to feeel great joy about the liberation of Baghdad. But I do cry, at least once a day, reading about the war.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 04:52 pm (UTC)It makes me feel physically ill. Such a tragedy..
Re:
Date: 2003-04-12 05:00 pm (UTC)I once knew someone who wanted to do his graduate work on a great many things he could only study in Iraq. The first Gulf War put those plans on indefinite hold, and it seems they just might be destroyed now. What a waste.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 06:41 pm (UTC)Honestly, I feel nothing about the "liberation" of Iraq other than a dark amusement at my fellow Americans screeching about this latest Triumph of Our Democracy without seeming to realize that they'll be paying for it in every possible fashion for the next thirty-odd years. Not that I say anything out loud, of course, because it's cruel to laugh at the mentally deranged.
Re:
Date: 2003-04-13 04:54 am (UTC)Damn Rumsfeld. Doesn't he realize this is all really awful PR? I mean come on. Dude.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 08:06 pm (UTC)Ya know...when Ferret and his coworkers first went to Egypt in 2000, I joked with them. "This place is cursed. Look at what happened LAST time someone went to Egypt to look for dinosaurs..World War II broke out, the Munich Museum was destroyed, his finds were nearly all destroyed."
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise to have museums be largely-unmentioned casualty of war.
Still..this article hits me hard.
:/
Re:
Date: 2003-04-13 04:56 am (UTC)It reminds me of Afghanistan, a place where a people have had their land and their history slowly and utterly ground into the dust over decades. I should hate to see it begin again. Cycles and change and all that, but gods it's hard to watch.