From: Dawsonzhu@aol.com
Date: Sun Apr 20 2003 - 07:04:54 EDT
Jay Willingham wrote:
> From what I have read elsewhere, the valuable pieces were long gone from the
> museums by the time our troops got there. They were taken by people who
> had
> the keys and knew exactly what to take. Some paintings have been recovered
> at the Syrian border, so there may still be hope.
>
That may be so. I grew up in the USA and I even have family
ties as far back as 1610 there. However, living in the East now
for some time has taught me that the US is still a very
young country and I don't think we can really appreciate what
such treasures as the stone of Hammurabi are as a result.
You might do well to visit a country like China to understand
a little better. They were occupied by the Mongolian tribes
twice in their history, but the practice of trash and loot was
never in China's history. The losses that occurred in China are
mostly the fault of neglect or ignorance rather than war. Even
with all these immense losses, there is just an enormous quantity
of artifacts to cover the 5000 years of their history: to see, to walk
on, and even to touch in some cases. And records: volumes and
volumes of writing survive. Don't forget that the Chinese invented
printing and paper in 300 AD, so they were long ahead of the West (by
1200 years) on that alone.
Unfortunately, as a quick read of the scripture will tell you, that
was not the case in the Middle East. Trash and loot was the
standard operating procedure, and most of what we know about
Assyria and Babylon is indirect. What few artifacts are actually
recovered, represent but a humble fraction of what must have
made up these Mesopotamian civilizations.
Ultimately, it is the selfish act of the thieves that is most criminal
here and to think that these were the very people themselves who
have stolen their own rich and prolific cultural history is an
unspeakably shameful act of rebellion indeed.
Nevertheless, the USA's ignorance about these matters is
unfortunate. Perhaps it is more important for Iraq's future to
preserve their oil first, but at least the army could have made
a tiny effort to protect the museum. If they arrived and all the
artifacts were already plundered, then at least the blame would
be firmly on the criminals alone, but what has happened may
turn out to be a very big blot on the whole matter.
I do get tired of the Chinese constantly parading the Great Wall,
paper, printing etc. The totality of Western civilization is also a
very rich (but mostly lost) history. We should look both to the
future as well as the past. Just realize that growing up in the
USA cannot teach you what a tragic loss this really is.
Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.
by Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
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