It Is The Death Of History

[DeSwiss]

It is the death of history

Independent UK
Special investigation by Robert Fisk
Published: 17 September 2007

2,000-year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty Ur of the Chaldees cracking under the strain of massive troop movements, the privatisation of looting as landlords buy up the remaining sites of ancient Mesopotamia to strip them of their artefacts and wealth. The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilisation – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation.

Evidence amassed by archaeologists shows that even those Iraqis who trained as archaeological workers in Saddam Hussein's regime are now using their knowledge to join the looters in digging through the ancient cities, destroying thousands of priceless jars, bottles and other artefacts in their search for gold and other treasures. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, armies of looters moved in on the desert cities of southern Iraq and at least 13 Iraqi museums were plundered. Today, almost every archaeological site in southern Iraq is under the control of looters.

In a long and devastating appraisal to be published in December, Lebanese archaeologist Joanne Farchakh says that armies of looters have not spared "one metre of these Sumerian capitals that have been buried under the sand for thousands of years. "They systematically destroyed the remains of this civilisation in their tireless search for sellable artefacts: ancient cities, covering an estimated surface area of 20 square kilometres, which – if properly excavated – could have provided extensive new information concerning the development of the human race.

"Humankind is losing its past for a cuneiform tablet or a sculpture or piece of jewellery that the dealer buys and pays for in cash in a country devastated by war. Humankind is losing its history for the pleasure of private collectors living safely in their luxurious houses and ordering specific objects for their collection."

http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2970762.ece

- A blundering, idiot destroying history. How apt.

[Double T]

1. One more atrocity to add to the supreme idiot's list.

But just think of ALL the careers it has created on ebay.

[Solly Mack]

2. Sickening

[htuttle]

3. Emperor Theodosius I is still cursed for burning the Library at Alexandria...

...and a thousand years from now, George W Bush will be despised the same way.

That's quite a legacy, I guess.

[WinkyDink]

5. By me (Library at Alexandria), I might add, being quite interested in all that stuff.

[WinkyDink]

4. I said this on DAY ONE of "Shock and Awe". SOMEBODY had, quite literally, a shopping list

for what to loot.

This was all part of Bushco's plan, IMO, as the Nazis also plundered.

Bushco = Taliban West.