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| Iraq |
| Plunder and the Pentagon |
| 2003-04-24 |
| Jim Hoagland's attempt to excuse the Pentagon and the Bush administration for the loss or destruction of priceless archaeological artifacts belonging to Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities is lame ["Victims of Civic Passivity," op-ed, April 17]. Before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. museum representatives expressed to Pentagon officials their concern for Iraq's cultural treasures in the event of war. Their plea was ignored. Yet the U.S. military was amply prepared to seize and protect Iraqi oil fields. Mr. Hoagland said: "In any event, it is self-defeating for Iraqis (and others) to try to place all responsibility for this cultural disaster on the shoulders of the U.S. military. That perpetuates the myth that outsiders are always responsible for the failures of the Arab world." I can only respond that this tragic loss is a direct result of the invasion and that the U.S. military is responsible. EDWARD McMANUS Chief Conservator National Air and Space Museum Washington This appeared in this mornings Washington Post editorial page. Words cannot express my disgust with Mr McManus. I believe the Director of the Air and Space museum is a former Marine. I hope they get enough bad press about this so McManus gets tossed — but I doubt if that will happen. |
| Posted by:dakotah |
| #13 People,thier lives and freedom are more important than objects. "but cultural,which is obviously a concept difficult to for you philistines to understand, coming as you are from a country without any." By this I take it to mean you support stoning a woman for not wearing a chador,that you have no problem mudering people for having a different faith.If this is your idea of culture then I will proudly wear the cloak of"Phlistine". |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-25 09:03:07 |
| #12 Profshan, I wouldn't assume that because of the dismissive tone here there's no respect for culture. If you bothered to read more postings, you'd appreciate there's an unusual appreciation for, and knowledge of, middle east culture amongst this site's regulars. I wouldn't assume we're all Americans either, or that Americans are even in the majority (I speak as a Brit); another erroneous fact you claim as a result of insufficient research of your subject. More seriously though, as someone who values artifacts, however ancient and historically valuable, over human life, you've subscribed to a coldly murderous form of misanthropy. Perhaps you should ask yourself precisely which objects in the museum collection were worth a human sacrifice, and which were not. Which items would you be prepared to die for? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-04-25 02:44:02 |
| #11 What you guys are calling "pottery" and "a few statues" are worth more than you collective asses put together. Not in monetary terms, but cultural, which is obviously a concept difficult to for you philistines to understand, coming as you are from a country without any. And BTW, what makes freeing Iraqi "women and children from Saddam" antithetical to protecting ancient monuments and cultural treasures? And what makes protecting oil more critical than protecting museums? American greed that's what! |
| Posted by: Profshan 2003-04-25 01:02:26 |
| #10 Oh, no! Not the fog of blog! |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-04-24 14:12:12 |
| #9 i meant prior post - totally befogged today |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-24 12:14:08 |
| #8 oops, that comment belonged under the subsequent post. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-24 11:35:59 |
| #7 becky - i dont blame you for using the word liberal - im ready to admit that at least half of the Dem party is what you mean by liberal, and many of the dems who arent, are not particularly liberal even on domestic matters (like John Breaux, for instance). and of course the people who you mean by liberal are quite eager to grab the label for themselves, and insist that the only hawks are conservatives. Right now I'm looking kindly on Dick Gephardt. Pro-war in Iraq from the beginning, and now pro-Universal Health Insurance. Maybe hes an opportunist, but he's worth another look. More so than Kerry, IMHO. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-24 11:29:17 |
| #6 Will somebody please ask the erudite Mr. McManus if he would write an article on the joy of parents being reunited with their children who were imprisoned for years because they refused to join the "Saddam youth" brigades. Then, after writing said article, could he in good conscience, compare the value of all the "riches" of that museum with just one day of freedom for those children. The loss of the antiquities is regrettable, but the loss of one day of freedom is truly a tragedy. or in other words, "Darn that U.S. military! While they were destroying a tyrannical regime and freeing tortured children, somebody stole some statues!" |
| Posted by: Dripping sarcasm 2003-04-24 09:57:19 |
| #5 No Blood for Pottery! |
| Posted by: Don 2003-04-24 09:38:57 |
| #4 Damn,this dim-wit is a relative.McManus is an Irish surname.The Mc was droped and changed to Manues,when my ancesters imigrated. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-24 09:22:15 |
| #3 I've been reading Kanan Makiya in the New Republic and Chicago Tribune for the past week, as well as Instapundit on this matter. Like many pieces of info. that we got during the fighting on the road to Baghdad, there's more to this story than just what was reported in the first 24 hours. Remember the "1000 vehicle convoy" that was on its way south to meet our forces? To the best of my recollection, after 24 hours, CentCom revised that figure and admitted there were forces coming south, but nothing like 1,000 vehicles. This thought process is guiding me on what to make of the Museum theft. Makiya has a friend in Baghdad who told him it was an inside job. The Trib a couple of days ago quoted soldiers in the area of the museum that it was still a very hot zone when they arrived in the neighborhood, and were, in fact, taking fire from the Museum. Paraphrasing a GI, it wasn't like our guys were out next to the gate smoking cigs and drinking coffee letting people walk in and out with sacks full of booty. He said they were about 500 meters away, and that the common thieves used the back entrance. So, we've got people who knew what to rip off, even before we had invested Baghdad (the insiders), others getting the scraps (the average guys) all with RPG's and bullets flying. A sad story, among many, but it also serves as a sledgehammer to be used by the Left to justify their opposition. Oh, well, whatever. Is this the best they can come up with? |
| Posted by: Michael 2003-04-24 08:02:01 |
| #2 So what's his excuse for the Iraqis having looted the same museum in 1991, when we didn't invade Iraq? |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-04-24 07:29:17 |
| #1 Sorry, I didn't get the link in the title. Please feel free to edit. |
| Posted by: Dakotah 2003-04-24 06:50:06 |