The Islamic State has continued its campaign of religious fascism in murdering thousands and “cleansing” areas for its view of the true Islamic faith. This process appears to include the burning of books in cities like Mosul, which once held a treasure trove of ancient texts including works dating back to 5000 BC. Some 2,000 books that range from children’s stories to poetry to historical texts were burned in front of residents who were told that such texts “promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned.”
It is all a part of the purification of areas, including the destruction of Sunni and Christian places of worship and libraries. A University of Mosul history professor said that IS has been systematic in targeting libraries, including a large Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library. It appears that IS may be selling some of the books on the black market, however. The only thing more motivating for the Islamic State than a good cleansing is cold hard cash. Yet, Islamic State is believed to have been successful in its efforts to burn maps and books from the Ottoman Empire and book collections involving works that are centuries old.
As discussed earlier, the Islamic State has already destroyed ancient shrines including those of Seth, Jirjis and Jonah. Their destruction reminds many of the damage from the Mongols who threw ancient books into the Tigris River.
It is particularly telling that, like so many fascists and terrorists before them, Islamic State views education and books to be some of their greatest enemies. It is a movement that thrives on ignorance and feeding their followers with an exclusive mix of extreme Islamic teachings and pure unadulterated hate. They are now preparing to defend Mosul from an expected attack of coalition forces — a battle that could destroy what remains of the city and costs thousands of additional lives.
As an educator, I can only image the pain of faculty at the University of Mosul in watching the very foundation for learning in the ancient city destroyed by these violent and ignorant men. Academics universally believe that the nature progression of humanity is toward knowledge. Islamic State and its predecessors can only slow that progression. However, the loss of these ancient works is a terrible price to pay since they constitute the very foundational works of Islamic education and development.
Treatment: Palliative care. Keep on a morphine drip and away from all media.
“Obama has simply not been perfect in dealing w/ the shameless mess left by the previous administration.”
Diagnosis: Terminal Stage 4 BDS
davidm2575
Charlemagne was one of the first if not the first great unifier of Europe under Christianity. When he conquered a tribe of pagan Germanic people, he lined up the soldiers first and marched them down a path that split into two ways. One way went to a priest and baptism into Christianity and his empire. The other way went to a statue of the local pagan god and the chopping block.
Bible, Koran, smite them, smote them, it’s all the same. Religious fanatics are those who have given up their free will and responsibility to think for themselves. It is a human condition and illustrates various places of societal evolution. When you are born into it and nothing shows up to argue the point, then chances are you will become part of it.
Millions of people living in desperation offered all that malarkey; bound to be some that flip out. Lynch mobs, Wild West genocide, British concentrations camps, German concentrations camps, history is full of it. Holier than thou is a terrible master.
issac – I think Constantine gets credit for being the first Christian conquerer of Europe. Although there is some discussion on whether he was actually a Christian or not. He did convert on his death bed and most theologians think he had a conversion of soul long before that.
issac, those are some very strange history books you have been reading. What Bible verses inspired Charlemagne allegedly to line up Germans with a priest and baptism at the end of one path and a pagan statue and chopping block at the end of the other path?
I find it interesting that you focus on so-called religious fanaticism (doesn’t seem to matter what religion) when the real problem obviously is government fanaticism.
davidm2575
Not on speculation but founded on history, fact, observation, and commonality of opinion, from around the world and more than half of all Americans. The dead speak volumes. The destruction speaks for itself. The shame stuffs a lot of heads up where the sun don’t shine rather than bask in the glow of a repeat of Vietnam. That chaos cost three million lives in Vietnam, another two million in Cambodia, and placed an historically commercial and free trading nation of people well into the grasps of communism.
The only argument against my points is, ‘If Obama had not of drawn down the troops, if Obama had of increased the US troop presence, etc.’ At the time the American public wanted out. At the time Iraq wanted us out. At the time the thugs had not metastasized, the Arab Spring had not started, Iraq was hobbling its way along in the right direction.
It seems that you place the proven chaos, shame, and failures, proven by the facts of history up against hind sight. If one grants that Obama had left troops or even increased the number in Iraq, they would have been there to turn back the thugs pouring in from Syria, one has to also grant that because Americans wanted out he would have been politically on the wrong side of democracy, and one also has to grant that given the Iraqi people wanted the US out, this would not only have fueled the militias’ attacks on US troops but created more destruction and chaos, continuing the flow of dead and maimed back home to the USA. The US is helping Iraq pull its sh*t together and perhaps almost being destroyed by mindless religious fanatics will illustrate to the Iraq people that they have to pull their sh*t together themselves.
You also have to remember that Iran is the biggest problem in the area and before the three stooges went in and tossed everything around the 65% of Iraq’s population that is religiously aligned with 95% of Iran’s population were separated by a strong Iraq. Now Iran’s Shias are more and more aligned with Iraq’s Shias. The whole thing started as a mess made by stupidity and national ignorance. After 9/11 the country was so galvanized that Mickey Mouse could have run it and would have done a better job than the three stooges.
When it comes right down to it, Obama has simply not been perfect in dealing with the shameful mess left by the previous administration.
No need to thank me for the clarification. We are living in the evidence and most have memories that serve them well.
The problem is not what Bush did ten years ago despite the bleating of the BDS crowd. It is the work of the filthy animals that are burning church’s,enslaving women and burning books
Obama’w solution?
Golfing.
Having such a feckless Commander in Chief creates an environment for a military coup.
A Military Times survey in Dec. 2014 of 2300 troops gave Obama a 15% approval rating, down from a poor 35% in 2009.
The military have little respect for Obama. They loved Bush. So, there’s that. They’re the ones fighting and getting killed. What do their opinions tell you?
Yes, it is necessary for all totalitarian regimes to work in the following manner: 1. terrorize ordinary people 2. make people as stupid as possible 3. control information for the benefit of the few 4. destroy cultural heritage 5. construct scapegoats to divert people’s attention from what those in charge are actually doing.
We did those things in Iraq and we are doing them in the US. Here’s a link of interest: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/editor-of-major-german-newspaper-says-he-planted-stories-for-cia/article/424470
ISIS is a creature of the US. Yes, they are pure evil and they were people who we allied with and armed. We should ask some questions of our own leaders–one of those is why did you arm this madmen? Another is, why are you in general obsessed with arming every side in every conflict? Why will you never consider a peaceful solution to anything? Why are you propagandizing our people? Why do you turn people in this nation against each other? Why is the govt. terrorizing its citizens and making us stupid?
Pure evil.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-say-iraq-war-wasnt-worth-the-costs-poll/
Most Americans say Iraq war wasn’t worth the costs: Poll
justagurl – wonder what the results would be if they asked the question “Has the War on Poverty been worth it?”
and No, David, Obama did not pull the USA out….
Iraq wanted us to leave….
It is their country, their choice..
WE should NEVER have gone there in he first place…
and just because many Americans agree with our attacking Iraq,
does NOT mean it was the right thing to do….
justagurl wrote: “Iraq wanted us to leave… It is their country, their choice..”
The collapse of discussions on maintaining troops in Iraq does not equate to your implication that the people of Iraq wanted us to leave. You make it sound like they took a vote for us to go. What the failed discussions really suggest is a failed foreign policy on the part of Barack Obama. At least one person involved in those discussions indicates that President Obama had no interest in staying there and made no effort to engage in talks in order to finish what we started.
dsvidm2575
I intentionally included ‘loath to admit it’. If 53% openly admit it then what percentage realizes it but simply won’t admit it because ‘We Make No Mistakes’?
If you read the papers, even the right wing ones, few if any argue that going in was the right thing to do. They might not dwell on it but the absence of an argument is telling.
The six to eight month disorganization is clearly chronicled in all the newspapers. The scenario was often described illustrating the atrocities committed by roving bands of thugs: murder, rape, looting, vandalizing, etc. The articles were bookended with statements that the occupying troops had orders not to enter these areas and to remain at the checkpoints at the major intersections. Journalists in the US as well as outside the US criticized the US for allowing the situation to slip into chaos. It is not that long ago. The newspapers are there for the reading. That this six to eight month period is the time period it took for several religious leaders to form their militias is also fact. In the beginning they were not there. After eight months they were. Before and for the first few years there was no Alquida either. don’t care about the spelling
The problems in Iraq started, aside from starting the whole fiasco, with the eight month languishing of US troops which instructed the various groups that it was up to them to police their neighborhoods. Once this cancer of militias had infested Iraq, Bush started the patrols and the back and forth began. Mired in the mess, Bush upped US forces with the surge and changed tactics from remotely dealing with the problems from behind large fortified spots to soldiers on the ground in the neighborhoods fighting the insurgents building to building. They established local garrisons in more places and not only pushed out the Sunnis raiding Shias and the Shias raiding Sunnis but revealed through action, for the first time that they were there to make things better. Oh yeah Brenner disbanded the army, sent half a million men unpaid, heavily armed, and pissed off into the streets. By the way, at the time of the surge, the military was given more and direct control. They had little input from the three stooges in Washington. They had already screwed things up.
The surge was not sustainable and even if it were to be kept at its highest level, even if troops were added, it was in the land of the insurgents and as has been shown repeatedly they adapt and one escalation leads to another. There is an interesting documentary called ‘The Surge’. It is composed of interviews with all the leading military figures involved. At the end they pretty much say what was wrong in the beginning and what the surge accomplished. Shock and Awe doesn’t get it done by itself. The administration had nothing prepared other than technology and shock and awe.
Obama had the choice of continuing something that the America public did not want, the Iraqis did not want, and that could only escalate. There was no real win when Bush left office. The insurgents were merely regrouping. Most of the military leaders mirror that. Obama was dammed if he did and dammed if he didn’t. Without Syria’s cancer traveling to Iraq, Iraq would have been continuing the old two steps forward, one step back thing towards either splitting up into three countries or working our some sort of tripartite system of government. There are models.
You can blame Obama, he hasn’t been perfect, but then compared to what? Reread some newspapers from the time before you dismiss what an utter disaster Bush was. I grew up during Vietnam and the one foot in and one foot out underlined with shouldn’t be there anyway, is an amazing parallel.
So, Issac, in other words, you based your assertion on speculation rather than evidence. Thanks for the clarification.
David, Yes, I have read the Koran, and
NOT from Pamela Gellar’s web site either….
It is NO worse than the Bible as far as being violent
and oppressive……
The Koran gets twisted, just as the Bible does…
justagurl wrote: “It is NO worse than the Bible as far as being violent
and oppressive…”
Now I am starting to think that you have not read the Bible either.
justagurl wrote: “The Koran gets twisted, just as the Bible does…”
Right you are about people twisting the Koran, but the ones who are twisting the Koran are the moderates who are not waging Jihad. If you just search for websites with information on this, the websites showing Jihad is called for in the Koran simply list the 167 verses of the Koran without much commentary. The sites that give extensive commentary are the ones that twist what is written to try to explain how the verses do not really mean what they say.
The truth is that Muhammad himself waged jihad, raised up armies, beheaded people, and did all the things that the modern jihadists do. In contrast, Jesus allowed the Romans to nail him to a cross and kill him, never once raising up an army to fight the Romans.
TJustice
When I was an undergrad I enjoyed history, especially the connection between the Greek era and the Renaissance. A fellow student, an Iranian that was attending the same university for different reasons, didn’t want to go back-fall of the Shah and all that-had been educated in London, married an English woman, had a son being educated in France, and himself was a manager for Holiday Inn in Tehran. His version of ancient history was somewhat different than mine. Darius and Xerxes had both over run Greece at their pleasure but finding it impossible to feed their armies and not finding anything to their liking, they went home. Alexander was nothing more than a brigand that rampaged through Persia and eventually died from his blasphemous lifestyle, a mere fly to be swatted. His Middle East was the crucible, where civilization started. He’s partly correct.
When you read JT’s exposes on Erdogan, you might consider this Young Turk to be more than reasonable compared to the rest of them.
My colleague had spent most of his life in Europe yet his country’s version of the past was the gospel.
It’s not only the victors that write the history books. But, there is some truth in everything.
isaac wrote: “Most Americans now understand, even if they are loath to admit it, that invading Iraq was not only unnecessary but bungled totally in the first six to eight months.”
You base this assertion upon what evidence? A gallup poll shows only a small majority (53%) think it was a mistake. Most of those (73%) are wimpy Democrats. So what poll indicates a majority think that we bungled the job in the first six to eight months?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/161399/10th-anniversary-iraq-war-mistake.aspx
It seems to me that the bungling happened much later than that. The problems in Iraq began when President Obama pulled our troops out. President Bush accurately predicted these problems would happen if the troops were withdrawn prematurely, but President Obama ignored Bush’s wisdom in this matter. One can only speculate what opinion polls would have been if President Obama had kept the course and finished stabilizing Iraq.
Paul
That reminds me I have some over due scrolls to return. The fines are going to kill me.
issac – my library has a maximum fine, but depends on when you took the scrolls out. 😉
On the upside, it appears they may be able to reconstruct the library at Herculareum.
justagurl wrote: “so they will not one day read the Koran on their own and realize that ISIL LIED to them… and that these monsters have twisted Islam into a political organization of death, terror and destruction…and that the men of ISIL and so small, that they need to keep women oppressed in order for the men to feel powerful….”
It sounds like you have not read the Qur’an yourself, or the history of Muhammad. As far as I can tell, the members of the Islamic State are the ones who are rightly following the Qur’an and example of Muhammad, and the moderate majority are the ones who have twisted the Qur’an to say something other than what it says.
Just hope some Dan Brown books got thrown in there.