Destroying historic and cultural heritage of Northern

Iraq

The land of Prophet Noah and his Arc.

By Latheef Farook
There has been systematic destruction of historic and cultural heritage in Northern Iraq, believed to be the
land of Prophet Noah and the area where his Arc landed.
Western media, integral part of US led European-Zionist war machines against Muslims worldwide,
described this as crimes committed by ISIS- suspected to have been equipped by America, trained by
Israels mossad and funded by Saudis.

Object 1

The destruction of statues and artifacts that date from the Assyrian and Akkadian
empires, revealed in a video supposed to have been published by Isis on Thursday 26
February 2015, drew ire from the international community and condemnation by all
alike.
The head of the United Nations agency mandated to protect heritage sites said on 26
February 2015 that she is deeply shocked by the footage depicting the destruction of
statues and other artifacts at the Mosul Museum in Iraq.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) DirectorGeneral, Irina Bokova, condemnedthe deliberate attack against Iraqs millennial
history and culture, calling it an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred.
This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy this is also a security issue as it fuels
sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq, Ms. Bokova said.
She emphasized that the attack was in direct violation to the most recent Security
Council resolution 2199 that condemns the destruction of cultural heritage and adopts
legally-binding measures to counter illicit trafficking of antiquities and cultural objects
from Iraq and Syria.
This is why I have immediately seized the President of the Security Council to ask him
to convene an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the protection of Iraqs
cultural heritage as an integral element for the countrys security, Ms. Bokova
stressed.
Large statues from the UNESCO world Heritage site of Hatra, as well as unique
artefacts from the archaeological sites of the governorate of Ninewah have been
destroyed or defaced in the Mosul Museum, among many other pieces.
The systematic destruction of iconic components of Iraqs rich and diverse heritage
that we have been witnessing over the past months is intolerable and it must stop
immediately, said the Director-General, reiterating her numerous previous
statements on this matter.
In a statement this afternoon, Thomas P. Campbell, the director of the Metropolitan
Museum, expressed sadness and anger over these actions:

Speaking with great sadness on behalf of the Metropolitan, a museum whose collection
proudly protects and displays the arts of ancient and Islamic Mesopotamia, we
strongly condemn this act of catastrophic destruction to one of the most important
museums in the Middle East.
The Mosul Museums collection covers the entire range of civilization in the region,
with outstanding sculptures from royal cities such as Nimrud, Nineveh, and Hatra in
northern Iraq. This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human
understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our
universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding.
Such wanton brutality must stop, before all vestiges of the ancient world are
obliterated.
Twelve years after the American led invasion, Iraq remains a country robbed of its very
valuable heritage carefully preserved over thousands of years and all valuable
documents burnt and destroyed.
Most countries in the world were against United States led war on Iraq in 2003, but
they couldnt speak out their minds due to political, economic and other reasons.
There were passionate pleas from political and religious leaders, including the then
Pope, against the war Political activists, intellectuals and men and women from all
walks of life, from Sydney, Melbourne and Jakarta to London, Paris. Berlin, Rome and
cities all over the US, came out in their thousands in the shivering cold to demonstrate
their opposition to the war.
Yet war criminal George Bush together with British war criminal Tony Blair dispatched
their troops to invade Iraq and please their Zionist masters. One of the first things the
invading troops did was to plunder its precious heritage. Iraqs national museums and
archives were robbed of their priceless relics and documents.

Under this well-organised cultural crime, described as the worst cultural catastrophe
of all time, US soldiers stood by and watched, as invaluable historic artefacts were
openly robbed from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. Earlier US troops did
nothing to stop the pillaging of Babylon, the cradle of civilisation regarded as one of
the Seven Wonders of the World, when looters removed precious items for more than
two weeks. A pattern of looting began everywhere the day the US troops entered the
area.

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Hatra in Iraq. Photo: UNESCO/Vronique

DaugeAarchaeologists and Guide, Ahmed Al Ibrahim stated that looters entered on
the same day when the US troops arrived. Museum authorities and archaeologists
transferred many of their cherished heirlooms of Babylon into the vaults of Baghdads
National Museum for safety but, there too, these items were looted systematically the
day US troops entered the city.
Within weeks around 170,000 items, including the Warqa Vase of 3500 BC, the bulls
head of Ur and the squatting Akkadian King of 2300BC, were missing. Lamenting over
this pillage, British MP Boris Johnson, also the editor of The Spectator, cried his heart
out when he said, it fills me with rage to think that at least some of the spoils of Iraqs
National Museum will, in all likelihood, end up as the bibelots in the brownstone of
some bankers in New York.
How can the US accuse the people of looting because Dr. Irving Finkle of the Ancient
Near East Department of the British Museum pointed out that at least four of the
looted objects were so vast such as a larger-than-life sculpture of an Assyrian king
that it would have taken a fork-lift to move them?

The question is who robbed them? Within days it became clear that American
journalists and certainly invading troops were involved in this shameful robbery. Just
to cite few examples, Americas Fox News Channel fired Benjamin Johnson who was
caught smuggling twelve paintings and undeclared Iraqi bounds while Boston Herald
reporter Jules Crittenden tried to smuggle a painting and a wall ornament.
Subsequently most of these precious items end up in America and Israel with black
marketers thriving on the rape of the worlds oldest civilisation.
Twelve years later today valuable historic and cultural heritage of northern Iraq is now
being destroyed.
Posted by Thavam