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April 19,
2003
The
Rape of History
The
War on Civilization
by
GARY LEUPP
"This is what the Americans wanted.
They wanted Iraq to lose its history."
Donny George, Director for Research,
Iraqi Ministry of Antiquities (quoted by Associated Press, April
16)
It doesn't speak well of me, but I confess I did
not cry looking at the photos of the kids with amputated limbs,
the little boy with half his head blown off, the cities in flames.
I grew up during the Vietnam War, and I'm used to seeing such
atrocities in the print media. These results of U.S. imperialism
make me angry, of course, and more determined than ever to resist,
but they don't evoke tears anymore. I'm too old, hardened and
tired for that.
But the Museum. The Library. You kill
these things and you kill what I do, what I'm all about. I'm
an historian. I sit in archives in Japan in normal times and
handle seventeenth century manuscripts, deciphering elegant official-style
handwriting in cursive Chinese characters on durable mulberry
paper. Maybe there is value in that sort of investigation. Or
maybe it should all go up in flames, the texts and me and everything
that makes sense to me.
My tears of rage are for the smashed
cuneiform tablets, the Sumerian pottery, the priceless Qurans,
and for the Iraqi people whose extraordinary cultural heritage
has been viciously assaulted in these last few days. How many
Americans tuning into CNN and Fox realize the magnitude of this
outrage?
Rumsfeld smirks in response to reporters'
inquiries, opining that "riots" happen in all societies.
But there is a difference between soccer hooliganism, righteous
anti-racist uprisings, and cultural rape and murder. The last
few days have seen crimes exceeding the Taliban pulverization
of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. The better analogy would be the destruction
(by a Christian mob) of the Library in Alexandria in 415, or
again by Arab invaders in 686. Civilization itself is under attack,
and the assailants, whom the Iraqis properly compare to the Mongol
invaders of the thirteenth century, wave the red-white-and-blue
(until enraged crowds force them to temporarily pocket that bloody,
globally hated emblem).
I don't know much about the above-quoted
Donny George. I imagine he's a decent professional, expressing
an informed opinion when he says, "This is what the Americans
wanted." The word on the street is that U.S. commanders,
irked by the lack of the expected exuberant manifestations of
appreciation from the "liberated" population, a shell-shocked
population inclined to stony silence, and unwilling to go to
the trouble of orchestrating more media events like the toppling
of the 20 foot statue of Saddam in Baghdad's main square (in
which, Paula Zahn told us, U.S. forces "helped" Iraqis
achieve that project, even though the square was emptied of Iraqis
at the time), encouraged those so inclined to get out in the
streets and act happy. And what makes thugs happier than looting
and burning? Saddam had emptied the prisons some time back, and
there were lots of thugs available to exult and smile and help
Iraq lose its history.
Thugs don't care about history. Knowing
that the worst among them are in charge of this country, and
smirking and grinning steering their troops down the road to
Damascus (where there are more museums and libraries, sometimes
with children innocently studying in them, like children should),
I truly grieve.
Gary Leupp
is an an associate professor, Department of History, Tufts University
and coordinator, Asian Studies Program.
He can be reached at: gleupp@tufts.edu
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Robert
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The Final Sacking of Baghdad
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War Web Log 4/15
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