Islamic State bulldozers 'erasing history' in Nimrud, Iraq

Knight-Dragon

Knight-Dragon

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31760656

Archaeologists and officials have expressed outrage about the bulldozing of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud by Islamic State militants in Iraq.

On Thursday IS - which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria - began demolishing the site, which was founded in the 13th Century BC, Iraqi officials said.

The UN cultural body's Iraq director, Alex Plathe, called it "another appalling attack on Iraq's heritage".

"They are erasing our history," Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani said.

IS says ancient shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.

Nimrud lies about 30km (18 miles) south-east of Mosul.

Many of the artefacts found there have been moved to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but larger artefacts remain on site.

As an act of cultural vandalism, the attempt to destroy Nimrud is already being compared with the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddha rock sculptures in Afghanistan in 2001, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut, neighbouring Lebanon.
'Levelled'

IS "assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles," the tourism and antiquities ministry said on Thursday.

It said the militants continued to "defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity", calling for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss how to protect cultural heritage in Iraq.

Nimrud covers a large area, and it is not yet clear whether it has been totally destroyed, our correspondent says.

But a local tribal source told Reuters news agency: "Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground.

"There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely."

Dr Gailani told the BBC that "Nimrud for us in Iraq and for me as an archaeologist is one of the most important [sites]. There are still quite a lot of things that are standing - the reliefs and the statues, the famous winged bulls.

"I don't know what they are doing, they are erasing our history. I wish it was a nightmare and I could wake up. I can't understand their reasons."

"This is really a typical example of what barbarians these people are," said the governor of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Najmaldin Karim.

"Their mission is death and destruction and what's happening in Nimrud it's basically eradicating any semblance of civilisation, history, particularly what's related to Assyrians. It's just barbaric, there's no other way to describe it."

Last week, IS released a video apparently showing militants with sledgehammers destroying historic artefacts in a museum in Mosul.

One militant was seen drilling through and pulling apart what appeared to be a stone winged bull.

That attack was condemned by the UN as a war crime.

IS has controlled Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and nearby areas since June 2014 - a region with nearly 1,800 of the country's 12,000 registered archaeological sites.
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IS says ancient shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.
Click to expand...
Didn't stop them fr smuggling out and selling those 'false idols' on the international market. What hypocrites.
 
I recall the Taliban blowing up statues in Afghanistan as well. I don't understand this level of crazy. But I know that it exists.
 
The Taliban at least took years before they did that. This is immediate and vast in scale. What ISIL is doing pains me deep inside. But, as sad as it is, I know that this precious heritage and history is still less significant than human life. The horror at what they're doing should be more appropriately addressed towards their killings instead.
 
Horrible. I'm not really one to cheerlead for new ground wars in the middle east, but I really wish I could send a fleet of Civ: BE Lev Tanks after Isis (and Boko Haram while we're at it).
 
Enthusiastically endorsing and practicing slavery, genocide, brutal televised executions, mass murder--ISIS is running out of atrocities to commit. But I'm sure they'll cook up something; they're at least as bad as the Revolutionary United Front.
 
Louis XXIV said:
The Taliban at least took years before they did that. This is immediate and vast in scale. What ISIL is doing pains me deep inside. But, as sad as it is, I know that this precious heritage and history is still less significant than human life. The horror at what they're doing should be more appropriately addressed towards their killings instead.
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Yes, my immediate reaction was that it was terrible, but then I realised I'd just felt more outrage over bulldozed stones than over who knows how many shot civilians.
 
I understand the sentiment above, but there's no reason not be absolutely horrified at this orgy of historical destruction as well.
 
Islamic Fanatics can only be dealt with one way, FORCE!
They do not understand any other way, at all.
There are many good, peaceful, religious and respective of other cultures and religions Muslim people in the world. However, this ISIL, or whatever they call themselves, are nothing but a bunch of hateful, mindless brutes. Fortunately the Western World hasn't forgotten what it means to fight and with it's superior armies and firepower will sooner or later overpower and destroy this threat to Civilization as we know it.
I couldn't believe what the Taliban did in Afghanistan, and now this.
Mesopotamia is the cradle of Civilization, they are destroying the history of humankind, inexcusable!
 
Louis XXIV said:
The Taliban at least took years before they did that. This is immediate and vast in scale. What ISIL is doing pains me deep inside. But, as sad as it is, I know that this precious heritage and history is still less significant than human life. The horror at what they're doing should be more appropriately addressed towards their killings instead.
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I think the two are tied together, at least to some extent. As the article in the OP observed, ISIL show particular hostility to artifacts associated with the Assyrian minority, and I think it's reasonable to see this as part of a more general campaign of genocide against the region's ethnoreligious minorities. It might not be quite analogous to the Nazis destroying Jewish cultural artifacts, but there are similar patterns of thought at work.
 
There are very brave Muslims who saved priceless treasures in Afghanistan when the Taliban was on their main destroying spree there.They painted over paintings to hide them, or pretended to deface them. There's little anyone can do about large scultptures and ruins though.

They're the ones who have guts, not us raising a stink about it. Countries who were formerly so tolerant, even in ways superceding the West, are now ruinously destroying their own history and culture. It's beyond monumentally tragic.

Link to video.
 
ISIL has been destroying the ancient ruins of Hatra as well.
Some of these priceless artifacts they sell off for cash to conscript new troops/buy weapons with.
To them there's nothing sacred about theses sites, if they had their way they'd destroy all remnants of the "sinful" past of humanity.
Despicable!
 
I'm not sure why this topic exists. The eradication of historic sites occur daily throughout the U.S. and Europe by the Modernist agenda to eliminate all architecture which pre-dates Modernism. Is this a case of "it's wrong when someone else does it, but not wrong if we do it"?
 
Olson said:
I'm not sure why this topic exists. The eradication of historic sites occur daily throughout the U.S. and Europe by the Modernist agenda to eliminate all architecture which pre-dates Modernism. Is this a case of "it's wrong when someone else does it, but not wrong if we do it"?
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There's nothing in the US that's remotely as old as these things. Hell, there's nothing in the US that's really that old or significant compared to buildings in large parts of Europe.
 
I'm not sure I would associate the demolition of some significant/old buildings in America with the destruction of ancient cities and relics on any level beyond 'stuff got destroyed'.
 
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