If what I am is what I am, ‘cause I does what I does
Then brother, get back, ‘cause my breast’s gonna bust open
The rib is the shell and the heart is the yolk
And I just made a meal for us both to choke on
FIONA APPLE
Every Single Night | Live in Washington, D.C. (2012)
A Destruction of Mesopotamian History: The 2003 Looting of Iraq’s National Museum
'Bush is criminal' mural in Al-Rashid hotel in Baghdad, commissioned by famous artist Layla Al Attar (ليلى العطار) in 1991.
Regardless of efforts to protect the museums and libraries of Iraq from being looted & destroyed, U.S. military successfully assigned men to chip away this mural of former President Bush on the floor of the Al Rashid Hotel. For days during the uprisings that occured subsequent to the first Gulf War, of 13 museums containing artefacts that ranged back to the dates of the mespotamian age, 9 were completely looted. Many of these stolen artefacts were discovered to being sold on the international black market.
Archaeologists in the United States consider the National Museum of Antiquities, thoroughly sacked, to be among the 10 most important museums in the world.
Examples of stolen artefacts:
a 4,300-year-old bronze mask of an Akkadian king - featured in most books of ancient art history
a small limestone statuette of a prince, circa 3300 B.C.
jewellry from the royal tombs of Ur dating to 2500 B.C.
a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era
a series of small ivories dating to the eighth century B.C.
second-century B.C. Parthian sculptures from Hatra
a collection of around 80,000 cuneiform tablets that contain examples of the some of the world’s earliest writing
To make matters worse, the Bush administration and his military presented this tragedy (their 'extensive looting' of the three major Iraqi cultural institutions in Baghdad) as a spontaneous, unforseeable operation. Where have we heard similar rhetoric? Their whole premise for the 2003 war on discovering so-called 'weapons of mass destruction.' It’s amazing how the US media perpetuates matters to desperately suggest that their actions are consistently justifiable, as after all, they are the ‘Land of the Free’ and the rest of us are in dire need of their support. This self-imposed moral obligation to establishing 'peace' and 'freedom' in Middle Eastern regimes falls nothing short of Western imperialism. Yet, what distinguishes this era of colonialism - more commonly understood under the definition of "neo-colonialism" - is that this intention is left somewhat vague, in other words, disguised. There is no direct claim that they are 'superior,' yet it is heavily implied through their rhetoric and the actions they’ve committed in destroying regimes that are seen as a threat to the hold that they (the White House) have globally.
The Bush administration’s claim that this looting was not 'foreseeable,' is an excuse rooted in cowardice. They had every right to suspect it - the uprisings in the first Gulf War saw looting from nine of the 13 regional museums. The Iraqi National Museum was included in the Pentagon's 'No Strike List' prior to the war. This was a massive loss for not just the Iraqi people, but for the world, for this museum contained artefacts dating back thousands of years.
Such tragedy informs - or rather, reminds - us of one thing: America's priorities have always remained the same. This example of 2003 simply reinforces it. They are driven by the classic imperial policy: divide and conquer. The only thing we can rest assured in is the tragic fact that the West will simply never change. This very geopolitical divide between the ‘West’ and ‘East’ is rooted in the mere desire to contain the power and resources of the East - we’ve seen it with the British in India, Iraq, Egypt; the Italians in Libiya; the French in Lebanon and Syria… the list goes on. What was once considered the hub of knowledge for the world became nothing but a place for power-hungry monarchs to quite simply, divide and conquer.
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