is typical of America's racism and lack of respect for other cultures that this was allowed to happen. It is a tragedy of the greatest magnitude.

Not only have many in the world, mostly the United States, been desensitized to the destruction and the killing, the war makers are also desensitized to what they are doing in Iraq. Those who handle the missles and bombs - and drop them, scrawl their insensitive and child-like messages (as if anyone will ever read them - unless they are duds).

"On the steel torsos of their missiles, adolescent American soldiers scrawl colorful messages in childish handwriting: "For Saddam, from the Fat Boy Posse." A building goes down. A market. A home. A girl who loves a boy. A child who only ever wanted to play with his older brother's marbles." [Arundhati Roy, "The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire" - In These Times - (4.11.03)]

Those who dropped their guided and unguided missles and bombs don't see the faces of their victims. They're merely targets and we've heard the phrase lately, "targets of opportunity" as if a face and name was not in some way attached to that target.

"On March 21, the day after American and British troops began their illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, an "embedded" CNN correspondent interviewed an American soldier. "I wanna get in there and get my nose dirty," Private AJ said. "I wanna take revenge for 9/11."" [Roy]

And the consequence of being separated from truth, many now believe that Saddam was connected to 9/11 when there was no connection at all.

"To be fair to the correspondent, even though he was "embedded" he did sort of weakly suggest that so far there was no real evidence that linked the Iraqi government to the September 11 attacks. Private AJ stuck his teen-age tongue out all the way down to the end of his chin. "Yeah, well that stuff's way over my head," he said." [Roy]

So what was the problem of that soldier who told Iraqis when they were protesting the presence of U.S. troops to "get out of my fucking face, we're here so you can have freedom." The problem is he does not recognize that freedom also includes the freedom to protest. It does not include a freedom to be abused by him? It should not be a freedom to be persecuted and oppressed or the freedom to be subjected to wild west justice and U.S. coalition forces shooting them almost at will and shouting in their faces. What the soldier probably means freedom to have the same kind of fake democracy the troops have in America - to fight wars for the ruling elites and to serve an appointed president, just as their leaders will be chosen by the regime in Washington.

"According to a New York Times/CBS News survey, 42 percent of the American public believes that Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And an ABC News poll says that 55 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein directly supports the al-Qaeda. What percentage of America's armed forces believe these fabrications is anybody's guess." [Roy]

SO how much care and concern for artifacts would you expect from people of which many blame the Saddam regime and Iraqi people? Because no one knows how many were supportive of Saddam - but if they saw the television clips and propaganda from Iraq it would appear most of them loved Saddam Hussein when Saddam was the strongman they expected him to be.

Nabhal Amin, deputy director at the Iraqi National Museum, is certainly correct to blame the destruction of national treasure on the United States for not taking control of the situation on the streets. The U.S. is violating the Geneva Convention for not protecting the hospitals and should have anticipated the lawlessness which would accompany the invasion of Iraq. For them not to do so is a crime against the people of Iraq and a crime against humanity.

Looters took or destroyed 179,000 items of antiquity at the museum hauled away what they wanted by the wheelbarrow full. These treasures are the record of civilization in Mesopotamia and they date back 5,000 years. They are irreplaceable and they are invaluable. Artifacts are pieces of history and Iraq was the birthplace of agriculture. Various empires move through Iraq and still these treasures were preserved. Writing can be traced to this region. Yet, all it took was less than a month of U.S. unprovoked aggression and culpable disregard for their history, to disrespect them, and to wreak so much destruction and death.

The world and Iraq's history did not begin this month but to the Americans waging an unjust and unprovoked war it didn't seem to matter.

Hank Roth http://pnews.org/

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