This is abusurd that the US army is letting this happen, would you like it if a foreign army invaded US and destroyed the constitution, and the declaration of independance? Or pictures and galleries of ancient presidents and other drawings? No, you wouldn’t because it’s too precious to be destroyed.
It goes the same with Iraq, Mesapatomia, Ottaman Empire, Persia, Babylon, and on and on and on…
Yeah, but things like this happen - it’s war after all. It’s not the US army’s fault that the Iraqi’s want to go in and steal valuable articles of their own. The US really had nothing to do with it but put a dictator out of power.
i think it is our responsibility to protect those artifacts, seeing as how we are the ‘new sherrif in town.’ No big deal though, because im sure all of the destroyed information would only proove to conflict with our version of history as its printed in our school textbooks…
Well Majeye, it is quite unfortunate these aftifacts were destroyed. I am sure if we could, we could have tried to protect these artifacts. Baghdad is a large city, and the rampant looting that went on would be difficult to control by a group of anxious, and probably scared US soldiers who have more important things such as avoiding enemy fire.
We have to place ourselves in the soldiers’ shoes - if we were in an area where we could be killed at any instant, our primary responsibility would be to ensure that the threat level is minimized.
I believe that many of the artifacts may be returned after searching several people’s homes, etc. I strongly doubt that the Iraqi people would destroy these artifacts - maybe hang them on the wall or something
these types of things happen when 80% of the country is starving while the other 20% lives in relative luxury with their eyes closed. I’m not saying it’s right, but was anyone really surprised by the looting?
Also, one need not look all the way at Iraq at the looting that went on there. When hurrican Andrew hit Florida a few years ago, there was rampant looting by Americans who had the opportunity to simply walk in and walk out with whatever they wanted.
…hehe, but again, in a situation like that, would you as an armed soldier, be willing to venture into the unknown, hostile streets of Baghdad with your friend to guard the museum while you hear gunshots all around you (-:
the Iraquis also knew that Coalition forces would not shoot civilians, even if looting. Unless you are going to back it up with force, it is kinda stupid to try enforce order.
if i was a soldier, it would be my job to follow orders, wether or not bullets were whizzing by, and the fact is that orders were not given to gaurd these museums.
Yeah, orders were not given, but I do not believe that Centcom was aware of such as this. One must also realize that countless other homes were ransacked - it would be a little unfair to the Iraqi’s whose material got stolen while we are guarding a museum that a majority of them probably never gained access to seeing.
What are you talking about Iraqis not being allowed to go into the musuems? What does that mean, yeah the brutal Saddam Hussein dictator didn’t let Iraqis go into a musuem because the ancient artifacts might be a threat to his regime.
And, the looting is happening as you said because the city is in chaos, that’s when you here “US has control of Baghdad!” well, they don’t have control. Because if they did they wouldn’t feel threatened to walk down “the erie streets” of Baghdad.
Sigh…I’m sure the US had better things to do at the instant they entered baghdad than try to save a museum filled with artifacts. The sound of freedom travels faster than any tank, airplane, or bullet. The US could have done:
A.) prevent innocent civilians from stealing
B.) prevent the republican guards from firing at them
In order to be rational, B took a higher priority. The city is a lot safer now - but not before it was too late.
The marines are not trained to be policemen. They are trained to shoot people in the head. Their job is to shoot people, not politely ask someone to leave and then handcuff them if they don’t. If they shot the looters, you’d get mad, if they let them loot, you get mad.
I wouldn’t say that Nali - the marines are also trained in humanitarian aid, etc. They are also versed in the local culture of the area so they don’t do anything offensive. It just wouldn’t have been practical for them, at that instant, to save a museum while they were being fired at.
so let me recapp. the streets were not safe enough for trained soldiers with guns, but were safe enough for Iraqi citizens to run around smashing ancient vases, and snatching priceless artifacts, because they weren’t being fired at by either side. Centuries worth of rich history is lost, and that fact cant be changed. And here i am arguing over something that i had nothing to do with.
Great!
Anyways, i just think the whole situation stinks, and im sorry if i upset anyone, or wasted anyones time by playing devils advocate…
thanks for the conversation all who participated. peace.
Well, Majeye, I see your point as well, but would you rather have the US troops fire on the iraqi citizens? Also, nobody knows if troops were in the area of the museum - it isn’t as if this happened with marines standing there watching it
Yeah and if the foreign army did invade US, and everyone looted and burned the libraries, the invaders weren’t trained to be policemen, and they were more focused on preventing the National Guard from firing at them. It’s the same thing guys, it’s just happening in a different land that’s all. And the invaders that invaded US said that they were liberators coming to liberate the American people.
