Nimrud Bulldozed

[Stavroforos]

Such attitude has lost Greece to the Orient. The Partenon and all these things that were blown up by such people.

Right, and the day that preserving marbles from thousands of years ago becomes more important than pursuing our present day interests is the day I'll no longer want to be part of this world.

[Derpy Hooves]

Myabe we should start a petition on the White House website asking the president to use drone strikes to prevent any harm befalling the ruins

[Mary The Quene]

Myabe we should start a petition on the White House website asking the president to use drone strikes to prevent any harm befalling the ruins

Well what happens when the drone misses its targets and accidently hits the ruins? Not without risk

[Knight of Heaven]

They bulldozed and razed the ruins of the ancient city of Hatra now as well.... Wich was considered world heritage site by United nations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0M30GR20150307

An official told Reuters that the ministry had received reports from its employees in the northern city of Mosul, which is under the control of the radical Islamist group, that the site at Hatra had been demolished on Saturday.
The official said it was difficult to confirm the reports and the ministry had not received any pictures showing the extent of the damage at Hatra, which was named a world heritage site in 1987.
But a resident in the area told Reuters he heard a powerful explosion early on Saturday and said that other people nearby had reported that Islamic State militants had destroyed some of the larger buildings in Hatra and were bulldozing other parts.
Hatra lies about 110 km (70 miles) south of Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control. A week ago the militants released a video showing them smashing statues and carvings in the city's museum, home to priceless Assyrian and Hellenistic artifacts dating back 3,000 years.

Archaeologists have compared the assault on Iraq's cultural history to the Taliban's destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas in 2001. But the damage wreaked by Islamic State, not just on ancient monuments but also on rival Muslim places of worship, has been swift, relentless and more wide-ranging.

[alhoon]

Yes, people would rather fight for things that matter. Shocking.

Really?!
Those "Ancient marbles" in my opinion are worth way more than combustible fluid. It's the heritage of humanity, that stood there for millennia and provides a window to history.
And I shouldn't have to explain to a Greek that.

[neoptolemos]

Right, and the day that preserving marbles from thousands of years ago becomes more important than pursuing our present day interests is the day I'll no longer want to be part of this world.

Well our past could be in various way be part of our pursue for our present.
Tourism and tourist economy are hell of mean to better our present.

They bulldozed and razed the ruins of the ancient city of Hatra now as well.... Wich was considered world heritage site by United nations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0M30GR20150307

Well it seems that only in history books and Rome2 we will have a glimpse of Hatra from now on....

[Dracula]

Right, and the day that preserving marbles from thousands of years ago becomes more important than pursuing our present day interests is the day I'll no longer want to be part of this world.

Greece apparently for long time isnt part of this world. You lucky some idealists,actually Charles X, sent troops to rescue you from such people like the jihadists. And these troops also didn't have interest (in the sense you put in it) in Greece.

[Stavroforos]

Really?!
Those "Ancient marbles" in my opinion are worth way more than combustible fluid. It's the heritage of humanity, that stood there for millennia and provides a window to history.
And I shouldn't have to explain to a Greek that.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be looking after these sites, but I am definitely saying that they should not be more valuable than our present.

Well our past could be in various way be part of our pursue for our present.
Tourism and tourist economy are hell of mean to better our present.

Sure, that's an argument. I don't know if "Save Syria's tourist economy" is a good argument for sending in troops, though.

Greece apparently for long time isnt part of this world. You lucky some idealists,actually Charles X, sent troops to rescue you from such people like the jihadists. And these troops also didn't have interest (in the sense you put in it) in Greece.

Yes, those French altruists, and their altruistic British and Russian allies.

[Dracula]

Yes, those French altruists, and their altruistic British and Russian allies.

Why, Europe was in idealistic fervour to help you. You don't imagine someone gained something from Greece do you ? And even if something was gained (which I do not know of) the most benefitted the greeks themselves.

[Knight of Heaven]

Sure, that's an argument. I don't know if "Save Syria's tourist economy" is a good argument for sending in troops, though.

That alone no, but you need to see the entire context, in order to understand, troops should have been sent long time ago.
Destruction of historical places, is just another war crime to add in the long list of war crimes done by Daesh.
However it is a very complicated situation. Even with troops on the ground, it will take a lot of time to subdue this terrorists, and then there is an after thought to be considered.

[alhoon]

I'm not saying we shouldn't be looking after these sites, but I am definitely saying that they should not be more valuable than our present.

Our presented is rooted in our past. Those sites are more important than oil. It's all we have left from people that struggled worse than we do now, 3 millennia ago. They had the same needs (food, water, housing) the same interests (family, religion) and the same calamities to fight (war, famine, disease). Those ancient ruins survived 3+ millennia of war, and are relics of people that are either bygone or have gone drastic changes.

Sure, that's an argument. I don't know if "Save Syria's tourist economy" is a good argument for sending in troops, though.

They're not attacking hotels or polluting beaches, they're destroying the world's heritage.
Also, setting people on fire because of different religion, ruling through terror and displacing hundreds of thousands is by itself reason alone to send troops to stop them.
The reason (I think) we haven't is because... we don't have who to support there. Fight ISIS to put Al Qaeda in place? To put Assad in place? To put Shiite militias (as brutal as ISIS in some cases) in place? That would only change which civilians will die, which infidels will burn and unless it's the blood dictator Assad, who will bulldoze down these ancient sites.

[Roma_Victrix]

I'm not saying we shouldn't be looking after these sites, but I am definitely saying that they should not be more valuable than our present.

Asking for people to pay higher taxes and shed blood over it is a hard thing to ask if you're not willing to die yourself or let family members join the fight. I get it. However, after hearing that the scumbags finally DESTROYED Hatra for no good goddamn reason, I'm starting to consider joining one of those Kurdish or Assyrian militias myself just to shoot a few ISIS cretins in the face. I don't know about you, but to me history is sacred.

Yes, those French altruists, and their altruistic British and Russian allies.

Every nation had their own interests, then and in the present, but some of those Western Europeans who chose to fight the Ottomans to help liberate Greece in the cause of Philhellenism did have an altruistic streak in them.

[Condottiere 40K]

1212
It's an Orwellian strategy by wiping out the past in the present, they can control the future Muslims by spinning them their version of history, and without the concrete evidence of archaeological sites to contradict them.

Much like fundamentalists probabl wish no one found any dinosaurs fossils or human remains past six thousand before Christ.

[Rinan]

NO!!!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31779484

There are just no words for this.

I don't know about you, but to me history is sacred.

I wouldn't ask of anybody to kill and be killed over ancient stones... But the IS should have been wiped of the map already for about 10 000 other reasons. That makes this all the more tragic.

[Mary The Quene]

Can't we just use Napalm or Sarin gas on those Wahhabis?

[Brihentin13]

One day, the Western nations will have the stomach to fight ISIS and eliminate the barbarian threat. This is just another crime to to add to the pile. Destroying history demonstrates how bankrupt their present day philosophy is. I long for the day where ISIS is brought forth to face justice in the Nuremburg trials, Round 2.

[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]

Well luckely at Hatra they seemed to destroy the fake parts mostly. What many don't know is that per order of Hussein in the 80s large parts such as walls were not really historically rebuilt so that the obvious structeres aren't even old I don't know in paticular what they destroyed but i really hope they got fooled.

[Rinan]

Let's hope it's been mostly the reconstructions - At many ancient sites, it's actually the reconstructions that are the most spectacular (Delphi, for example).

That said, the worst damage has already been done way before this month, when all over Syria and Iraq sites have been looted and people dug for treasures in the ground, in the process destroying priceless archeological traces. That is the true casualty to archaeology, science, and hence humanity in general.

[alhoon]

I'm starting to consider joining one of those Kurdish or Assyrian militias myself just to shoot a few ISIS cretins in the face. I don't know about you, but to me history is sacred.

The Assyrian militias are all too willing to destroy other's people history. Shiite militias are not much better in their fanaticism.

But I agree that history is sacred. The destruction of Hatra is, for me, a war-crime that's as bad as the execution of hundreds because they didn't follow to the letter what ISIS believes is the right interpretation of Islam.

Can't we just use Napalm or Sarin gas on those Wahhabis?

No.
A worse war crime doesn't solve a war crime.

[Flavius Julius Nepos Augustus]

If The army of Chad + Nigeria can sweep Boko Haram then some real allied army can push ISIS out of the Mosul area...
If they want to provoke us.. give it to them.