Iraq library director: troops must leave

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Last updated August 9, 2007 1:21 p.m. PT

Iraq library director: troops must leave

By KIM GAMEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BAGHDAD -- The director of Iraq's National Library
appealed Thursday for troops to keep the institution's
books and archives out of the fight, warning their
recent security moves had put one of the nation's
most important cultural facilities at risk.

Saad Eskander, who has overseen the restoration of
the library after it was burned and looted following
the 2003 invasion, claimed that U.S. and Iraqi soldiers
forcibly entered the three-story building earlier this
week as part of security preparations for a major
Shiite pilgrimage.

It is not uncommon for forces to temporarily
commandeer houses and buildings as rest stops or
lookout posts. But Eskander said the library and
archives should be declared off-limits since it is a
repository for the national heritage.

The presence of foreign forces in the building could
make it a target for insurgents, he said. He noted
that the library's collection had not suffered any
damage, but said he holds U.S. and Iraqi forces
"responsible for any damage inflicted on priceless
documents or any human casualties due to this
illegal operation."

-snip-

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Library.html

[rodeodance]

1. hey, we only want your OIL.

sarcasm alert

[Tempest]

2. But they don't want to leave any traces either

So the libraries have to be ransacked.

[Sequoia]

4. Like the library at Alexandria

One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost from the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol for knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, often for purely political reasons.
....
Seneca (AD 49), the first writer to mention it (and that nearly 100 years after the alleged event), definitely says that 40,000 books were burned.

http://www.crystalinks.com/libraryofalexandria.html

Stay away barbarians!!! You can bet some dumb rightwinger fundie might get it into his head that he's going to be like St. Paul who was famous for destroying culture in the name of the lord.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Now keep your eyes

on the Ebay book section.

[Barrett808]

5. k & r