WAR ON ISIS - What They Gain Destroying Antiquities

ISIS, aka Satan's Army

"What Islamic State gains by destroying antiquities in Iraq" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2015

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  In a violent rampage through a museum in Mosul, Islamic State militants knocked statues to the floor, using sledgehammers and even a jackhammer to reduce ancient artifacts and some replicas -- representing idols that past cultures worshiped -- to rubble.  Bernard Haykel of Princeton University and Michael Danti of Boston University join Jeffrey Brown to discuss the significance of the latest video.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  When it comes to the battle against the Islamic State, much of the world’s attention is focused, of course, on the murders and the mayhem it has wrought.  But there have also been a series of attacks on antiquities and cultural heritage.

And, today, there’s both condemnation and sadness over a video showing what happened this week in Northern Iraq.

Here’s Jeffrey Brown.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  In the video, Islamic State militants knock statues to the floor, take sledgehammers to centuries-old artifacts, even employ a jackhammer to reduce a work to rubble.  Released through social media Thursday, the five-minute video uses music and slow motion to dramatize the destruction at Northern Iraq’s Mosul Museum.

MAN (through translator):  To all Muslims, these statues are idols of the people in previous centuries which were worshiped other than God.  God almighty says:  “And we sent a messenger to you just to reveal that no God but I, so worship me.”

The prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him.

JEFFREY BROWN:  The Mosul Museum reportedly housed more than 170 genuine antiquities.  Others were replicas, and it’s unclear how many original works were destroyed.
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JEFFREY BROWN:  And the packaging of a video, you’re putting in the category of public relations, of reaching out and saying, here’s what we can do?

BERNARD HAYKEL, Princeton University:  Yes, and it’s propaganda.  It’s trying to appeal to — much of what they do is trying to appeal to young people to bring about recruits and saying that, we adhere very closely to the injunctions of Islamic law, one of which is to command good and forbid wrong, and these statues are considered idols.

Of course, Islamic law says that idols that are not worshiped need not be destroyed, and none of these statues were being worshiped.  So it is a gratuitous and barbaric act, frankly, but one that is intended to appeal to an audience that is looking for some sort of authenticity.