I have been following this link with great interest --   in fact, it is
probably about the most provocative discussion that I have seen on this list
in the five years that I have been subscribed.

My only comment on this, where so much has been said so much more
articulately than I could, is in response to the post   where Gene commented
that: "there are many things to be outraged about in Iraq...and what are we
expending our moral capital on? Broken pots.   Gloriously beautiful and
irreplacably valuable pots, but pots all the same.   Not human beings. Not
miserable, shattered lives. But pots"

It is easy to get caught up in the unrest and misery and despair of
contemporary Iraq.   Every day countless times and unavoidably   we are
exposed to photos and stories of death and torture and violence and
"miserable, shattered lives." For me, however, the articles about the looting
of the museum and the burning of the archives is like a train-wreck, and I
can't look away.   It is more powerful and distressing in many ways than the
stories of torture chambers and lies and propaganda and despotism which
demonstrate the world that Iraq is emerging from. Emerging from.

The reason that we are expending our moral energy on the story of broken pots
is that the rich, powerful, deep cultural heritage of the Iraqi people and
the region represents not only the past - but the hope for the future. It is
through their heritage that the Iraqi people can find guidance and the pride
of place and people that has been crushed in the torture chambers and with th
e despotism and lies and propaganda. That cultural heritage and the rich
traditions can give hope to the miserable, shattered lives. It is in places
such as the Museum of the Antiquities that the Iraqis can step away from the
despair and find something to live for and work for. If we want to help the
Iraqis to build democracy, we have to protect the cultural institutions that
allows democracy to flourish -- and museums are not the least important of
these institutions because they provide a place for constructive and detached
discourse. I'm thinking, especially of the Museums of Conscience such as the
Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Although it is easy to get caught up in the current events and the whirlwind
of past horrors that continue to come to light, and the destruction and
despair that comes with war, it is important not to lose sight of why this
war happened. It happened to spread democracy and justice and peace and
respect for humanity. All of which is represented in the Museum. It was not
just broken pots and tablets that were looted. It was the future of an
intensely fragile country that desperately needs all the hope and beauty it
can get.

Kristen

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