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Over the past few years the world has watched as the Islamic State has destroyed historical monuments and committed acts of genocide in Iraq and Syria. While the group labels itself "Islamic," they've been destroying both Islamic and Christian holy sites along with sites that predate the founding of both religions, said archaeologist Clemens Reichel, a curator at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, in a presentation he gave last spring.
However, thanks to the Iraq travels of Amir Harrak, a professor at the University of Toronto, researchers have a chance to bring a bit of this destroyed heritage back online. Harrak is a native of Mosul (he left in 1977), a city that has been under the Islamic State's control for more than a year.
Between 1997 and 2014, Harrak made several trips to cultural heritage sites throughout Iraq, cleaning and recording engraved inscriptions that date between the seventh and 20th centuries. During a trip to Mosul in 2014, he recorded inscriptions and art at the monastery of Mar Behnam. Islamic State fighters captured the city and monastery in June 2014, but Harrak managed to leave before they arrived. Since then, the militant group has destroyed the monastery along with many sites in Mosul and other parts of Iraq. [See Photos of Iraq Heritage Sites Taken by Harrak]
Iraq's version of the Monuments Men.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday July 17 2015, @02:03PM
There isn't just one version of Islam. I remember when that gold dome mosque [wikipedia.org] in Samarra was destroyed [wikipedia.org]. Theory was that it was bombed to create conflict between the Shiites and the Sunni (which was already heating up). I don't know what the majority of "Islamic State" subscribes to but i could see them destroying holy sites if they weren't the right kind of islamic.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @03:38PM
The "Islamic State" call themselves Sunni (which is why Iran, a Shiite country has been sending its troops to fight them).
Shiites are mosty known for extremism and Sunnis are more moderate. But these Sunnis aren't muslims anyway. They are soldiers of fortune the way I see it. It is possible that their western masters told them to destroy holy sites and they obliged. Or maybe this is an extension of the Stanford Prison Experiment.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 17 2015, @10:56PM
Saudi Arabia is Sunni.
Y'know, the bunch that requires women to be covered head to foot and won't let them drive cars.
A place with religious police.
This is the lot that publicly chops of the heads of dozens of people each year.
So, yeah. "Sunnis are more moderate".
Religion is about controlling the behavior of others.
It is the realm of small minds and evil manipulative bastards.
-- gewg_