[MinuteGal]

No water lines, no fire equipment, no firemen.

Why didn't Fisk try to cry on it? He would have had it out in no time flat.

Leni

[LizardQueen]

And the Americans did nothing

Uh, dude, we were fighting a WAR at the time. Too bad about the books but there were living people getting shot at at the time.

If you want to know why this was done, ask the damn looters. No American told them to go burn their own heritage down.

LQ

[Blue Screen of Death]

The vandalism and looting in Iraq says much more about the Iraqi people, their culture and moral values than it does about American soldiers who are there to fight a war, not put out fires.

I thought all of the American soldiers had been informed that Saddam had plastic surgery and now looks exactly like Robert Fisk. They should shoot on sight. Didn't every one get the memo?

[try phecta tom]

Too bad every copy of the koran fairy tales weren't burnt along with the other sh!t.

[Support Free Republic]

Attention!

Our troops give so much of themselves, and we all benefit from their efforts.

The next time you look at your bank balance, why not find some way to take some money and put it towards supporting the members of our armed services in some way? Maybe find a family who has someone serving, and buy them dinner, or some groceries, or a gift for their children? Maybe find a way to contribute to a fund for the memory of any of those who have fallen? Our armed forces deserve our support in tangible ways.

[Argus]

Fisk is a proven liar. He's probably reporting on the burning of the Baath Party Reading Room, not some imagined library of ancient lore. Does he even read Arabic? If not, how does he know what was in the documents he claims to have seen burning? As a related matter, why is this known Baath propagandist allowed to remain in Iraq?

[TopQuark]

Now they burn libraries in Baghdad.

Correct: these are the values of people that choose socialism over personal responsibility and fascist dictatorship over human dignity and fredom.

And you, Mr. Fisk, are one of the main admirers of that choice.

[wideawake]

Of course, if the Marines had stopped to put out the fire, Fisk's column would be: "American troops, obsessed with material things like valuable historical documents which would probably fetch a handsome sum at Sotheby's, ignored the human suffering of the people of Baghdad while they spent precious time and water in recovering mere objects."

[Paul Atreides]

And the Americans did nothing.

Where were the humans shields?

[RaceBannon]

As a Lover of old historical books, I do think this is a tragedy...But I'll get over it.

[amused]

LOL....in his zeal to rip the United States, Fisk gives the impression that in his mind the Iraqis are animals needing of control and that Saddam provided that control.

I probably shouldn't laugh as Fisk is a prime example of the sickening lengths much of the left has gone to, supported, and approved of in the name of being the opposition.

[elbucko]

For what insane purpose is this heritage being destroyed?

For what insane purpose, Fisk, were airliners slammed into buildings? Discover the answer to that riddle, Fisk, and you will know the answer to your question!

[dead]

One of them cursed me when I tried to reclaim a book of Islamic law from a boy who could have been no more than 10 years old.

That's a really funny image.

This aging angry queen trying to take a book from a 10-year-old and getting chased away by some screaming arab.

Fisk probably wet himself.

[aristeides]

Allied bombing destroyed the Monastery of Monte Cassino in 1944. Does Fisk think that discredits the Allied cause in WW II?

[Technogeeb]

One of them cursed me when I tried to reclaim a book of Islamic law from a boy who could have been no more than 10 years old

Translation: "I got caught trying to steal a book from a child and one of the adults scolded me".

[SuziQ]

I'll wait until someone reliable writes about what happened. I am sorry, for History's sake, if these priceless writings were burned, but I'm not going to blame it on our soldiers.

[Petronski]

But for Iraq, this is Year Zero;

Fisk's only paradigm is Communism; here he makes a Khmer Rouge reference.

And we're not supposed to notice that Fisk values historical artifacts over the liberty of living people. In the classic Stalinist/totalitarian mindset, the private life is dead: there is no individual, only classes and nations. Thus, as long as the nation lives on, the life of the individual is irrelevant (paraphrasing Hitler).

Hussein held these items hostage (otherwise he could have protected them), and the blame is his.

[Billthedrill]

Well, he probably didn't really burn the library at Alexandria, but Caliph Omar did comment on burning books in general: "if they contradict what is in the Koran they are heresy and should be burned; if they agree with it they are superfluous." He wasn't, by reputation, one of the nicer Caliphs...

[happydogdesign]

[Monty22]

"Islamic Library Burned to the Ground "

More good news!