--- In [email protected], "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > Ah, here it is. Different spokeperson, but the idea is there. No- one took the claim > seriously, however, for the reasons you gave: > > http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol4No2/Idol%20Threats.htm > [...] > The roving Taliban envoy visiting the United States at the time, Sayed Rahmatullah > Hashimi, explained the destruction on the grounds that foreigners had offered money to > preserve monuments but not feed people. In a March 21 interview on National Public Radio > he said that Afghan officials had told him that if the world "does not care or if the world is > destroying the future of our children with economic sanctions, how do they care about our > past?"
It makes sense to point out the hypocrisy of caring more for the statues than the people, certainly. It just wasn't why they blew up the statues in the first place. And how much did the campaign to "cleanse" Afghanistan of other religions, including destroying the Buddhas, cost, all told? I still bet they could have gotten quite a bit of money holding the statues for ransom.
