This isn't about forgetting atrocities and I feel a bit miffed that you're suggesting I've forgotten. This is about a particular mode of warfare that goes back 4000 years and is followed almost to the letter by ISIS today.
I'd suggest "war criminal" is a problematic term here unless the ancient middle east was full of "war criminals." Terms like these, suggesting we've forgotten our own atrocities, etc., all serve to mask what is I think a fundamental human condition that we haven't been able to rise above.
If you want me to be silent, I will. But if you are saying "we" are forgetting our own atrocities - you may speak for yourself, but not for me.
- Alan On Mon, 15 Sep 2014, Ana Vald?s wrote:
"One of our knights, Letholdus by name, climbed on to the wall of the city. When he reached the top, all the defenders of the city quickly fled along the walls and through the city. Our men followed and pursued them, killing and hacking, as far as the temple of Solomon, and there there was such a slaughter that our men were up to their ankles in the enemy's blood. . . . The emir who commanded the tower of David surrendered to the Count [of St. Gilles] and opened the gate where pilgrims used to pay tribute. Entering the city, our pilgrims pursued and killed the Saracens up to the temple of Solomon. There the Saracens assembled and resisted fiercely all day, so that the whole temple flowed with their blood. At last the pagans were overcome and our men seized many men and women in the temple, killing them or keeping them alive as they saw fit. On the roof of the temple there was a great crowd of pagans of both sexes, to whom Tancred and Gaston de Beert gave their banners [to provide them with protection] . Then the crusaders scattered throughout the city, seizing gold and silver, horses and mules, and houses full of all sorts of goods. Afterwards our men went rejoicing and weeping for joy to adore the sepulchre of our Saviour Jesus and there discharged their debt to Him. . . ." It was the fall of Jerusalem in the year 1099 in the hands of the Crusaders "The Carthaginians endured the siege starting 149 BC to the spring of 146 BC, when Scipio Aemilianus successfully assaulted the city. Though the Punic citizens fought valiantly, they were inevitably gradually pushed back by the overwhelming Roman military force and destroyed. Aftermath[edit] Ruins of Carthage Many Carthaginians died from starvation during the later part of the siege, while many others died in the final six days of fighting. When the war ended, the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians, a small part of the original pre-war population, were, as was the normal fate in antiquity of inhabitants of sacked cities, sold into slavery by the victors.[2] Carthage was systematically burned for 17 days; the city's walls and buildings were utterly destroyed. The remaining Carthaginian territories were annexed by Rome and reconstituted to become the Roman province of Africa." Rom burning Carthage and sewing the soil with salt to not allow any grain be planted The old Testament, the Jews treating their enemies 13Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead In order to enlarge their borders. I wonder if speaking that way about Isis or the Assyrians we are forgetting our own atrocities . Christians, Jews, Roman, they were warcriminals as well and etablished their reigns with terror. Ana On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 4:45 PM, Alan Sondheim <[email protected]> wrote: ISIS prehistory http://www.alansondheim.org/damnthem2.png The Assyrians publicized their atrocities in reports and illustrations for propaganda purposes. In the tenth and ninth centuries BCE, official inscriptions told of cruelty to those captured. Most were killed or blinded; others were impaled on stakes around city walls as a warning. The bodies were mutilated; heads, hands, and even lower lips were cut off so that counting the dead would be easier. These horrifying illustrations, texts, and reliefs were designed to frighten the population into submission. [...] When surrounding the capital city and shouting to the people inside failed, the Assyrians' next tactic was to select one or more small cities to attack, usually ones that could be easily conquered. Then the Assyrians committed extreme acts of cruelty to show how the entire region would be treated if the inhabitants refused to surrender peacefully. Houses were looted and burned to the round, and the people were murdered, raped, mutilated, or enslaved - acts all vividly portrayed in the Assyrian stone reliefs and royal inscriptions in the palaces. The Assyrian troops regarded looting and rape of a conquered city as partial compensation. [...] The annals of Assurnasirpal II vividly described such tactics: "In strife and conflict I besieged (and) conquered the city. I felled 3,000 of their fighting men with the sword. I carried off prisoners, possessions, oxen, (and) cattle from them. I burnt many captives from them. I captured many troops alive: I cut off of some their arms (and) hands; I cut off of others their noses, ears, (and) extremities. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I made one pile of the living (and) one of the heads. I hung their heads on tress around the city. I burnt their adolescent boys (and) girls. I razed, destroyed, burned (and) consumed the city." This type of "psychological" warfare was especially convincing, and the inhabitants, "overwhelmed by the fearful splendor of the god Assur," surrendered. ---- From Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat, Hendrickson, 2008 _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour -- http://www.twitter.com/caravia15860606060 http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/ http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0 cell Sweden +4670-3213370 cell Uruguay +598-99470758 "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return. ? Leonardo da Vinci
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