Alan, I mean "we", the West, we are demonizing Isis when Isis is the child
of the mad policies of the West in the Middle East. If England and France
had not been the big colonial powers they were we should have another
development in the region. And now is the US imposing a colonial rule
without regard of ethnical differences and mistrust.
You did post about Isis and the Assyrian and I was appalled because everyone
is forgetting the Crusades, the first Western backed imperial invasion of
the Middle East. I am a scholar of the Crusades and has been in the Middle
East, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, ten or twelve times. For all the ppl
living there the Crusades are still alive and the killing of 70000 ppl in
two days in Jerusalem sended horror waves to all habitants of the part of
the world.
I should never tell you be silent, Alan, you know me, virtually :) but know
me, I always support you, your thinking, your reflexions and your
creativity.
I wanted only to add more complexity to your post.
Sorry if you felt as a criticism, it was not meant to be.
Ana
On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Alan Sondheim <[email protected]> wrote:
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
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