Defending the Indefensible: Georgetown Professor "Explains" ISIS' Destruction of Antiquities

Hat tip Campus Watch and American Thinker


When ISIS forces recently destroyed numerous antiquities in museums they captured, most of us figured there was no way their apologists-including in the West- could ever justify this.

Meet Georgetown University Associate Professor of  Arabic Studies Elliot Colla. In the below piece in American Thinker, Winfield Myers outlines Colla's twisted reasoning.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/as_isis_destroys_ancient_preislamic_artifacts_academic_apologist_blames_the_west_for_its_desecration_of_history.html

Here are a couple of other points to ponder.

First, soon after the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan, they made it a point to dynamite the huge Buddhist statues of Bamiyan that pre-dated Islam in that country. They were not located in some Western museum or even in a museum in Kabul that could only be visited by wealthy Westerners. They were built into the side of a mountain.

In addition, it was only a few short years ago that the Muslim Brotherhood, while in control of Egypt under Mohammed Morsi, was openly talking about bringing down the pyramids, which also pre-dated Islam. Again, they were not locked away in Cairo's world famous museum, but in the open air of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo open to viewing by all.

In both of the above cases, the motivation was to destroy idols that pre-dated Islam and in the case of the former to destroy icons of another religion. In short, the reason had everything to do with Islam, which does not allow for idols or icons even representing itself or is prophet.

As for the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad when that country was conquered in 2003, we may have supplied the heavy equipment, but I vividly recall the sight of Iraqis beating the toppled head of Saddam with their shoes as soon as it landed in the street.

But logic and reason have no place in the discussion at Georgetown University. Don't forget this is also the place where noted Islamism apologist John Esposito toils.