The American Spectator

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Unfortunately, John Wayne proved more sophisticated than the American military.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the Brits had been assigned occupy Baghdad the looting of the museum would not have occurred.

I am a veteran of the Vietnam era. That experience partially forms the basis of my strong support of the military and an assertive foreign policy.

But a number of the shortcomings of our foreign policy thinking and planning have been made painfully clear by the museum looting.

As if foreign leaders and the press really needed another excuse to hammer U.S. policy and actions, we had to go show them what dunderheaded cowboys we really are.

We don't want to be French, but a little culture and an appreciation of the finer things would go a long way towards improving our image.

p>Wonder just how much of the booty we'll manage to ever recover? A great deal, perhaps most, is forever lost. And that is a pity beyond words. br> -- Dennis Sevakis br> Former Air Force Captain and F-4 driver br> Bloomfield, MI /p>

Is it indeed such a loss that the Baghdad museum was looted? Consider: What else were Nebuchednezzar, Hammurabai, Sargon, etc. but brutal conquerors, plunderers and dictators under the title of god-king? Sound familiar? Like Saddam's model Stalin. It is on record that they attacked and destroyed cities for no other reason than gain and glory, enslaved and transported whole populations, silenced all dissent, and flayed alive anyone who dared oppose them. Sounds like they would have been right at home in Saddam's Baghdad, ministry level jobs at least. If he tried to identify with them, it was a sound instinct on his part. Is this a chapter of the human story we should be in a hurry to remember and celebrate?

After all, what has the world lost, at the end of the day? A few dusty artifacts and tablets that have been catalogued and re-catalogued, and made the center of meaningless articles and arguments in a particularly obscure corner of the ivory tower. What have the Iraqis gained? Maybe a little self-respect.

p>I call it a fair trade. Let the academics write their Ph.D. theses on something else for a while.

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Foreign Policy, Trade, Islam, Law, Military, Iraq, Russia, NATO, Conservatism, Oil