Shattered Heritage: The US Destruction of Iraq's Heritage

The documentary below continues to haunt me even though I saw it a few weeks ago. 

Iraq hasn't really been in US news much since about 2006, until now.  After President Saddam Hussein was executed on the first day of Eid on December 30, 2006, Iraq disappeared out of the news until President Obama withdrew US troops from the country in 2011.  

Few Americans know that the US government left behind a residue of not only an embassy and consulate of over 20,000 staff along with thousands of what are politely called "private contractors," but carnage has also been left behind. It has been continuous in that country since the government proclaimed end of the war. 

The Iraqi people are being mocked and warred against continuously, and what this documentary that was recently broadcast by al-Jazeera English shows is that an incredibly unique culture was literally murdered.  

I had never before heard of any modern culture that put such emphasis on art, books, and the cultured like Iraq once did.  I have seen paintings by Iraqis that moved me and read some of their incredible poetry that must be even more outstanding in the original Arabic. I have read Iraqi bloggers over the years who were some of the best writers in the blogger-sphere when blogging was king. I had no idea about the depth of this country and culture as it once was.  I knew that it is one of the most ancient civilizations on earth, but I knew little about what modern Iraq really stood for in world culture. 

What a treasure the world has lost because of the crimes of the country I live in.  As a  lover of history, culture, art, poetry, books this documentary touches my heart more than it would many people. But if a person has a drop of humanity left and even if he or she lacks my tastes, this documentary should move them.   This is a story about a people and a great nation smashed and thrown into the dirt to burn.   Now this country is plotting to finally rip Iraq's territories completely apart...  

After over a decade of hearing negative propaganda about Iraq, it is past due that Americans learn what the true enemy destroyed.  This is a great tragedy that should be seen.  As the Iraqi poet at the end recites:

They were thirty armies,
Backed by all the people on earth.
Even neighbors and family.
They all waged war against a small land
That is great with its' history. 

I Changed My Blog's Name

I decided to change my blog's name to something perhaps a little more personally fitting.  The end of 2013 I finally read all of The Pillow Book, Sei Shonagon's collection of observations of the people and places around her. Her writings have a different tone than mine, more upbeat. She make even the boring sound delightful.  I can write in an upbeat tone, but for me it requires more effort.  

I decided to come up with a name for my blog that has personal significance. It doesn't necessarily go with the tone of the writing I do on this blog, but I like it.  However, I would like to start writing less dreary posts, not sentimental, but more uplifting.  

Not only do I like the appearance of roses but also the taste.  You might wonder, "How can you eat roses?"  But they really are edible.  

Roses have a lot of meaning and uses in Middle Eastern cultures. I've worked and lived in a Middle Eastern country that doesn't always see itself as Middle Eastern, Turkey.  It's a country that is a mixture of East and West with something of an identity crisis, but that is another story. The first time I learned that roses could be for more than just the visual was one day when I passed a candy shop in Istanbul with a friend and she pointed out the rose flavored lokum or what we call in the West call Turkish Delight.  I knew of Turkish Delight with hazelnuts, but rose flavored?  I was intrigued.  

Thus began my love affair of things flavored with roses.  I learned about Sweet Rose Tulsi Tea on Facebook which later I purchased at EarthFare.  We always have some roses in our yard. This past school year a little Mexican boy gave me this yellow rose at work.  

I hadn't received any flowers from a guy in some years, so this was kind of special to me even though it was from a little guy.  There is just a special feeling that comes with receiving a rose.  

I used to think that roses were only about floral beauty, romance, and poetry, but in the East and in Islamic culture they have long been a part of the culinary world along with the medicinal. Last week the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet English ran the article Taste of the rose. And last year Iran's PressTV broadcast this cultural segment about rosewater distillery.  

I would like to learn more about the art of the rose.  For now I just have some assorted lokum in the refrigerator with some rose flavored mixed in.  It's really not mine, but some I bought for mom on Mothers Day. Mom doesn't mean sharing though.  She actually loves Turkish Delight more than I do.  I also have this "rose" blog.  I am not making any promises since I am now working on becoming a real writer offline, but  I would like to post a couple short posts per month.  I probably won't be able to keep this promise to myself, but there are many interesting things that often occur that deserve more than a micro-blog post.