The New Dark Age

The New Dark Age

During the riots that occurred in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein , a great deal of ancient treasures and artifacts were destroyed as museums were looted amidst the chaos and anarchy that resulted from the dissolution of the Iraqi army combined with the far too limited numbers of American troops as security forces would have been needed to maintain . Due to poor planning and the assumption that the celebration of liberation would have left people in a mood not inclined to violence , the rioting occurred . This would

have been avoided a number of ways not the least of which included not disbanding the Iraqi domestic infrastructure

In terms of what the looting says about Iraqi culture , the answer is that rioting and looting has occurred in every civilization at various points in history . This is not a cultural issue with the Iraqis as much as a decent into rampant lawless in the face of the loss of infrastructure . All cultures and societies will have an irresponsible and criminal element (what society does not have a police force ) and if left unchecked , the criminal element will act irresponsibly . The actual criminal and irresponsible element is only a small fraction of the population and not indicative of the society as a whole

Okri 's statement `We are now at the epicenter of a shift in the history of the world` essentially refers to the onset of a long period of tensions between the West and the Middle East that will redefine domestic and foreign policy to a degree not seen since the dawn of the Cold War . The statement `The real war always has been to keep alive the light of civilization` would seem to refer to the fact that the true conflict is to maintain the previous age old culture as opposed to seeing the culture collapse in the midst of the new society that emerges when the war ends

Regarding the Taliban , the destruction of the Buddha statues was the symbolic display of the imposition of specifically on Islam . The rioting in Iraq was the irresponsibility of members of the population to resort to theft in the absence of the enforcement of the law

Could something similar happen in the United States ? It has already happened numerous times in our history from the recent Katrina riots to the notorious New York draft riots of the Civil War . The reaction is usually condemnation of those who commit the riots followed by an indifference to providing economic aid after the riots as a means of punishment . While this may not seem fair to those who did not commit the riots , this is simply the common outcome of the riots

Work Cited

Okri , Ben . The New Dark Age ' 19 April 2003 . Retrieved 14 August 2007 from...