Shooting Sennacherib

On June 14th Lisa Söderlindh reported for the Assyrian International News Agency that some of Sennacherib's reliefs were being vandalized, in particular, the Khinnis site in northern Iraq where bullet holes indicate that they've been used for target practice.

According to Michael Youash of the Washington-based Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project, "this is not just a world heritage site--it tells us who we are, reminds us of where we are from, & what our place in history has been."

Here's a quick review of who Sennacherib was according to his own record of history (the Chicago prism):

"In my 1st campaign ...
I cut down with the sword. No one escaped.
Their corpses I hung on stakes ...

In my 2nd campaign ...
their small cities,
which were beyond numbering I destroyed,
I devastated, & I turned into ruins.
The houses ... I set on fire
& turned them into flames. ...
I besieged, I captured, I destroyed,
I devastated, I burned with fire. ...

In my 4th campaign ...
That Merodach-baladan ... I turned about
& ruined & devastated his cities;
I made them like ruin-heaps. ...

In my 5th campaign ...
I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. ...
I destroyed, I devastated, & I burned with fire.

In my 6th campaign ...
The cities that were in those provinces
I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire.
Into tells & ruins I turned them. ...

In my 7th campaign ...
I besieged, I conquered, I despoiled,
I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire,
with the smoke of their conflagration
I covered the wide heavens like a hurricane. ...

In my 8th campaign ...
I decimated the enemy host with arrow & spear.
I bored through all of their bodies. ...
quickly I cut them down & defeated them.
I cut their throats,
& I cut off their precious lives like a string.
Like the many waters of a storm,
I made their gullets &
entrails run down upon the wide earth. ...
The wheels of my war chariot, ...
were spattered with blood & filth.
With the bodies of their warriors
I filled the plain like grass.
Their testicles I cut off &
tore out their privates ...
I cut off their hands.

Oh, & as for Hezekiah the Judahite & his petty little village of Jerusalem in my 3rd campaign, boy I really showed him who's da man--I kept him in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage! I marched back home proudly & lived happily ever after. Forget about Hezekiah--he & his god will never be remembered in any history books. Here, let me show you how we kicked ass at Lachish..."

So my response to modern Assyrians complaining about the destruction of their cultural heritage? Same as Ann Coulter's response this week to the arguments of her opponents: "Waaaaaaaaaah! Boo hoo hoo!"

Song of the week: "Never Mind the Why & Wherefore" by Gilbert & Sullivan (click the song title to visit Amazon; click here for a 27-second sample; 328kb).
G.M. Grena