The Buddhas of Bamiyan were brought down by Saudi and Pakistani engineers.

[Skidmore]

I watched a documentary on the destruction of the Buddhas on the Documentary Channel last night about the destruction of the Buddhas. In the documentary, they were interviewing eyewitnesses to the event. On local man, one of those who reside in the cave dwellings of Bamiyan, said that the Taliban tried for weeks to destroy the Buddhas but could not do it because they did not have the right materials. That, in the end, it was the Saudi and Pakistani engineers that came in an destroyed these statues and then cheered when the fell. The local Taliban had refused the order to destroy the Buddhas. So Taliban from without the region came in and then brought in foreign assistance. The concensus by several in the film was that the Taliban had threatened the Buddhas to get the world to pay attention attention to the plight of Afghanistan after the Soviets had abandoned it. That the world responded to the imminent destruction of two statues and not the destruction of a people. I'm not sure about that but there is some ring of truth to it.


Anyway, every stone we look under in this debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan has Saudis under them. We've destroyed two nations by now. 9/11 has the stench of the Saudis all over it. OBL is a Saudi. OBL is being protected by our good buddy, Musharaf, a Pakistani. Do we see a pattern here? Why are we killing Iraqis? Why are these questions not being asked by Congress or the media?

[sweetheart]

1. behind the saudis is 'bush'

They don't want people probing in to their CIA creations in afganistan; the crimes are
all in washington DC with a few agents in pakistan and saudi. Nobody will prosecute
crimes that put the current criminal administration under scrutiny.

[ellisonz]

2. To be honest:

I don't think it's a matter Saudi/Pakistani/Afghani...it is much more a question of ideology than nationality. I'm not trying to detract from the "ring of truth," I'm just trying to keep us focused on what the actual stakes are. You can deplore the fact that our national relationship w/Saudi Arabia is certainly subject to scrutiny, but you cannot deny that 3,000 people did die on September 11th and I have yet to see any evidence that the Saudi government was behind it. Yes, they used Saudi's, do you think maybe Osama/Mullah Omar have a rationale behind what they do? These are not stupid people. The Taliban did not destroy them to draw attention to Soviet abandonment, but to further polarize the ideological war both in Afghanistan, the "Islamic World," and in the educated West.

George W. Bush is a criminal and so is Osama bin Laden. But we have a flawed tendency here to overestimate the competance of CIA/intelligence apparatus. They are not God, they do not orchestrate world events.

The question is not what started the war, but how to end it, that is what we need to get serious about and the Baker report although a bit of a joke, at least has moved the latter, more important question to front/center.

-The destruction of the Bamian Buddha's demonstrates just how deplorable both Christian and Islamic "fundamentalism" really are in the context of human history.

[xchrom]

3. the world wanted to help -- remember

there agencies like oxfam and others that work all the time with distressed countries.

part of the problem lies with the taliban themselves.
the restrictions on the people, the fact that the taliban themselves were brutalizing folk left and right.

anyway -- the taliban destroyed the buddhas because they wanted to.

[tuvor]

4. OT, but here's an article I saved about why the statues were destroyed.

From 2001:

AFGHANISTAN SUFFERS FROM THE WEST'S DOUBLE STANDARD
By Dr. Munir El-Kassem

As expected, the "civilized" world is up in arms against the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan in their attempt to destroy two statues of the Buddha carved into a mountain in Bamiyan Province. This seems like the pot calling the kettle black. It is flagrant hypocrisy on the part of countries like the U.S., Russia, India, Britain, and France, among many others, to condemn Afghanistan for a fault of their own.

Afghanistan has been suffering and bleeding after 22 years of devastating war. Instead of lending a helping hand, the U.S. was enraged by Afghanistan's sheltering of Osama Bin Laden. After failing to extract Bin Laden out of Afghanistan, the U.S. did what it does best: imposed sanctions on this already shattered nation.

Syed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the Taliban's roving ambassador, expressed the sentiments of the Afghan government in saying, "When the world destroys the future of our children with economic sanctions, they have no right to worry about our past." Another Taliban spokesperson said that the decision to destroy the statues had been made out of anger and frustration. International agencies were spending hefty amounts of money to repair the Buddhist statues, while nothing was being done to address the plight of Afghan children ravaged by malnutrition. He added that the statues were tolerated for 1500 years. Now, they had turned into a hated symbol of Western preference for rock over Afghan lives.

It is hypocritical of a country like Russia, for example, to voice its condemnation of the Taliban over the destruction of the Buddhas. It was reported that since the Russian invasion of 1979, "thousands of Hellenistic, Persian and Indian artifacts from Afghanistan's many-layered past have been smuggled out to the voracious and amoral Western art market."

If the West claims to be the guardian of cultural heritage, how come no one moved a pen to condemn the destruction of the historical Babri Mosque in India? The world cannot quickly erase from its memory what happened in 1992. In tearing down the Babri Mosque, Indian mobs threatened to "cleanse" India of all Islamic shrines, palaces and artifacts. Two-hundred million Indian Muslims were attached to the Babri Mosque, while there is not a single Buddhist living in Afghanistan.

Minorities continue to be threatened in India, whereas not a single non-Muslim was deliberately killed in Afghanistan. The Associated Press reported that in Kabul there is one old Jewish rabbi who stayed to protect a synagogue in the centre of the city. The Taliban did not prevent him from practicing his religion.

Where were the guardians of cultural heritage when mosques, libraries, historic buildings, and museums were destroyed in Bosnia, Kosovo and Palestine? The real culprits who displayed "medieval barbarianism" and committed a "great crime against humanity" were not the Taliban, but those who killed Imams and civilians while destroying historic monuments.

The world has to wake up to the fact that the Taliban cannot be branded as destroyers of religious art. During the 13 centuries of Muslim rule in Afghanistan, layers of cultural heritage were preserved. One has to remember that the Taliban are not destroying any place of worship or anything belonging to a place of worship. In contrast, the most widespread destruction of religious art in modern times occurred under Chairman Mao during China's Cultural Revolution.

Let us examine the record of the "culturally advanced" nations. When France occupied Algeria, it tried to destroy its Islamic way of life by turning Algeria into a major producer of wine. Can anyone defend this as preservation of culture? Cultural heritage is not only statues and monuments, but also traditions that run deep in people's lives.

Over 3000 Cambodian Buddhist temples were destroyed in bombings by the U.S. and the Pol Pot regime during the Indochina War. Cambodians themselves (who are Buddhists) have sawed off heads and busts of numerous temple statues and sold them to Western smugglers. This wanton destruction is clearly evident to visitors of such world famous Buddhist cultural centres as Ankor Wat.

The "culturally advanced" U.S. sent 24 American long-range missiles streaking over Pakistani air space and destroyed the beautiful "people's mosque" in Afghanistan while attempting to murder Osama Bin Laden. Many innocent worshippers were killed in the process. This mosque, though not towering like the Buddha statues, or as imposing as the Pharaonic pyramids of Egypt, was not built by slave labour. Our veneration of cultural landmarks should not blind us to the fact that many human lives were sacrificed during the building of such famous monuments.

I have in my files a picture of an ancient Qur'an with beautiful calligraphy being desecrated by the Soviets in their campaign against Chechnya. Ripped into two pieces, it is lying in the mud with tank treads over it. Does this show any respect for culture?

In 1945, the British and U.S. air forces bombed Dresden, Germany, even though it had been declared an open city. 100,000 civilians, including large numbers of children, were killed. Dozens of exquisite churches, museums and works of art were destroyed.

How could the world community care more about the destruction of two statues than about 100,000 refugees who have been starving and freezing to death near Herat, a few hundred miles away?

The point of my article is not to justify the destruction of statues in Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, I seem to agree with the Grand Mufti of Pakistan who said, "there could be disagreement among the scholars regarding the priorities and the methods. Some might question whether the action (destroying the statues) would alienate the Buddhist nations in Southeast Asia at a critical time for Afghanistan." The Qur'an tells us, "We have not set you as a keeper over them, nor are you responsible for them. Abuse not those whom they worship besides God, lest they out of spite abuse God in their ignorance." Muslims are supposed to carry the message of God to humanity. They are not supposed to force people to accept Islam or destroy other people's sacred symbols and places of worship. However, as mentioned earlier, what the Taliban did in Afghanistan was not triggered by contempt towards another religion, but rather, by the hypocrisy of some members of the world community. Justice demands that condemnation should not only be directed at the weak, but also at the strong.

(Dr. Munir El-Kassem is a dentist in London, Ontario, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Islamic Congress. This piece is based on an article published by the London Free Press, London, Ontario.)

http://www.jamiat.org.za/isinfo/taliban3.htm

[Straight Shooter]

5. "How could the world community care more about the destruction of two statues ..."

Unfortunately, symbols are more important than people. This is why we have an American uproar over the flag-burning controversy, and barely a squeak about the piss-poor treatment of our veterans who have made it possible for that flag to continue flying throughout the history of this country.

Symbolism is a powerful tool, and part of the stagecraft and manipulation of the lowest common denominators of human emotions which reside in our limbic brain.

[Hoping4Change]

6. Dr Kassem seems to be wilfully ignorant. Wahabbis are

renowned for destroying Muslim holy sites. Funny he is so articulate about the destruction in Afganistan but makes no mention about the desecration and destruction of Muslim holy sites by Saudi Wahabbis which they appear to do with cheery abandon including the house where Mohammed was born

Sadik Hasam at Muslim Wakeup writes this strain of Wahabbism which shuns all historical sites, especially grave sites. exploded in 1801 when they destroyed and defaced the tomb of Mohammed's grandson in Karbala, Irag and killed over 4000 people.

Later, in 1810, they even desecrated the tomb of the Prophet Mohammed himself, opening the grave and selling its valuable relics and jewels.

He has several photos of destroyed sites.

The destruction of holy sites continues to the present day.


"A telling example is the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born and house he lived in until he was 29 are going to be demolished," Al-Ahmed said. Also destroyed was the 18th -century Ottoman-era Ajyad Fort. "They destroyed it at night. They blew up the hill where the fort was situated to make room for hotels," Al-Ahmed said.
____
Other reportedly destroyed sites cited by Al-Ahmed include: the first house in Islam, where the prophet Mohamed held secret meetings with his followers, which was destroyed in the 1980s; the houses of the prophet in Medina, where he lived for the last 10 years of his life; the Al-Fadik mosque in Medina built during Mohammed's life and destroyed in July 2003; and the Ali Al-Oraidi Mosque and Shrine in Medina destroyed in 2004. "It had been in operation for 1,200 years," said Al-Ahmed.
--
Behind the destruction is the Wahhabist strain of Islam, which seeks to destroy any revered physical structures that clerics believe could lead believers to idolatry, said Al-Ahmed. Real-estate development, especially around Mecca and Medina, which hosts millions of pilgrims every year, is also a major factor.

Religious politics also plays a role. When authorities allegedly destroyed one of the five renowned "Seven Mosques" built by the Prophet Mohammed's daughter and four of his "greatest Companions," Wahhabists were approving. "The mosques are not welcomed by Wahhabis," said Al-Ahmed. "It's partly political. They don't want Shia to go there to pray."
-----
Al-Ahmed's Institute for Gulf Affairs is planning a report and a conference on the issue in the upcoming year. The report will contain commissioned photographs and details of the destruction.

"Throughout the centuries, Muslims had no problem preserving these sites; now, we have this new Islam that wants to destroy them. It is very sad and very disturbing," Al-Ahmed added.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Great point he makes there.

"The Taliban - Not as bad as Mao."

[The Stranger]

8. Ever consider how many priceless artifacts the U.S. destroyed in Iraq AND Afghanistan?

Not to mention innocent people.

The sole focus on the same old Neocon targets (Muslims, Arabs, South Asians) seems to lack real perspective.