John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE BY EMAD NOR ELDEEN IN THE INDEPENDENT
“I was a tour guide in Syria – here's what it was like before the war
“Months after escaping to Egypt, I saw video footage showing the destruction on our street. I saw that my office had been destroyed by heavy shelling. My memories and all my hard work were literally turned into rubble”
I have some familiarity with Syria from documentaries, a remarkably beautiful and interesting historical place.
I can't say how distressing it is to see what has happened.
And most of those responsible for this are supposedly advanced and civilized states - America, Israel, Britain, and France - assisted by a bloody prince in Saudi Arabia and, originally, by a madman in Turkey.
But then, if you think about it, it was American and British forces who fire-bombed Dresden in WWII, a pointless act of vast terror intended only to inflict psychological hurt on Germans.
It killed no one still knows how many - estimates vary from 60 thousand to several hundred thousand - and they died horribly in the inferno and as the very oxygen in the air was sucked up. America and Britain’s act utterly destroyed one of Europe's greatest heritage sites.
As you might expect, the same folks have little reason to care about a place so far away as Syria, a place filled with even greater and far more ancient heritage sites. And the people are mainly Muslims, so who cares, really?
If you let your politics be controlled by psychopaths, this is what you get.
