The anti-civilization: The Islamic State and history

Years from now, when historians write about the defeat of the Islamic State, and its welcome disappearance from the world, they will have much to say.

After describing their surprise rise in Iraq and Syria, they will narrate the horrors perpetuated by this group: massacres of civilians, conscription of child soldiers, brutal enslavement of women and girls, and destruction of entire religious communities.

In a region episodically plagued by human rights violations, however, what distinguishes the Islamic State is not their brutality -- Saddam Hussein killed more Iraqis and the Ottoman Empire forced more Christians into slavery than any state in history.

What sets the Islamic State apart is their dedication to the destruction of all traces of prior civilizations and societies, so that all remains is their blood-spattered black flag, and a distorted view of Islam that neither the Prophet Muhammad nor centuries of Muslim clerics would recognize.

Over the past few days, the world has seen a video, recorded by IS at the Mosul Museum in Mosul, Iraq. In it can be seen violent images of vandalism: smashing of statues, ripping out of museum displays, and the use of sledgehammers and other tools to obliterate museum treasures.

Before this destruction, its archaeological collections were second in Iraq only to the Baghdad Museum in terms of artifacts, research achievements, staff and range of activities. Its library was a repository of rare books and manuscripts, and its displays held unrivaled materials on the Assyrians and other civilizations of northern Iraq.

I know the Mosul Museum well, having been part of a team that in 2004 helped the regional Directorate of Antiquities repair this facility, which had been looted in April 2003, during the anarchy following the U.S. invasion of Iraq that spring. As an Army reservist with the 416th Civil Affairs Battalion, I was tasked with assisting the Iraqis in rebuilding their museums and historic sites. For once, my civilian and military careers converged; it was the honor of my life to work with Iraqi archaeologists, museum curators and other staff to breathe new life into this effort.

It was not the first recovery; Iraq is a nation in a region that has been invaded and pillaged many times: the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Arab Muslims in the 7th century, the Mongols and Turks in the 13th and 14th centuries.

In this history of successive invasions, however, there has never been a movement quite like the Islamic State. Even the Mongols, whose arrival was so destructive it made the Crusades seem like a cold compared to Ebola, saw violence against people, infrastructure and culture as tools for conquest and punishment, not as an end.

The Islamic State dreams of creating a world in which there are no books other than the Quran (and, based on their actions, even this book is only to be read in part). Consequently, they have burned the collections in Mosul's public library, even works on Islam and the history of their people.

The Islamic State fears all other religions and versions of Islam, destroying churches, temples and mosques, and murdering not just Christians, Yezidis and nonbelievers, but even Muslim clerics and scholars who view Islam differently. The Islamic State rejects history, as well, fearing that knowledge of the Assyrian or Ottoman Empires will show that there are other ways to govern that through illiterate and brutal means.

The destruction at the Mosul Museum is but one example of the nihilism of the Islamic State. They have also smashed what remained of the walls of ancient Nineveh and the palace of Ashurbanipal, other archaeological treasures the U.S. government, our Iraqis partners, and groups such as UNESCO worked so hard to preserve in the midst of war and instability. I remember seeing tears in the eyes of Iraqis as they saw these sites restored in 2004, their pride evident as they hoped to share with the world their heritage as a crossroads of civilization.

The video of the Islamic State was revelatory in another way. One can't help but notice that, as they proceed with their destruction of irreplaceable artifacts, employing all of the courage necessary to fight against inanimate objects, the "fighters" of the Islamic State are working in the dark. There is no electricity functioning in the Mosul Museum, a major building in the center of the largest city under the control of the IS.

Truly, the Islamic State has brought to northern Iraq a new dark age, and one that already casts shadows across the region.

While this brutal, cruel and illiterate movement will and should be driven out of the lands it occupies; lamentably its legacy will remain.

In the wake of the Islamic State's coming defeat, when the last black flag falls, we will be left with this: the broken pieces of the world's heritage that, having endured centuries and millennia were crushed into dust by those who rejected not just other cultures, but all cultures of our shared humanity.

Wayne Bowen received his Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University, and is also an Army veteran.