Plundering the Past

During the second week of April, something terrible happened in Baghdad: Looters broke into the National Museum, smashing display vitrines full of ancient objects and making off with some of the museum’s prized holdings. The damage didn’t stop there; frenzied mobs also set fire to the National Library and then continued on to the Awqaf (Religious Endowments) Library and the Saddam House of Manuscripts.

Whether these acts were motivated by revenge, greed or temporary insanity, the loss to knowledge—especially knowledge about the roots of Western civilization and the world’s three great monotheistic religions—is incalculable.