The Heinous ISIS Destruction of Nimrud

By James Donahue

That the militant Islamic fundamental organization seeks to stir a final world conflict and thus force the return of Jesus in the clouds appears to be the goal. This is the conclusion reached by writer Graeme Wood in an article that recently appeared in Atlantic magazine.

There seems to be no other rational reasoning behind the malicious actions of the hooded members of this deadly organization. Not only are these goons capturing and murdering innocent civilians of various religious faiths, proclaiming them "infidels," but now they are alarming historians and archaeologists by bulldozing ancient ruins of once great cities that once comprised the heart of ancient civilization.

The destruction of the remains of the City of Nimrud is significant. Nimrud was a major city that thrived nearly 3,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. It was obviously named after Nimrod, the first great world emperor known to have risen out of that period of history.

It is generally believed among historians that the name of the city was inspired by the ancient king of Assyria, Tukulti-Ninurta I, a powerful conqueror. The Book of Genesis refers to Nimrod as the son of Cush and declared him "a mighty hunter before the Lord."

That ISIS would take it upon itself to destroy not only Nimrud but other ancient ruins of historical importance, rob the ancient artifacts that can be physically removed, and erase all trace of archaeological significance is as severe a crime as the decision by Roman Catholic priests to burn the libraries of the Mayan culture in Central America and the Library of Alexandria in Northern Egypt. The justifications were all the same; that the material in the libraries conflicted with the religious belief systems of the day.

Before the Bush-Cheney gang launched an unprovoked and unjustified war that toppled Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein, there was a kind of peace that existed within the three warring factions of Islamism. Hussein did this with an iron fist and yes, he sent his militants out to force the tribes to get along or die.

Something else that Hussein was deeply interested in was the ancient history of his region. He was known to have spent a lot of money collecting, restoring and researching places like Nimrud, Ur and other places of great historical importance that once earned the reputation as the Cradle of Civilization.

As soon as Hussein was driven out of power, vandals raided the great museum of Baghdad. That was bad enough. But now this.

If the ISIS organization was ever interested in calling people of the Muslim faith into their cause, the bulldozing of Nimrud and destruction of great art works that once stood there was the wrong thing to have done. The act has been publically condemned by leaders of the Islamic world as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The remains of the great Mesopotamian Empire and the Persian Civilization that followed have been a matter of great pride among the people of the region, especially in Iraq and neighboring Iran.

ISIS is clearly stirring war drums throughout the region. Even U.S. President Barack Obama is asking his Congress to consider a limited engagement designed to help the local efforts to push back the ISIS movement and stop the insanity before it gets any worse.

If ISIS is truly interested in bringing on Armageddon in fulfillment of ancient prophecy, they are not going about it with any degree of intelligence. What they are doing is causing a united world-wide front to stop them before they cause any more unnecessary death and destruction.

Even if they do succeed in launching a final world war, we believe they will be very disappointed at the outcome. Such a war will not save the world. It will only speed up the looming extinction of the human race.

World nations need to be united, but not for the purposes of warfare. The world needs to unite to solve common problems like climate change, overpopulation, and the extreme pollution that is destroying our planet right under our feet.

At the moment the radical ISIS members, who do their malicious deeds while masked and dressed entirely in black, need to be treated like a bad flea infestation. They need to be removed with bug spray so we can get on with resolving these important problems, and doing it with a collective and loving spirit.