Iraqi insurgents blow top off historic monument

Rory Carroll in Baghdad and Krysia Diver in Stuttgart
Saturday April 2, 2005
The Guardian

Suspected insurgents yesterday blew up the top of a 9th-century Islamic minaret which is one of Iraq's most important heritage sites.
The blast punched a two-metre hole in the Malwiya, a spiralling yellow sandstone architectural wonder towering 50 metres (170ft) over Samarra, a flashpoint town north of Baghdad.

For centuries pilgrims and tourists have climbed the stairway winding up to the pinnacle. Built by Abbasid Caliph al-Motawakel in AD852, the structure appears on Iraq's 250-dinar bill.

As much as it may seem controversial to say so, I respect the right of Iraqis to fight the occupation, because I believed in 2003, and I believe now, that the occupation was - and is - illegal; the removal of Saddam Hussein was simply a positive side-effect, to a totally shameless (at least until the past days) deception. And as long as the targets are belligerent Occupation forces, I can't find an argument against the insurgency per-se, except that it is very counter-producive for the country itself, at this point, and they may want to think of the big picture now.

What I cannot fathom, are the attacks on Iraqis, and on other civilians. They serve no positive purpose, they help paint the insurgency as a terrorist conglomerate, and they are harmful to the country that these insurgents claim to be fighting for. Moreover, when they attack the cultural heritage of the country, they prove to me that they have among their midst people whose motives are not as pure as they would want them to be... people with second agendas, and ulterior motives, that might not include freedom for the Iraqi. The Iraqi should have the right to choose their own institutions, without foreign influence; that means ALL foreign influence, US, Iran and Al-Qaeda included. By allying with negative forces like Al-Qaeda, the insurgency lost its noble purpose, and became a vassal of a conglomerate that might lead the whole region to its doom. And it seems they don't realize that yet. I wonder...