Loading ...Two twisted legacies of the U.S. in Iraq: human rights violations at Abu Ghraib prison and theft of the Sumerian poem, the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ tablet
Photos depicting atrocities only describable as appalling and inhumane from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004 shocked the sensibilities of Americans. Military personnel took the blame, while the perpetrators of the Iraq war got off the hook. A second spinoff of the Gulf war was the theft of a 3,600-year-old-religious clay artefact named the Gilgamesh Dream tablet. Arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby got hold of the tablet in some circuitous manner and placed it in its Museum of the Bible. It was only recently returned to its rightful owners—the people of Iraq. Contributing writer John Mason reviews these two historic events.