Iraq reclaims a Jewish history it once shunned

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: Associated Press

BAGHDAD – It was seized from Jewish families and wound up soaking in sewage water in the basement of a secret police building. Rescued from the chaos that engulfed Baghdad as Saddam Hussein was toppled, it now sits in safekeeping in an office near Washington, D.C.

Like this country's once great Jewish community, the Iraqi Jewish Archive of books, manuscripts, records and other materials has gone through turbulent times. Now another twist may be in store: Iraq wants it back.

Iraqi officials say they will go to the U.S., possibly next month, to assess the materials found by U.S. troops and plan for their return after an absence of nearly seven years.

Some Jewish authorities are skeptical, arguing that since most estimates put the number of Jews in Iraq at less than 10, the archive no longer belongs here. But to Saad Eskander, the director of the Iraq National Library and Archives, it is part of a larger effort to rescue the cultural history Iraq lost during the invasion, and to put Iraqis on a tentative path to coming to grips with their past.

"Iraqis must know that we are a diverse people, with different traditions, different religions, and we need to accept this diversity ... To show it to our people that Baghdad was always multiethnic," said Eskander.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100117/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_s_jewish_archive

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Screw cultural history. Smirk." - xCommander AWOL (R)

"We lied our way into, and then trashed both Eye-ran & Ameriker fair (smirk) and square (smirk), so all that cultural & economic & honor destruction are belong to us republicon chickenhawks. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL (R)