Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

Fortunately UNESCO keeps itself occupied with its main "good work": fomenting anti-Israeli hatred.

Israel?

:(

get a life. Israel has nothing to do with this. Your hatred has you acting irrational,.

Just illustrating my earlier point that UNESCO is a pretty lame and ineffective organization. It's main plank in the previous decade has been to foster anti-Israeli and anti-Western, hatred. Remember Durban?
:blahblah:

your agenda is showing

good bye
 
Israel?

:(

get a life. Israel has nothing to do with this. Your hatred has you acting irrational,.

Just illustrating my earlier point that UNESCO is a pretty lame and ineffective organization. It's main plank in the previous decade has been to foster anti-Israeli and anti-Western, hatred. Remember Durban?
:blahblah:

your agenda is showing

good bye

I don't really have an agenda. Your stupidity and ignorance are your problem, not mine.
 
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

int_-timbuktu_0702_003.jpg


It was a singular, defining act of barbarism, beamed out live for the world to see. In March 2001, Taliban fighters and grandees clustered around the famed giant statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, laid explosives at their feet and blew them up. The extremists’ shadowy leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, lauded the destruction of the two towering 6th century monuments: “Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them.”

Similar language and zeal was on air Monday when news emerged of an Islamist faction in Mali desecrating a number of tombs in the ancient city of Timbuktu, which in recent months fell under control of a separatist insurgency. “The destruction is a divine order,” said a spokesman from Ansar Dine, a radical outfit with alleged links to al-Qaeda. According to reports, the militants have set about tearing down centuries-old mausoleums of Muslim holy men in Timbuktu, a Saharan crossroads known in lore as “the city of 333 saints” and long a fabled destination for backpacking tourists. UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, says as many as half of the city’s shrines “have been destroyed in a display of fanaticism.”

In the puritanical strain of Islam adhered to by Ansar Dine (and the Taliban), veneration of Sufi saints counts as idolatry, a heretical practice that cannot be tolerated. Militants bearing guns, pickaxes and shovels reduced to rubble the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud, who died in 955 A.D. They have also knocked down tombs of two other prominent medieval saints, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya. One Ansar Dine spokesman told the BBC that they plan to destroy every single Sufi shrine in the city, “without exception.”

International outrage has been swift. UNESCO, which designates some of Timbuktu’s mosques and tombs as World Heritage sites, has desperately urged an end to the campaign of destruction. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed the acts “totally unjustified.” The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, suggested they should be considered a war crime.


Read more: Mali: Why Islamists Are Destroying Timbuktu's Holy Shrines | World | TIME.com


A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.
 
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

int_-timbuktu_0702_003.jpg


It was a singular, defining act of barbarism, beamed out live for the world to see. In March 2001, Taliban fighters and grandees clustered around the famed giant statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, laid explosives at their feet and blew them up. The extremists’ shadowy leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, lauded the destruction of the two towering 6th century monuments: “Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them.”

Similar language and zeal was on air Monday when news emerged of an Islamist faction in Mali desecrating a number of tombs in the ancient city of Timbuktu, which in recent months fell under control of a separatist insurgency. “The destruction is a divine order,” said a spokesman from Ansar Dine, a radical outfit with alleged links to al-Qaeda. According to reports, the militants have set about tearing down centuries-old mausoleums of Muslim holy men in Timbuktu, a Saharan crossroads known in lore as “the city of 333 saints” and long a fabled destination for backpacking tourists. UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, says as many as half of the city’s shrines “have been destroyed in a display of fanaticism.”

In the puritanical strain of Islam adhered to by Ansar Dine (and the Taliban), veneration of Sufi saints counts as idolatry, a heretical practice that cannot be tolerated. Militants bearing guns, pickaxes and shovels reduced to rubble the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud, who died in 955 A.D. They have also knocked down tombs of two other prominent medieval saints, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya. One Ansar Dine spokesman told the BBC that they plan to destroy every single Sufi shrine in the city, “without exception.”

International outrage has been swift. UNESCO, which designates some of Timbuktu’s mosques and tombs as World Heritage sites, has desperately urged an end to the campaign of destruction. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed the acts “totally unjustified.” The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, suggested they should be considered a war crime.


Read more: Mali: Why Islamists Are Destroying Timbuktu's Holy Shrines | World | TIME.com


A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:
 
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed the acts “totally unjustified.”

Whoa! Careful Moonie. Don't hulk out and get really nasty like that! Tone the language down man!!
 
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

[imghttp://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/int_-timbuktu_0702_003.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1[/img]




Read more: Mali: Why Islamists Are Destroying Timbuktu's Holy Shrines | World | TIME.com


A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:

If he did the son would most definitely not drool all over himself like LAfrique does.
 
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

int_-timbuktu_0702_003.jpg





Read more: Mali: Why Islamists Are Destroying Timbuktu's Holy Shrines | World | TIME.com


A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:


So we are told. But I just saw a lad with antenna ears who could pass for Barack Obama's son, or perhaps son of Texas businessman Ross Perot?
 
Just illustrating my earlier point that UNESCO is a pretty lame and ineffective organization. It's main plank in the previous decade has been to foster anti-Israeli and anti-Western, hatred. Remember Durban?
:blahblah:

your agenda is showing

good bye

I don't really have an agenda. Your stupidity and ignorance are your problem, not mine.

no agenda? :lmao:

then how the fuck did you in all your brilliance jump -- in a thread about Muslim extremists -- who are all the way on the other side of Africa from where Israel lies -- in a thread that has nothing to do with Israel (whom I'm a huge supporter of) -- to Israeli relations with Palestinians and the UN?
 
A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:

If he did the son would most definitely not drool all over himself like LAfrique does.

LaFrique is the African version of Corky Thatcher from the Wonder Years.
 
A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:


So we are told. But I just saw a lad with antenna ears who could pass for Barack Obama's son, or perhaps son of Texas businessman Ross Perot?

Yeah whatever you say retard. :cuckoo:
 
Barack Obama doesn't have a son you stupid cock sucker.:lol:


So we are told. But I just saw a lad with antenna ears who could pass for Barack Obama's son, or perhaps son of Texas businessman Ross Perot?

Yeah whatever you say retard. :cuckoo:


Aren't we restless recently and trying to calm down by displaying crazy avatars? Tsk, tsk, tsk!

By the way, generous amounts of lettuce in salad or sandwich, and/or some beets and celery (eaten or juiced) will help calm your restless nerves. Good day!
 
So we are told. But I just saw a lad with antenna ears who could pass for Barack Obama's son, or perhaps son of Texas businessman Ross Perot?

Yeah whatever you say retard. :cuckoo:


Aren't we restless recently and trying to calm down by displaying crazy avatars? Tsk, tsk, tsk!

By the way, generous amounts of lettuce in salad or sandwich, and/or some beets and celery (eaten or juiced) will help calm your restless nerves. Good day!

My avatars? what are you stalking me now you cocksucker? :eek:
 
So you think that a prosecutor of an international Court who suddenly starts inventing new war crimes on the spot isn't ridiculous and outrageously incompetent?

reading and comprehension 101: "The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, suggested they should be considered a war crime."
:eusa_whistle:

Yes you proved my point. That prosecutor is a dangerous idiot who thinks that what is a war crime should be adapted according to cuurent PC fashion.

How about dressing funny or starring on a really stupid TV show. War crime worthy ?

Holy shit UN--just send in your blue hats and try to stop the mother fuckers. Kill em if need be and don't bother to try them posthumously.
 
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage

int_-timbuktu_0702_003.jpg


It was a singular, defining act of barbarism, beamed out live for the world to see. In March 2001, Taliban fighters and grandees clustered around the famed giant statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, laid explosives at their feet and blew them up. The extremists’ shadowy leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, lauded the destruction of the two towering 6th century monuments: “Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them.”

Similar language and zeal was on air Monday when news emerged of an Islamist faction in Mali desecrating a number of tombs in the ancient city of Timbuktu, which in recent months fell under control of a separatist insurgency. “The destruction is a divine order,” said a spokesman from Ansar Dine, a radical outfit with alleged links to al-Qaeda. According to reports, the militants have set about tearing down centuries-old mausoleums of Muslim holy men in Timbuktu, a Saharan crossroads known in lore as “the city of 333 saints” and long a fabled destination for backpacking tourists. UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, says as many as half of the city’s shrines “have been destroyed in a display of fanaticism.”

In the puritanical strain of Islam adhered to by Ansar Dine (and the Taliban), veneration of Sufi saints counts as idolatry, a heretical practice that cannot be tolerated. Militants bearing guns, pickaxes and shovels reduced to rubble the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud, who died in 955 A.D. They have also knocked down tombs of two other prominent medieval saints, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya. One Ansar Dine spokesman told the BBC that they plan to destroy every single Sufi shrine in the city, “without exception.”

International outrage has been swift. UNESCO, which designates some of Timbuktu’s mosques and tombs as World Heritage sites, has desperately urged an end to the campaign of destruction. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deemed the acts “totally unjustified.” The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, suggested they should be considered a war crime.


Read more: Mali: Why Islamists Are Destroying Timbuktu's Holy Shrines | World | TIME.com


A common M.O. Exactly what Christians did years ago when they visited nations in the name of God.

Belligerent Drunk, is the antenna ears lad you? Looks like Barack Obama's son.

Wow, whodathunk this would come up......... :rolleyes: Ya know how long ago that was? And because Christians did it centuries ago it's okay for Muslims to do it today.......?
:cuckoo:
 
:blahblah:

your agenda is showing

good bye

I don't really have an agenda. Your stupidity and ignorance are your problem, not mine.

no agenda? :lmao:

then how the fuck did you in all your brilliance jump -- in a thread about Muslim extremists -- who are all the way on the other side of Africa from where Israel lies -- in a thread that has nothing to do with Israel (whom I'm a huge supporter of) -- to Israeli relations with Palestinians and the UN?

I didn't start about UNESCO or the UN and nobody's mentioned the Palestinians till you did. Learn to read.
 
Destroying Timbuktu: The Jihadist who Inspires the Demolition of the Shrines

2100_int_hamaha_0709.jpg


Omar Hamaha is a one-man whirlwind of piety and fury. For more than a decade he has been accused of raiding government outposts in Mauritania, Algeria and Niger; he has allegedly held Western hostages for extravagant ransoms, and — without any doubt — preached a ferocious asceticism through the barrel of a gun as he proselytized across the region. Riding with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, he crisscrossed the shadowless Sahara in the service of a god he envisioned as unforgiving as the desert itself. He invoked Koranic verses to protect himself from the “evil work of devils” and “the biting of snakes and scorpions,” learned to navigate by the sun, moon and stars, and believed that meteor showers were battles between djinns and angels. It has been a ferocious transformation for a former student of accounting.

Since April, Hamaha, a man with a flaming red tuft of a beard and an oratorical style to match, has emerged as one of the most visible figures of the Islamist takeover of Mali’s ethnic Tuareg rebellion–even though he is an ethnic Arab. Clad in a camouflage smock and turban and clutching his Kalashnikov, he has become a familiar sight on the streets of Timbuktu. Residents say he mixes his fiery sermons with small acts of kindness — and poses for photos. He is implacably bound to a 21st Century re-imagining of 7th Century Islam. “We are fighting in the name of religion,” he tells TIME by phone from Timbuktu, in one of several conversations over recent weeks that paint a rare portrait of the jihadist. “You know,” he says, “Our struggle has just begun.”

He has championed the demolition of several Muslim mausoleums that UNESCO had declared historic. He said the destruction was justified on the grounds that “those who believe” in the veneration of such shrines “are driven by Satan.” On Tuesday, the Islamists in Timbuktu reportedly destroyed two more tombs at the 14th Century Djingareyber mosque.”It’s forbidden by Islam to pray on tombs and ask for blessings,” says Hamaha, “Ansar Eddine is showing the rest of world, especially Western countries, that whether they want it or not, we will not let the younger generation believe in shrines as God, regardless of what the U.N., UNESCO, International Criminal Court or ECOWAS [the Economic Community of West African States] have to say. We do not recognize these organizations. The only thing we recognize is the court of God, shar’ia. Shar’ia is a divine obligation, people don’t get to choose whether they like it or not.”

Officially, Hamaha, who is in his late 40s, is the military chief of Ansar Eddine, the predominantly Tuareg, Salafist outfit that emerged from the slipstream of a secular Tuareg rebellion before quickly supplanting it. But he has become the loudest proponent of jihad. “Our war is a holy war, not one of frontiers and limits,” he thundered in one video posted on YouTube earlier this year. “We are the mujahedin. Holy war!”

Read more: Destroying Timbuktu: The Jihadist who Inspires the Demolition of the Shrines | World | TIME.com
 

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