For over two and a half months I’ve been reading about the destruction by ISIS of the Hatra archaeological site, and since this was supposedly done, around March 7, any news reports concerning the extent of the destruction have been nothing more than recyclings of the March 7 story. Hatra has been “allegedly”, “reportedly”, “supposedly”, or “purportedly” destroyed, but we have yet to see reliable visual evidence of this. Early last month, ISIS itself released a video supposedly of the demolition, but if it’s the one that’s been going the rounds all you see is a few statues on the site being knocked over, and a carved face adorning a wall being dislodged with sledge hammers.
I know nobody can get into the former site to take pictures from the ground, but shouldn’t we have aerial photos by now? As a matter of fact, I thought we had satellites that could do this. If it’s just a question of waiting until the right satellite’s orbit passes over the site, will the pictures be taken when the time comes?
I consider the wanton destruction of historical sites to be not only heartbreaking, but also a form of mind control. This sort of thing had happened in the fictional world of 1984, but I never thought I would see the same thing IRL. I believe the novel mentions the destruction of the Pyramids specifically, and this too will happen if ISIS takes over Northern Africa, which it seems to be well on the way to doing. I suppose the main reason I want to see post-demolition pictures of Hatra and the other sites (likely Palmyra, now, too), is to get past the dread of seeing them. Until that happens, I’ll dread the first look I get.