Islamist Terrorists Destroy Books and Libraries in Iraq

In this Friday, Jan. 23, 2015 photo, Iraqis look at books on al-Mutanabi Street, home to the city's book market in central Baghdad. One afternoon this month, the Islamic State militants arrived at the Central Library of the northern city of Mosul in a non-combat mission. They broke the locks that kept the two-story building closed since the extremists overran the city in mid last year, loading some 2,000 books included children stories, poetry, philosophy, sports, health and cultural and scientific publications into six pickup trucks and leaving behind only the Islamic religious ones. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
[From article]
When Islamic State group militants invaded the Central Library of Mosul earlier this month, they were on a mission to destroy a familiar enemy: other people's ideas.
Residents say the extremists smashed the locks that had protected the biggest repository of learning in the northern Iraq town, and loaded around 2,000 books — including children's stories, poetry, philosophy and tomes on sports, health, culture and science — into six pickup trucks. They left only Islamic texts.
The rest?
"These books promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned," a bearded militant in traditional Afghani two-piece clothing told residents,
[. . .]
Presumed destroyed are the Central Library's collection of Iraqi newspapers dating to the early 20th century, maps and books from the Ottoman Empire and book collections contributed by around 100 of Mosul's establishment families.
Days after the Central Library's ransacking, militants broke into University of Mosul's library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students.
A University of Mosul history professor, who spoke on condition he not be named because of his fear of the Islamic State group, said the extremists started wrecking the collections of other public libraries last month. He reported particularly heavy damage to the archives of a Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library with works dating back to 5000 BC.
[. . .]
An Iraqi lawmaker, Hakim al-Zamili, said the Islamic State group "considers culture, civilization and science as their fierce enemies."
Al-Zamili, who leads the parliament's Security and Defense Committee, compared the Islamic State group to raiding medieval Mongols, who in 1258 ransacked Baghdad.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150131/ml--iraq-libraries_in_danger-62581f4dca.html

Iraqi libraries ransacked by Islamic State group in Mosul
Jan 31, 4:19 AM (ET)
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN and SAMEER N. YACOUB

AP