Other than the sacking of museums during the early days of the liberation, Iraq’s culture hasn’t gotten much press. Melik Kaylan of the Wall Street Journal tried to set things right on that score. Among the several people he interviewed, all connected to the Iraqi art world, was Nazar Rawy, the director of the Contemporary Visual Arts Society.
Funny you should ask, Mr. Rawy. The friends and family of Theo VanGogh have wondered the same thing. So let me give you the answer: American intellectuals, artists and filmmakers, by and large, were against the liberation of your country and the routing of al Qaeda. In fact, they’ve demanded that President Bush and his cabinet be tried for war crimes. At the same time, their only responses to Islamofacism are excuses, silence or, in the case of the filmmakers, movies about the evil of your country’s liberation and our country’s government. The reason? Well, I’d suggest you ask them yourself, but they’d duck you in a Hollywood second. Indeed, Mr. Rawy, you and your fellow artists have shown more courage just running a film festival than your American counterparts will ever possess. Just don’t expect anything as trifling as a pat on the back for your troubles.
