The ultra-orthodox Taliban regime in Afghanistan recently decided to eliminate from their country all anti-Islamic historical relics. These relics include two 2,000-year-old Buddhist statues in the Bamyan province in central Afghanistan. The Taliban has adopted an exceedingly strict interpretation of the Qur�an. They declare that the statues are idolatrous and therefore violate the tenets of Islam.

According to the New York Times, "Predominantly Buddhist nations like Japan and Sri Lanka have made pleas. The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sent a special envoy from Paris, Pierre Lafrance, to try to get the Taliban to rescind their order." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with the Taliban�s foreign minister to try to bring a halt to the destruction. Additionally, a Japanese delegation was sent to the country and offered money to the Taliban to halt the destruction. "Islamic nations also expressed their outrage at the destruction. Egypt sent its chief Muslim cleric, Grand Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel, to Afghanistan to appeal to the Taliban to change their order," the New York Times stated.

All such pleas have been ignored by the Taliban and the relics have been destroyed. Many of these relics, beyond the huge statues, date back to the 4th and 5th centuries.

However, as much as this destruction angers many people, this is not an issue in which many countries, particularly America and England, can take the moral high-ground. Why? Because America and Europe, along with their allies during the Gulf War, destroyed antiquities and relics far more precious and ancient to the world than these Buddhist statues.

Few people seem to realize that Iraq is home to Babylon, an ancient city that sits near the banks of the Euphrates about 50 miles southwest of Baghdad. Babylon is home to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B.C.) Additionally, Iraq is home to numerous provincial museums that house many of the relics of the Biblical era. According to the Seattle Times newspaper, "There are over 10,000 archaeological sites scattered through the country, most of them not fully excavated." This is the area and country of America�s bombing during the Gulf War that continues to this very day.

Iraqi authorities have charged and archaeologists have confirmed that American soldiers hacked off pieces of the Ziggurat at Ur during the Gulf War. Diplomats and U.N. relief workers smuggled numerous antiquities out of Iraq at that time. Additionally, the economic sanctions placed on Iraq since the war have encouraged the downright thievery of the country�s heritage by its own people. Starving people care nothing about antiquities and gladly sell them to European and American collectors who are well aware that the country now lacks the ability to protect its heritage.

So, why all the fuss about the Taliban�s actions? Americans pave over the graveyards and holy sites of Native and Black American people. America demolishes the antiquities of those groups that lack the power to protect them. America moves or destroys them for more roads, stores and parking lots. So, why all the fuss about the Taliban�s actions?

In some cases it would seem that the world might be more peaceful if some relics did not exist. Witness the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary. This ancient temple in Jerusalem is what Jews believe are the ruins of a Jewish temple destroyed by Romans in AD 70. They believe their messiah will appear here to signal the end of the world. The Palestinians and other Muslims also celebrate this site as the departure point for the Prophet Muhammad when he ascended to paradise to receive instructions from God. This relic has been the cause of more hatred and ruthless bloodshed than just about any relic currently known to man.

But the issue is not as clear cut as it seems. When citizens and activists in Afghanistan were and still continue to beg the world for assistance (they are now 3 years into a devastating drought), no country seems to have ears. When women in Afghanistan complained to the world about the Taliban, which does not permit them to go to school or drive cars or leave their homes without escort, their complaints fell upon deaf ears.

When Native Americans say the trees are important to their heritage, Americans laugh, bulldoze them down and offer the Natives casinos. When people in poor communities complain about poisoned water and poor air quality, the government placates them with meaningless jobs and ineffectual fact-finding commissions.

As a nation, America has acted quite often to thwart the desires and needs of people for the sake of things. America declares itself a Christian nation, yet clearly prefers the things of the devil over the people of God.

So, why all the fuss about some old Buddhist statues when we could care less about the starving, thirsting and oppressed people of Afghanistan?

(Barbara Beebe is a North Carolina-based freelance writer.)