The Conversation Between President Trump And His 13-Year-Old Son: Cultural Sites Are Fair Targets. General Eisenhower Might Disagree

An Extraordinary Conversation: How Does President Trump Explain To His 13-Year-Old Son That Threatening To Destroy Cultural Locations Is Righteous In War? And Barron’s Conversations With Teachers and His Friends- My Dad Says OK For A Country To Target The Washington Monument?

Are The United States And Iran At A Rubicon?
Targeting A Country’s History To Influence A Government
Mar-A-Lago Is In The National Register Of Historic Places
General Eisenhower Took Notice

The cornerstone of the White House in Washington was laid in 1792 and its first occupants, President and Mrs. John Adams, moved into an as-yet unfinished structure in 1800. In August 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United States and England, the White House was burned. The 555-foot Washington Monument was completed in 1888. Mount Rushmore in South Dakota was completed in 1941. Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is in the National Register of Historic Places. Germany did not destroy the Eiffel Tower during WWI or WWII.

During World War II, efforts were made by both Allied and Axis alliance members to protect heritage sites. From Smithsonian Magazine (January 2013): “But Eisenhower put out this famous letter to his commanders on the eve of the invasion of Italy basically saying, yes, there may be military necessity but when you come across cultural heritage, you better be sure it’s a military necessity and not just laziness or personal convenience on your part. If you decide it needs to be destroyed, you’re going to answer to me.” LINK to letter.

On 4 January 2020, The Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, published two messages using the Twitter application, connected, they shared:

“… Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”

UPDATE: On 5 January 2020, President Trump shared during a discussion with reporters aboard Air Force One: “They’re allowed to kill our people.  They’re allowed to torture and maim our people.  They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up out people.  And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site?  It doesn’t work that way.”

What the President suggests is generally accepted to be a war crime. The President intimates that the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, historic city of Yazd, Armenian Monastic Ensembles, Golestan Palace, Persepolis, Shushtar hydraulic water system, Soltaniyeh, and Bazaar of Tabriz are amongst legitimate military targets for the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM), MIM-104 Patriot missile, GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), and the 70,000 pounds of weapons carried by the B-52 Stratofortress.

The President may have forgotten that on 24 March 2017, the United Nations Security Council, unanimously (that means with the support of the United States), adopted S/Res/2347 which reads in part: “Condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, including the destruction of religious sites and artefacts, and the looting and smuggling of cultural property from archaeological sites, museums, libraries, archives, and other sites, notably by terrorist groups.”

Examples of recent cultural destruction:

From Telegraph in 2001, “The world's two largest standing Buddhas - one of them 165ft high - were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan at the weekend. After failing to destroy the 1,700-year-old sandstone statues of Buddha with anti-aircraft and tank fire, the Taliban brought a lorryload of dynamite from Kabul. Buddhism in Afghanistan was one of the major religious forces in the region during pre-Islamic era.”

From Wikipedia: “On 24 September 2014, ISIL militants destroyed with improvised explosive devices the 7th-century Green Church (also known as St Ahoadamah Church) belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East in Tikrit [Iraq]. The Mar Behnam Monastery in Khidr Ilyas near Bakhdida, Iraq was destroyed by ISIL in March 2015.

From National Geographic: In 2015, “[t]he so-called Islamic State (ISIS) released a video that shocked the world last month by showing the fiery destruction of the Temple of Baalshamin, one of the best-preserved ruins at the Syrian site of Palmyra [Syria]. Last weekend, explosions were reported at another Palmyra temple, dedicated to the ancient god Baal; a United Nation agency says satellite images show that larger temple has largely been destroyed.

From Wikipedia: “In May 2012, Ansar Dine destroyed a shrine in the city and in June 2012, in the aftermath of the Battle of Gao and Timbuktu [Mali], other shrines, including the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud, were destroyed when attacked with shovels and pickaxes by members of the same group. An Ansar Dine spokesman said that all shrines in the city, including the 13 remaining World Heritage sites, would be destroyed because they consider them to be examples of idolatry, a sin in Islam.”

History

From United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization (UNESCO):

The process began at the end of the nineteenth century, when fifteen European states met in Brussels (Belgium), on 27 July 1874, to examine the draft international agreement concerning the Laws and Customs of War. A month later, Article 8 of the Brussels Declaration stipulated that, in times of war, “All seizure or destruction of, or wilful damage to […] historic monuments, works of art and science should be made the subject of legal proceedings by the competent authorities.”

Twenty-five years later, in 1899, on the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, an international peace conference was held in the Netherlands, with the aim of revising the Declaration (which was never ratified) and adopting a Convention with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land.

Also known as the Hague Convention of 1899, it considerably advanced international law and established the principle of the immunity of cultural property. According to Article 27 of the Convention (revised during the Second Hague Convention on 18 October 1907), “In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals […], provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes. It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs, which shall be notified to the enemy beforehand.”

Three decades later, in 1935, the preamble of the Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions − a pan-American initiative also known as the Roerich Pact − formulated the idea that cultural property, which “form the cultural treasure of peoples” must “be respected and protected in time of war and in peace”.

LINK To https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_destroyed_heritage