This thought occurred to me a couple of days ago, and I found an article that sheds an even more troubling light on it. Recall that back in March, there was outrage when the Taliban destroyed many many Buddhist statues etc. in Afghanistan. The following articles gives the basic story, and I was struck in particular by the lines I have bolded.
http://www.indiaabroadonline.com/theworld/march2001/outrage.shtml

Outrage as Taliban destroys its own heritage
(India Abroad News Service)
(File photo: AP)

NEW DELHI -- In a move that has shocked and outraged the global community, the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan last week began destroying a large number of Buddhist statues associated with the country's pre-Islamic past.

The statues targeted by the Taliban included two magnificent 2,000-year-old "standing Buddhas," carved out of a solid cliff in the Bamiyan province in Central Afghanistan, apart from hundreds of other statues and artifacts in museums in Kabul, Ghazni and Herat.

The Buddha statues, measuring 175 feet and 120 feet, respectively, were the tallest of their kind in the world. News reports, quoting senior members in the Taliban government, including Qudratullah Jamal, the information and culture minister, stated that large portions of these two statues had been destroyed by the evening of March 3, using gunpowder, as well as a wide range of weapons like mortars and cannons.

The demolition spree followed a Feb. 26 order by the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, calling for the destruction of the statues on the ground that they encouraged idol worship, which is disallowed by Islam.

The development triggered a sense of outrage across the world, not only in Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand, but in most nations in Europe, North Americam, Southeast Asia and Africa. Even the Taliban's closest ally, Pakistan, expressed shock, even as the militia rejected a last-minute appeal by Unesco, the cultural arm of the United Nations, and went ahead with the wanton destruction.

In New Delhi, Parliament condemned the "barbarism and anticivilizational" intent of the Taliban in destroying the Buddha statues and Buddhist shrines in the country. Moving a resolution on March 2, Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi said that at a time "when all civilizations are coming together through dialogue and shared values, we are shocked by the Taliban's announcement of intended acts of religious fundamentalism and terrorism against human culture and civilization."

The Indian government also offered to take in the artifacts for preservation and safekeeping. "If the Taliban do not wish to retain this inheritance, India would be happy to arrange for the transfer of all these artifacts to India, where they would be kept safely and preserved for all mankind in the full knowledge and clear understanding that they are, in the first place and above all, treasures of the Afghan people themselves," External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said in the house.

"They are attacking the heart of Buddhism, the world's most peace-loving religion," Lama Chosphel Zotpa, president of the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association, said here. "The statues of the Buddha are some of the oldest and most sacred, the dirty hands that are touching them will be punished by divine authority."

Pakistan, which is among a few countries which support the Taliban militia, also joined the international community in urging the Afghanistan government to stop its campaign to destroy its own rich cultural heritage.

In the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, the country's main Buddhist organization announced that it will try and persuade their government to report Afghanistan's Taliban regime to the International Court of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands. "This is a criminal act which should be stopped," said Anil Amarasekera, spokesman for the National Joint Committee of Buddhist organizations. Sri Lanka's main Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, announced it would launch a global campaign to urge the Taliban regime not to destroy the centuries-old statues.

An Iranian organization also strongly condemned the destruction and called on the U.N. to take serious action against the Taliban, according to a news report. IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, quoted a statement by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization (CHO) as saying "strangely, certain Taliban-led individuals, calling themselves 'clerics,' have ordered the destruction of ancient sites of mankind, society, citing blasphemy and idolizing as reasons."

The United States also expressed "distress" at the Taliban order. The U.S. State Department's deputy spokesman, Philip Reeker, said his country was "distressed and baffled by this announcement by the Taliban. Deliberate destruction of statues and sculpture held as sacred by peoples of different faiths is incomprehensible, as is the Taliban's utter rejection of the treasures of Afghanistan's past."

The parallels to the destruction of what can be considered icons or symbols of the U.S. way of life is chilling to me. Interesting also that both Pakistan and Iran condemned the actions.

If you have read any articles or recieved emails pointing out this connection, I would appreciate you letting me know. I haven't seen it mentioned and I'd like to hear your thoughts.

dangerkitty