Dr. Amaal V.E. Tokars's Page

Of all the physical damage that has been done to Iraq, the greatest damage has been done to the culture itself. Iraq has lost much of her cultural capital. Cultural capital as evidenced in the arts, education, healthcare, science, social justice, education, and law enforcement are the many artifacts of any civil society. Iraq began to lose many objects of value earlier; during the U.S. embargo against Iraq when families began selling Persian carpets, jewelry, wardrobes, and family heirlooms to s… Continue

IN THE AUTUMN of 2001, I received a phone call from a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Washington
D.C. asking me to describe my eye-witness experience of the terror. I relayed the following narrative:


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"My narrative takes me back to a place in the north of Iraq, where my eyewitness experience began. I am in the place where the old city of Mosul is home to the ancient city of Nineveh and to the ancient histories of the diverse peoples of the North. I am with my fami… Continue

Of all the damage that has been done to Iraq; through the U.S. invasion and occupation, the greatest damage has been done to the culture itself. Cultural capital is foundational to all artifacts of civil society such as the arts, education, healthcare, science, and social justice.


Cultural capital itself is not a concrete thing and yet it is manifested in so many things; such as excellent education, quality health care, and the law & order of every advanced civil society. Upon the… Continue

When the United States declared war on Iraq in 2003 Nelson Mandela declared that the invasion should be “condemned in the strongest terms." The voices of such statesmen from around the world were not centerpiece to the information being conveyed to American citizens during the time leading up to the invasion. Centerpiece to that information was strong conveyances linking Iraq to the Taliban, terror, and weapons of mass destruction. These powerful conveyances were inaccurate and fear-producing. D… Continue

A recent New York Times front page article, Decisive on 9/11, Giuliani Now Faces a Big Choice, read, “Rudolph W. Giuliani, who developed a national reputation for decisive and reassuring leadership after 9/11, now faces the odd challenge of having to reassure some supporters that he can be decisive about a very different issue: running for president (Roberts, 2007).” What is striking about this article; is not this article in particular, but how many other articles of the like, adult citizens ar… Continue