ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Iraq’s “global heritage,” both monotheistic and pre-monotheistic, is also local, and that its destruction has a direct cultural and psychological impact on the people of Mosul and Iraq. The origins of the Islamic State (IS) organization go back to before the Iraq War of 2003. The chapter presents a brief discussion of cultural heritage and its role in the formation of memory and identity of groups and communities. It provides an overview of the emergence of IS and its ideology toward multiculturalism, highlighting the plight of two indigenous communities–the Yezidis and Assyrians–both with roots in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical landscape of northern Iraq went through forceful changes as a part of the group’s cultural genocide campaign. Purification, iconoclasm, and ethnic and cultural cleansing characterized IS’s ideology in the lands they occupied. After controlling large swaths of land in Iraq, IS waged vicious war on the people, committing genocide.
