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Comment by ivl | Hacker News Reader

If I recall, they made these purchases in 2010. So just AQ linked Iraqi warlords (who you could probably bet on having joined ISIS).

Ironically, if these artifacts were from northern Iraq, where ISIS has had its main destructive presence, there's a good chance they would have been destroyed.

Still, gross to see a "Christian" company wanting to get items from the 'holy land' that have been totally plundered to build a bible museum.

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Except that many of the artifacts that ISIS "destroys" are in fact sold: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-sta...

I agree but I think this a more recent development. Specifically as ISIS has been driven out of a number of oil fields in the North of Iraq and lost that oil as a source of funding.

I think the "idolatry smashing" propaganda videos are more selective now as ISIS needs to rely more on the sales of those artifacts for funding due the loss of the oil.

> Ironically, if these artifacts were from northern Iraq, where ISIS has had its main destructive presence, there's a good chance they would have been destroyed.

It's largely understood that ISIS destroys archaeological sites so it's harder to notice that they've looted the artefacts to sell them. It also makes the artefacts harder to track and link to their POI.

See also The Museum of Lost Objects which talks about some of the artifacts that have been destroyed.

Here's one about Abu al-Alaa al-Maarri.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35745962

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