I was invited to speak at the 2007 Diwan, the arts forum at the National Arab American Museum in Dearborn, Michigan; which included a variety of artists and cultural workers. I started my talk with a remembrance of the ransacking of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad and the burning of many libraries four springs ago; after which I presented my artist’s book Cultures of War: An Essay. The book is meant as a reflection on the cultural background that made such a devastating war possible. It is made out of copies of texts combined with collage and drawings; all texts are by American poets, thinkers, political
leaders, and translators.