To the editor:

In a letter published by your newsletter on April 16, John Hoopes states that “The destruction of the Iraq National Museum is a disaster as horrendous as the collapse of the World Trade Center — perhaps even more so.” I happen to edit an archaeological journal and am a survivor of both World Trade Center attacks, the one in 1993 and the one on Sept.11, 2001. Hoopes’ judgment sickens me. So far, fortunately, it seems that no human lives were lost in the Iraqi museum.

May Hoopes never see his neighbors jump to their deaths, hand-in-hand, to avoid an even more painful demise by incineration. May he never find a severed human head on his roof, or a flight attendant’s mangled wings in his flower pot. May he never be vaporized alive, or squashed like a bug to just a greasy stain on the sidewalk. When the time comes, may he say goodbye to his relatives and friends from a comfortable, medicated death bed, and not have to leave a cell phone message while waiting for the flames to reach him. May he never have to run for his life, or be homeless.

Sure, we should try to preserve ancient art. However, if I had to choose between saving a single person’s life, or the physical integrity of a Sumerian statue, I’d save the person, even if he were Hoopes. There is no comparison between the collapse of the World Trade Center and the pillage of a museum, however important.

Monica Barnes,

New York City