Saad Eskander - rebuilding Iraq's library

Eskander has spent four years rebuilding the library in Baghdad

Outlook has featured an interview with the director of Iraq's National Library and Archive, Dr Saad Eskander.

Eskander returned to Iraq in November 2003, six months after the US-led invasion, to find a library which had been looted and destroyed, and he has spent the past 4 years fighting to rebuild it.

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Dr Eskander's British Library blog

It's a job that he feels is crucial to the future of the country - as he explained to the BBC's Fergal Keane.

"Iraq as a nation failed," he said, "It was a one-sided state: one ideology, one ethnic group dominated the state - the Sunnis.

"So we want a new state, a new nation and this makes the job of secular, cultural and educational institutions very important because in these institutions you can find common symbols which represents all Iraqis regardless of their religious or ethnic background."

Eskander, who is an ethnic Kurd but believes in a truly united Iraq, has had to combat corruption, religious extremism, and sectarian violence.

Writing a blog on the British Library website, he listed death threats, kidnappings and other aggressive acts perpetrated on his staff.

One particular entry described an incident where a Sunni and a Shia employee left the library to find another employee who had been missing for several days.

"Unfortunately they went against my advice to search for him in a very dangerous part of Baghdad," he said, "As soon as they left the building some terrorist group arrested both of them - the Sunni worker was tortured, beaten up, severely verbally abused and sent back to us.

"Later we understood that the Shia librarian was executed."

Eskander himself, who received a death threat in 2005, was keen to highlight some of the more cheerful aspects of his job.

He said, for example, that 30 of the young men and women who work at the National Library have become engaged over the past 4 years.

"I thought I would change my post from director National Library to director National Marriage," he said.

And at home he said that he and his wife seldom discuss the security situation - preferring to talk about music and their two children - though he did admit that he was concerned about his children's future.

"I always feel guilty about two things - one my children. I need to protect them. And my staff...So I'm caught in the middle. If I protect my children, it means I have to leave my staff."

But his overriding feeling is that the books and culture in general must be defended at all costs.

"Throughout history books, book markets have been destroyed by brutal despots and religious fanatics," he said, "The reason for me is obvious. Books represent dialogue, progress and free expression.

"I believe that the future is bright and that the enemy is a temporary threat which will disappear sooner or later."

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