When the Islamic State conquered large parts of Syria and Iraq, it murdered tens of thousands of people, demolished archeological sites, toppled statues, and systematically destroyed the symbols of previous regimes and of Western cultural influence.13 But when its fighters entered the local banks and found stashes of American dollars there covered with the faces of American presidents and with slogans in English praising American political and religious ideals, they did not burn these symbols of American imperialism.
