X-Ray Excitation of Molecular Hydrogen and [Fe II] Emission in NGC 1068

NGC 1068 is a source of luminous emission in the near-infrared lines of molecular hydrogen and Fe II]. Although these emission lines are commonly attributed to shocks, I show that in NGC 1068 it is quite plausible that they arise in the X-Ray Dissociation Region (XDR) produced by X-ray irradiation of the gas in the disk by the powerful active nucleus. This mechanism naturally produces the observed size scale of the H2 emission. I will also briefly discuss the implications of the observations of the pure rotation lines of H2 with ISO (Lutz, this workshop).