Months of war that ruined centuries of history

[Robbien]

Cherished monuments defaced and ancient inscribed fragments found in spoil heaps

Maev Kennedy
Saturday January 15, 2005
The Guardian

Iraqi authorities will today take back responsibility for the site of Babylon in a formal handover from the coalition forces. But what they will inherit, say experts, is a catalogue of disasters. According to the report of the British Museum's John Curtis, the site has been severely contaminated and parts have been irreparably damaged.

The report details:

· damage to the dragons decorating the Ishtar Gate, one of the world's most famous monuments, from attempts to prise out the relief-moulded bricks

· broken bricks inscribed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar lying in spoil heaps

· the original brick surface of the great processional route through the gate crushed by military vehicles

· fuel seeping from tanks into archaeological layers

· acres of the site levelled, covered with imported gravel - which Dr Curtis said would be impossible to remove without causing further damage - and sprayed with chemicals which are also seeping into the unexcavated buried deposits

· thousands of tonnes of archaeological material used to fill sandbags and mesh crates, and equally damaging, when that practice stopped, thousands more tonnes of material imported from outside the site, contaminating the site for archaeologists forever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391085,00.html

the article goes on to describe much more, most of which happened at the hands of the lead contractor, Halliburton

[GetTheRightVote]

1. This losing of the past is one of the greatest cost of this war, * sucks

:kick:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. That's what happens when you give a bunch of undereducated

and terminally greedy people a free hand in a foreign country. :grr:

I read a report by a Japanese reporter who was embedded with the U.S. troops, and as they approached the site of Babylon, he was all excited about seeing one of the most famous archeological sites in the world, and the U.S. soldiers had no idea what he was talking about.

[Robbien]

6. The Guardian has another story on this wasteful action

"The camp did not have to be established in the city - where the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the world, once stood - but given that it was, the US authorities were very aware of the warnings of archaeologists of the historic importance of the site. Yet, as a report by Dr John Curtis of the British Museum makes clear, they seem to have ignored the warnings.

Dr Curtis claimed that in the early days after the war a military presence served a valuable purpose in preventing the site from being looted. But that, he said, did not stop "substantial" damage being done to the site afterwards not just to individual buildings such as the Ishtar Gate, "one of the most famous monuments from antiquity", but also on an estimated 300,000 square metres which had been flattened and covered in gravel, mostly imported from elsewhere. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391000,00.html

Every word in this story makes my heart ache.

[nashville_brook]

54. "the aggravated ruins... stand as a metaphor for the war itself"

the msot important quote is in the last 'graph.

"No one knows exactly how many more historical treasures lie beneath Babylon. That will not be known until a major excavation is undertaken probably as an international effort. Meanwhile, the aggravated ruins of the city of stand as a metaphor for the war itself which has left modern Iraq as well as ancient Babylon in a much worse state than they were before the saviours arrived. The task of reconstruction cannot happen too quickly."

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. No small wonder we are falling behind the other industrialized nations

educationally. What a tragedy.

I always thought Bush was a bull in the china shop of foreign relations...it isn't just a figure of speech anymore.

[Lorien]

3. Everything about this invasion is a tragedy

Most Americans have no idea how important that area was to human history. What a terrible waste.

[Orsino]

5. No idea about the importance that the dead...

...could have had, either.

I'm really trying to work up some outrage for historical artifacts, but right now the thought of all that death is too distracting.

[Lorien]

18. One doesn't negate the other

it's like that weak old argument that if you care about animals, you can't care about people. I have enough outrage to cover EVERY outrage of this f*cking immoral war!

[Orsino]

43. Who is making that argument?

n/t

[Lorien]

70. ...

"I'm really trying to work up some outrage for historical artifacts, but right now the thought of all that death is too distracting."

No room for more than one outrage at a time?

[jayctravis]

72. I understand you.

I can be outraged at wanton destruction of any type; life, art, literature.

[Orsino]

75. That is a far cry from...

..."if you care about animals, you can't care about people."

I said that *I'm* too distracted by all the death now, not that everyone *should* be.

[UpInArms]

36. ignorance and a lack of respect

for history, mankind, the planet or a future.

The outrage never stops.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Damn!

[bleedingheart]

7. killing the people and destroying their culture and history

this is just horrifying.

[Generic Other]

53. A picture of the Ishtar Gate

I am so mad at the utter stupidity of it all. I feel like my soldiers are the Vandals and the Visigoths destroying Rome. The Ottoman Turks blowing up the Parthenon.

Why don't they salt the earth while they are at it?

[nashville_brook]

55. thank you so much for posting this!

bush is the ultimate philistine! does this surprise anyone?

utterly unforgivable!

[Robbien]

59. It is awe inspiring. I had no idea it was so large

Even though it is a replica, it hurts to know this beautiful structure in now rubble.

[Karenina]

60. Well, they have gone one better than salt

having spread depleted uranium over great swaths of the country...
The *Gift* that keeps on giving.

*D'englisch pun for whomever groks it.

[bigmonkey]

73. They don't need to salt the earth.

They've got something better! Fine, radioactive dust.

[NNN0LHI]

9. They hate us for our freedoms n/t

[DBoon]

10. Any biblical significance to this occupation?

Some weird pseudo-religious reason to occupy and denigrate this site?

[leesa]

23. Absolutely. Revelations predicts the Rapture will occur after a momentous

battle in Mesopotamia and the victors (of course christians) will move on to Israel where the Rapture is to occur.

They have even concocted that the overthrown leader of Mesopotamia is named "saddam". Quite a common name, however, now ain't it.

[TankLV]

68. He said BIBLICAL references. The "rapture" is bullshit created by a

single preacher from England in the late 1800's. It is utterly from his imaginings alone.

It can not be found anywhere in the "bible".

So in this one respect, it has absolutely NO biblical significance.

[MisterP]

24. besides Chimpy being a top candidate for Antichrist?

[neweurope]

50. Yes. Remember "the whore Babylon" will be destroyed before

the end... When the Beast awakens.


-------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[okasha]

58. Revelations 18:7-10

7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
9 And the kings of the earth,who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, tht mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgement come.

It wouldn't take much for a fundy to see "shock and awe" and the razing of Fallujah as fulfillment of this passage.

Never mind that it was actually written about Rome.

Okasha

[tjdee]

11. Peter Jennings reported on this way before we even invaded.

I seem to remember him asking about those sites before we invaded, and once we did he definitely did a report on the looting and thievery of different museum and archaelogical items.

This is fucking ridiculous.

[mutus_frutex]

12. Centuries? CENTURIES???

Millenia would be a bit more accurate..

What is worst is that they were warned in advance. I think it was the Archaeological Institute of America and the National Geographic that made a study about the possible looting and the need to be careful around the different sites.

What's the difference between this and the Taliban blowing-up the Budhas??

[Robbien]

14. Yes, it is not just Iraqi history, it is the history of the people on this

planet.

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. this is heartbreaking

it is all gone forever
because of ignorance and greed

this will be your LEGACY Mr Bush

[wildwww2]

27. Not much. The Taliban are wacked out fundamentalist muslims.

And Bu$h Inc. are wacked out fudamentalist Christians. And both acts were totally uncalled for. Besides that I do not know.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[teryang]

44. One difference, the Taliban were in their own country

However, your point is well taken. Destroying a country's most respected cultural features is an old technique of conquest and colonialism.

[leftchick]

45. no difference at all

The US is now a terrorist nation, Those soldiers have been writing graffiti all over the ruins. I saw photos of it on yahoo months ago. It is appalling! Here is a photo from yesterday.



US soldiers enter the ancient city of Babylon. A damning report by the British Museum revealed that US-led forces in Iraq (news - web sites) have caused irreparable damage to the site of the ancient city of Babylon, contaminating the soil and destroying archaeological evidence.(AFP/File/Roslan Rahman)



... And some looting by the soldiers as well....

~snip~

The famous dragons at the Ishtar Gate were marred by cracks and gaps where someone had tried to remove their decorative bricks, the Guardian newspaper, which has seen the report, said on Saturday.

Museum officials were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.

Military vehicles had crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement and there were archaeological fragments scattered across the site, including broken bricks stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar, the newspaper said.

John Curtis, keeper of the British Museum's Near East department, who was invited by the Iraqis to study the site, also found that large quantities of sand mixed with archaeological fragments have been taken from the site to fill military sandbags and metal mesh baskets, the newspaper said.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis said in the report.

[mutus_frutex]

56. A thread in common...

After thinking a bit about this, I think they do have something important in common: both the soldiers and the Taliban quite likely lack the education to appreciate the history and importance of the site. They also share a xenophobia that ranges from passive to active.

[KDLarsen]

65. .. another great comparison would be

.. this is what it's like if an invading army established an army base right on top of the Alamo. Or filled the Grand Canyon with soil to make room runways. Or cut down the Statue of Liberty to make room for a coastal gun battery.

[Karenina]

62. What's the difference?

It's MUCH, MUCH WORSE A CRIME AGAINST OUR COMMON HERITAGE.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. That's been one of the most horrific aspects

of this whole war for me. And it's not that I don't care about the lives being lost, I do. But archaelogical sites that go back to the dawn of civilization tell us all where we came from and how we got to where we are now. They belong to all of humanity and give us a sense of rootedness. To say nothing of what this destruction does for the identity of the Iraqi people.

Destroying a people's identity and connection with their past is a form of genocide and greatly compounds the loss of individual lives.

It seems that our country has become the modern day version of the Visigoths.:grr:

[Lorien]

20. You nailed it

I know a lot of people on this board will say "but you shouldn't care about antiquities when people are dying"! as if the human heart only has a very finite capacity for caring at all. No, as you said,; it's another form of genocide. It rapes a culture of their identity. It's a form of psychological warfare that was practiced by the Romans and many other conquerors of the past. One must ask if it was intentional or just an act of gross negligence.

[Crunchy Frog]

21. What it really amounts to

is robbing, both humanity in general and the Iraqi people in particular, of a large chunk of our collective memory. It's almost like performing a frontal lobotomy on someone. You don't kill them, but you take away some critical essence of who they were as a person.

This is a part of both ourselves, and the Iraqi people, that we will never be able to get back, and that will contribute to our cultural diminishing and impoverishment. :cry:

[neweurope]

51. It WAS intentional: They had been warned!

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Karenina]

61. It was ABSOLUTELY

INTENTIONAL. A "GOLDEN SHOWER." Oh, may karma kickback show itself soon.

[PartyPooper]

35. You expressed my sentiments so well. Thank you.

[Flaxbee]

37. I think the destruction was purposeful

Easier to negate and denigrate archaeological history and propound the "Christian" view history/man's progress (or lack thereof, IMO) if there are no more artifacts to study, nothing more to carbon date, etc...

[haktar]

15. And we protested when the taliban blew up the budda statues FU Bush n/t

[cornermouse]

16. We're perfecting our destructive capabilities.

and enhancing our "ugly American image and reputation as a nation abroad.

:shrug:

Two things: we should know better than this and unfortunately, we have become more competent in our ability to more completely destroy whatever we aim Bush and Rummy's toys at.

[TreasonousBastard]

19. While I agree with the tone of the article...

the "Ishtar Gate" in Iraq is a modern fabrication based on the original in the German museum. It was found in 1902 and sent off to Germany, as so many ancient artifacts were sent off to Europe for "safekeeping."

Hussein was using the Gate as a centerpiece for a huge tourist trap he had planned, and was doing a lot of other restoration hoping for an influx of history tourism, so one wonders just how much of the area is pristine archeological turf anyway.

That said, it is quite obvious that little or no thought for historical preservation was given by the occupying forces. It rarely is-- conquering forces often seem to find the destruction of existing culture and history to be a priority, and almost never think of preserving it.

[Heddi]

22. Ah shaddup....ya got yer freedom....that's what ya wanted, isn't it?????

Look, how many thousands more do we have to kill to remind ya people that YER FREE NOW! FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

</freeper mode>

[CBHagman]

25. I hope that so-called librarian at the White House realizes...

...how her husband not only sent thousands to their deaths for his vanity war but also defecated all over a culture and those who would preserve it. The military gives a lot of lip service to the greatness of the Iraqi people, but this war has robbed them of many lives and also some of their history and culture.

Just to recap, going to war in Iraq has...

*made a new haven for terrorists.
*cost many, many lives, including those of an unknown number of civilians.
*placed more weapons into the hands of insurgents and terrorists.
*created more hostility in the world, thus virtually ensuring the deaths of innocents.

I have no idea why Bush hasn't been impeached, removed from office, tarred, feathered, and ridden out of D.C. on a rail. We're going to pay for his folly for decades, if not centuries.

Maybe it's not folly. Maybe it's just evil.

[Cori Cycle]

28. I can readily see

that the bubah from Alabama is smacking the gate with rifle butt so that he can get a special gift for his mama for Christmas. "mama, I am including a rock with pretty picture for Christmas. I found it in the city of abomination--Babylon...mama, I miss my cows and chicken."

Shouldn't there be some kind of educational requirement before we give our soldier rifle and authorize them to kill people?

[Raster]

31. The evil is that it's all based on lies. There never were any WMDs or

9/11 connections. They knew it.

[despairing optimist]

26. What else can one expect from people who create their own reality?

History is bunk, remember? And those A-rabs are savages, not like us at all.

A pile of gravel sent with love from the number one nation.

Pardon me while I hurl. I'll go out shopping after that, I promise.

[spooked]

29. We damaged the Hanging Gardens of Babylon with a Helicopter Landing Pad!

The only surviving Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and we build a military base & helicopter landing pad on it!


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0611-04.htm

[njdemocrat106]

30. Very sad

Bush and his cronies have absolutely no regard whatsoever. Then again, they probably don't know what "archaeological" means.

[not fooled]

32. hey, those were just evil pagan relics...

...actually the world is a better purer place without such blasphemous heathen artifacts and graven images of false idols.

On the other hand, if those were emblems of Our Lord And Savior Jebus, then no doubt the sites would have been heavily guarded and zealously protected.:eyes: :puke: :mad:

[Gman]

33. We're such a classy country with a real sense of history

not!

[WyLoochka]

34. cultural barbarism

Is what the Guardian Leader calls the destruction.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391000,00.html

"The general situation in Iraq is, of course, overwhelmingly a human and political tragedy but that does not exempt the US authorities, who were in charge until they handed over to Polish soldiers, from the consequences of this act of cultural barbarism carried out in their name by Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Haliburton, the company formerly run by US vice president Dick Cheney."

further says the actions were "philistinian"

"The job of the archaeologists has been made immeasurably more difficult by the avoidable and philistinian actions of the coalition forces ..."

[MasonJar]

38. Bush was warned by the archaeologists in every way possible

prior to the invasion. The man has no class. He is dull and boring and yet thinks he's something grand. He has probably never heard of Mesapotamia or even the Euphrates. He was too busy blowing up innocent frogs to learn anything. Oh, I forgot Bush doesn't read.

[NYC]

39. Bush has the power to destroy that which other people

consider valuable.

I think that's why he did. The power.

[Karenina]

63. Ripping up the Queen's garden

and traumatizing the flamingos... *dauphin&cons have NO RESPECT for ANYTHING other than their sick delusions of power and control.

[NYC]

40. Ishtar Goddess, 8th century B.C.

[NYC]

67. Ishtar Goddess (photograph)

Testing image posting from Photo Dump.

[NYC]

41. Lady of Warka, 3200 B.C. recovered after looting.

The images showed how grounds relatively undisturbed prior to the US invasion are nowpockmarked with looters' pits.

Russell, who had criticized the US troops for their inadequate protection of museums and archeological sites after they captured Baghdad in April 2003, also showed slides of recovered artifacts, including the prized alabaster Lady of Warka mask...

...At the conference, specialists said that 15,000 objects remained missing, while just over 3,323 have been returned. There is evidence that thieves tried to smuggle out more than 1,000 objects through Jordan and 300 via Syria...

...Others said the lack of knowledge in cultural matters was a main reason for the conflict between the military and the archeologists.

From: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/09/archeologists_recount_actions_of_bold_looters/

Boston.com, January 9, 2005

[roguevalley]

42. this is shockingly terrible. I could just cry. I love the art of this

region. those blue tiles, they are beautiful.

[Wabbajack]

46. i can't even think of

anything to say. This just makes me FUCKING sick.

[NashVegas]

47. Congrats, George, You Destroyed Babylon

Hope you found the whore you were looking for.

[nashville_brook]

52. the destruction actually gives me hope that if they were after something

important, they'd be too stupid to recognize it.

[RC]

48. Well, golly gee...

After all the world is only 6000 years old. :eyes:

When is the rest of world going to get tired of the Unites States running rough shod all over them like a bull in a china shop?

There will be a day of reckoning. The only question is when.

Nuremberg was just a practice run.

[Karenina]

64. After all the world is only 6000 years old.

EXACTAMUNDO! Can't have all them ancient texts being examined by them scholar types who might try and mess up our storyline with THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD PROOF. POOF! INTO THE SHREDDER! SOMEBODY CLEAR THOSE COMPUTERS!
Remember them dinosaur bones done been planted by da DEBBIL to test your faith!

[The Zanti Regent]

49. Wonder what that idiot Boykin thinks of this?

Mr. "My Jesus bigger than your God" himself. Considering his track record, I beleive this freak is having a Jesusgasm over this...

[jokerman93]

57. The rule of genocide

The rule of genocide: Destroy their spirit.

[malmapus]

66. I'm sure the official word from * is "History, schmistory who needs it"

*sigh*

[u4ic]

69. The corporate whore destroyed Babylon

[jayctravis]

71. You'd think a Man of God would worry about that.

It kills a piece of my soul to consider the destruction of their holy sites. Bush has read the Bible, he should know what he was ruthlessly pummelling.

[Acryliccalico]

74. bush does not care about people, places, or things!!!

Wake up everybody!!! All they care about is self and anything outside of themselves is of no consequence.

[True_Blue]

76. Babylon survived for thousands of years.

It survived Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and other conquerors, but it couldn't survive George W. Bush and his Crusade for Oil.