Now we've done it... We've ruined the Babylon ruins

[housewolf]

Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!! How dare we??????


Babylon wrecked by war
US-led forces leave a trail of destruction and contamination in architectural site of world importance
Troops from the US-led force in Iraq have caused widespread damage and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, according to a damning report released today by the British Museum.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391042,00.html


Months of war that ruined centuries of history
Cherished monuments defaced and ancient inscribed fragments found in spoil heaps
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.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391085,00.html


American Graffiti
We cannot avoid responsibility for this destructive legacy of the war, writes Francis Deblauwe
What started on a good and decent impulse, to protect the ancient site of Babylon, the "mother of all archaeological sites", ended up doing more damage than probably any of the misguided megalomanical reconstruction projects of Saddam Hussein.
How on earth all this was allowed to happen, long after the fiasco with the National Museum in Baghdad, is beyond my comprehension.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1391038,00.html


British Museum Says U.S.-Led Troops Damaged Ancient Iraqi City of Babylon
U.S.-led troops using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a base have damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years in one of the world's most important archaeological sites, the British Museum said Saturday.
For example, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement, and archaeological fragments, including broken bricks stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar II around the same time, were scattered across the site, a museum report said.
The dragons at the Ishtar Gate were marred by cracks and gaps where someone tried to remove their decorative bricks, the paper said.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=414947



More info & links at DailyKos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/15/93828/5362

[eleonora]

1. and I bet some die hard religious freaks are rejoycing

:puke:

[Must_B_Free]

2. Connies can't stand history

because it's always proving them wrong.

[OxQQme]

3. Disgraceful

All that evidence of 'many' gods that get's in the way of the 'one' god message.

[aquart]

4. What kind of barbarians would do that?

Because ONLY barbarians would do that.

[OutsourceBush]

5. NeoConBarians

[Al-CIAda]

6. This is the beginning of it all. The 'Garden of Eden"...

If any person who claims to be religious is pleased with this, they are beyond all hope.

This is most upseting. Some speculate that this was intentional, and that there are ancient tablets being confiscated for secret purposes. Whether or not these purposes produce an actuality, the point is, some believe it and are acting accordingly.

As a person with great respect for history and cultures, I cannot overstate my outrage. This is, quite simply, the keys to the history of us all.

My Tipping point
Mass resignation of the Art and Culture ministry last year-
On an aside, THIS is when I turned against the war in earnest. After the Museum fiasco and such, I KNEW we(Bu$hco) had NO INTENTION of protecting or preserving the rich culture and past of not only the Iraqi peoples' past -but also of OUR OWN.

[housewolf]

8. This is the kind of damage that cannot be fixed by money

This reminds me of the Taliban blowing up the 2,000 yr old buddhist statues in 2001. It's irreparable damage - no amount of money can undo this kind of destruction. I just can't believe it....

[htuttle]

12. In other words, "they've paved over Paradise, and put up a parking lot"

He found that large areas of the site had been covered in gravel brought in from outside, compacted and sometimes chemically treated to provide helipads, car parks and accommodation and storage areas. "The status of future information about these areas will therefore be seriously compromised," he said.

[yinkaafrica]

7. You would think that one person in authority would have stopped this

This was perpetrated by clods and imbeciles.
Why was it allowed to happen?

[Bluebear]

9. Winning the hearts and minds of the WORLD now

Ancient treasures, now irreparable.

[medeak]

10. msm picking up on this?

we need to send this on...

[Generic Other]

11. A picture of the Ishtar Gate as it was

[Al-CIAda]

13. "Outrage is hardly the word...."

"Outrage is hardly the word, this is just dreadful," said Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist and head of the all-party parliamentary archaeological group. "These are world sites. Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world."

Tim Schadla Hall, reader in public archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, said: "In this case we see an international conflict in which the US has failed to take into account the requirements of the Hague convention ... to protect major archaeological sites - just another convention it seems happy to ignore."

-From the first link

[WritersBlock]

14. Yo, thanks, Dick!

The military camp was established by the American forces in April 2003, and damage was already visible when Dr Curtis first visited part of the site that June. The same contractors, Kellogg, Brown and Root - a subsidiary of the American civil engineering corporation Halliburton, of which the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, is a former chief executive officer - were used to develop and maintain the site throughout, as it grew to a 150-hectare camp, housing 2,000 soldiers. This was officially handed over to Polish forces in September 2003.

Edited in utter disgust