[EMMAS] Days of plunder
che...@cs.pdx.edu
Days of plunder
Coalition forces are doing little to prevent the widespread looting and
destruction of Iraq's world-famous historical sites
Zainab Bahrani
Tuesday August 31, 2004
The Guardian
The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban was met with an outcry
in the United States, Britain and the countries that form the coalition in
Iraq. Yet the coalition forces can now claim, among other things, the
destruction of the legendary city of Babylon.
Ironically, the bombing campaign of 2003 had not damaged archeological
sites. It was only in the aftermath, during the occupation, that the most
extensive cultural destruction took place. At first there was the looting of
the museums under the watch of coalition troops, but that was to be followed
by more extensive and active destruction.
Active damage of the historical record is ongoing at several archeological
sites occupied as military camps. At Babylon, I have seen the continuing
construction projects, the removal of and digging into the ancient mounds
over the past three months, despite a coalition press release early in June
stating that work would halt, and the camp would be removed.
A helicopter landing zone, built in the heart of the ancient city, removed
layers of archeological earth from the site. The daily flights of the
helicopters rattle the ancient walls and the winds created by their rotors
blast sand against the fragile bricks. When my colleague at the site, Maryam
Moussa, and I asked military personnel in charge that the helipad be shut
down, the response was that it had to remain open for security reasons, for
the safety of the troops.
Between May and August, the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the
Temple of Ninmah, both sixth century BC, collapsed as a result of the
movement of helicopters. Nearby, heavy machines and vehicles stand parked on
the remains of a Greek theatre from the era of Alexander of Macedon. The
minister of culture has asked for the removal of military bases from all
archeological sites, but none has yet been relocated.
Iraq is ancient Mesopotamia, otherwise called the "cradle of civilisation".
It has more than 10,000 listed archeological sites, as well as hundreds of
medieval and Ottoman Muslim, Christian and Jewish monuments. The coalition
did not establish a means of guarding the sites, though they would be
protected in any other country rich in antiquities. As a result,
archeological sites are being looted to an extent previously unimagined.
The looting supplies the appetites of an international illicit trade in
antiquities, and many objects end up in places like Geneva, London, Tokyo
and New York. The lack of border controls has only added to the ease with
which the illegal trade in Mesopotamian artefacts functions. The looting
leaves the sites bulldozed and pitted with robber holes. Ancient walls,
artefacts, scientific data are all destroyed in the process.
But it is not only the stolen artefacts that are lost. The loss of this data
is the loss of the ancient history of this land. Many important Sumerian and
Babylonian cities have been irreversibly damaged in this way already.
Passive destruction of this kind has been widespread under the occupation,
but antiquity is not the only area of concern.
In Baghdad, the National Library and State Archives building is a burned-out
shell in which the employees work in the most horrendous conditions. The
Ottoman archive that records the history of the country, spanning the 16th
to the early 20th centuries, is in the gravest danger. Having been soaked by
flooding last year, the archive began to mould. Upon the advice of
conservators, the entire archive was removed to freezers to stop the mould.
Because of the lack of electricity and equipment, the only place that could
be found with large freezers, and where power could be maintained, was an
abandoned and bombed building that had previously been a Ba'athist officers'
club. In Iraq, where it is not unusual for temperatures to soar up to 60C
(140F) in summer, and where the Coalition Provisional Authority never
managed to restore the electrical power to the country, this was no small
feat.
The power in Baghdad (outside the US-occupied presidential palace and
embassy buildings) is available, sporadically, about nine hours a day. If
the archives should thaw, the documents will be destroyed. The conservation
process needs to be done in a time- and climate-controlled manner if the
archive is to be saved. But the Coalition Provisional Authority reassigned
ownership of this building to the ministry of justice. There is now still no
place to move this archive to, the loss of which would be the loss of the
modern historical records of Iraq, much of which has not been studied or
published.
In the midst of the disasters of Iraq under occupation, the condition of its
cultural heritage may seem a trivial matter. But, as a historian of
antiquity, I am painfully aware that there is no parallel for the amount of
historical destruction that has taken place over the past 15 months in Iraq.
The Geneva and Hague conventions make the protection of heritage the
responsibility of the foreign powers during occupation. Instead, what we
have seen under the occupation is a general policy of neglect and even an
active destruction of the historical and archeological record of the land.
------
7 Zainab Bahrani is professor of ancient near eastern art history and
archaeology, Columbia University
zb2...@columbia.edu
=========
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.***
#################################################################
" Social and economic well-being will become a reality only through the
zeal, courage, the non-compromising determination of intelligent
minorities, and not through the mass." Emma Goldman
To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to the emmasdance list send email to
<majo...@cs.pdx.edu>
with the message subscribe/unsubscribe emmasdance. [No subject is
needed.]
"If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution." Emma Goldman
#################################################################