Iraq's Babylon bears scars of US-led invasion

[L. Coyote]

Source: Yahoo News

by Hassan Jouini Fri May 23

BABYLON, Iraq (AFP) - The last outsiders to visit the ruins of the once-mighty city of Babylon in Iraq came in tanks and helicopters, leaving a blight on its historic and fragile landscape, archaeologists say.

The city, born on the banks of the Euphrates River 5,000 years ago and full of priceless archaeological treasures, was transformed into a US military camp after the 2003 invasion with a heliport built among the ruins.

The base was later passed to Polish army control and despite the soldiers' departure in 2005, the damage left behind is evident. At a meeting in Berlin next month, Iraqi and other specialists will endeavour to assess the true level of damage.

Iraqi archaeologist Hadi Mussa Qataa, who guided an AFP reporter through the fragile ruins, said helicopter take-offs and landings, along with the tremors from the heavy rumble of armoured vehicles had damaged the city's historic monuments.

.......

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080523/lf_afp/iraqculturearchaeology_080523091832;_ylt=AlKa6NZZcB43ey4LIiBnRpdFeQoB

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NO RESPECT!

[calimary]

1. This makes me sick to my stomach.

The losses of Antiquity. That's a loss for THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. But for george bush it's just another silly impediment to be wrecked.

[Wizard777]

2. I am deeply sadened and shamed by this.

To think it was my own government that did this. It's enough to make me want to cry. I pray the Dragons Head of Marduk is safe. But something tells me it's headed for the Skull and Bones Crypt.

[jwirr]

8. Bingo. Along with many other ME artifacts. Thieves.

[NM Independent]

3. Absolutely sickening

A heliport - for the love of all that is Holy - is NOT something you put in the middle of priceless ruins you ASSHOLES.

[UpInArms]

4. here's how this mal-administration regarded anything of value in Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/11/sprj.irq.pentagon/

Saturday, April 12, 2003 Posted: 12:24 AM EDT (0424 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein.

He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.

<snip>

Rumsfeld appeared irritated by questions about the looting, asserting that repeated images of Iraqi citizens ransacking buildings represented "a fundamental misunderstanding" of what was happening in Iraq.

"Very often the pictures are pictures of people going into the symbols of the regime, into the palaces, into the boats and into the Baath Party headquarters and into the places that have been part of that repression," Rumsfeld said. "And while no one condones looting, on the other hand one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who've had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime."

[Altean Wanderer]

5. Makes yer proud to be 'Merican' doesn't it - NOT n/t

[Solly Mack]

6. :(

[many a good man]

7. Isn't that a Crime against Humanity? n/t

[Wizard777]

9. No, It's a war crime. Pillaging or Plunder.

We actually have an obligation under the laws of war to protect the treasures and artifacts. At the end of WWII some American soldiers returning from Germany with treasures and artifacts were prosecuted for Plunder.

[struggle4progress]

10. As the Threat of War Grows, Archaeologists Make Plea to Spare Iraq's Treasures (2002)

Published on Thursday, November 7, 2002 by the Independent/UK
by Louise Jury

... Most of the palaces and temples and mosques of those ancient civilizations crumbled many centuries ago. But something between 10,000 and 100,000 archaeological sites hold the enduring remains.

They are, of course, in modern-day Iraq. And, as the United States prepares for war, an international band of curators and historians anxious not to repeat the damage inflicted on Iraqi treasures during the Gulf War 11 years ago are appealing to the American government to take the historic sites into account.

Specialists concerned about potential threats to the thousands of archaeological ruins and architectural monuments scattered throughout Iraq are supplying maps and other information to the American Defense Department ...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1107-04.htm

[not fooled]

11. but...those were only heathen relics

The world is a better purer place for having lost graven images of false gods and other heathen relics. Only emblems of the one true god, Jesus Christ, should exist.

:sarcasm: