Murdering Iraq's History

[Zainab_M]

Iraq may end up with no history

CAIRO — Iraq may soon end up with no history with almost every historical site in the war-torn country is under the control of looters, who have privatized the very cradle of human civilization under the watchful eye of US occupation forces whose military hardware has left the walls of Sumarian cities cracking and ground shaking, Robert Fisk wrote in The Independent on Monday, September 17. 

Armies of looters have not spared "one meter of these Sumerian capitals that have been buried under the sand for thousands of years," says Lebanese archaeologist Joanne Farchakh in an appraisal to be published in December but was seen by Fisk.

Farchakh says the total of 10,000 archaeological sites in Iraq have been systematically looted by well-organized gangs with a lot of money.

"They systematically destroyed the remains of this civilization in their tireless search for sellable artifacts: ancient cities, covering an estimated surface area of 20 square kilometers, which – if properly excavated – could have provided extensive new information concerning the development of the human race," she says.

And looters have sent a clear message to the world: eight of Iraqi customs policemen were brutally murdered and their bodies burnt in 2005 after arresting antiquity dealers with hundreds of priceless artifacts in their possession.

"Humankind is losing its history for the pleasure of private collectors living safely in their luxurious houses and ordering specific objects for their collection," writes Farchakh.

Fisk says even Iraqi archeologists are taking part in the looting, using their expertise and knowledge in digging through the ancient cities destroying thousands of priceless artifacts in their search for gold and other treasures.
Selling Sumerian masterpieces is now a lucrative business in southern Iraq and even farmers have swapped their land for the traffic.

"The farmers consider their "looting" activities to be part of a normal working day," says Farchakh.

The looters are well-organized and work within a smooth mass-smuggling organization.

Trucks, cars, planes and boats take Iraq's historical plunder to Europe, the US, to the United Arab Emirates and to Japan, Fisk says.

There is also an ever-growing number of websites that offer Mesopotamian artifacts, objects anywhere up to 7,000 years old.

A cylinder seal, a sculpture or a cuneiform tablet earns $50 (£25) and that's half the monthly salary of an average government employee in Iraq.

Continuous Earthquake

"Quite apart from this, military operations are damaging these sites forever. There's been a US base in (the ancient city of) Ur for five years and the walls are cracking because of the weight of military vehicles. It's like putting an archaeological site under a continuous earthquake," Farchakh writes in her long and devastating appraisal.

Founded in about 4,000 BC, Ur is regarded as the most important in the history of man-kind as it is mentioned in the Old Testament and believed by many to be the home of Prophet Abraham (peace and blessings be upon him).

Ur produced some of the first examples of writing, seal inscriptions and construction.

Zainab Bahrani, a professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University, dismissed US repeated argument that a large military base built at the ancient city of Babylon as "beggars belief."
"The damage done to Babylon is both extensive and irreparable, and even if US forces had wanted to protect it, placing guards round the site would have been far more sensible than bulldozing it and setting up the largest coalition military headquarters in the region," she said in an analysis sent to Fisk.  "The occupation has resulted in a tremendous destruction of history well beyond the museums and libraries looted and destroyed at the fall of Baghdad," she concludes.

At least seven historical sites have been used by US and occupation forces as military bases since April 2003, one of them being the historical heart of Samarra.

"The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilization has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation," Fisk commented.

Farchakh also lashed Iraqi politicians for approving a number of urban projects in archeological sites — like approving the construction of mud-brick factories — to appease the different religious parties to which they are affiliated.

"The longer Iraq finds itself in a state of war, the more the cradle of civilization is threatened. It may not even last for our grandchildren to learn from," she says.


To read the comments on this article and to add your own, click here, and scroll down to the end of the article.