March 17, 2003. Copyright, 2003, Graphic News. All rights reserved

The battle to protect Iraq's antiquities
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, March 17, Graphic News:  It is less Iraq's future as a possible threat to global peace than its past as the "cradle of civilisation" that troubles archaeologists seeking to persuade the Pentagon to leave untouched important monuments and sites in the event of a U.S.-led bombing campaign.

Experts fear the conflict could obliterate what is left of the Mesopotamian civilisation, which rose along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers more than 6,500 years ago. They are urging U.S. defence experts to steer clear of at least 4,000 key sites as they plan military strategy, but even missiles guided by satellite wreak havoc beyond their designated targets.

War and archeology should not mix. Beneath the rubble of Afghanistan lie countless remnants of past civilisations that have been buried by continued strife. In Iraq many ancient sites have already taken a hit as a result of bombing during the 1991 Gulf War. They include the 5,000-year-old Ziggurat of Ur, the temple pyramid near the southern city of Basra, which sustained damage from shelling that has left it more fragile today.

Iraq has many such sites, including Nineveh, near Mosul in the north, which was the seat of Assyrian kings for 2,500 years. And while the 2,000-year-old Ctesiphon outside Baghdad is unlikely to be a target, the structure, one of the world's oldest, tallest brick archways, could crumble as a result of shockwaves nearby. The biblical city of Babylon, 55 miles from Baghdad, houses the country's largest archaeological museum as well as the restored hanging garden and Tower of Babel. Today UN inspectors believe it may also be the site of hidden weapons. 

If Saddam Hussein does use such sites as "cultural shields" -- in 1991 he apparently hid weapons in the shadow of the Ziggurat -- he will make it even harder to protect Iraq's heritage. The 1954 Hague Convention of Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict prohibts the targeting of monuments but not if weapons are located there.

In addition, Iraq has numerous cultural institutions and Islamic shrines whose destruction would feed resentment across the Islamic world. It has been pointed out that this heritage could help to unify a diverse country peopled by rival Shia and Sunni Muslims, Kurds and Christians. Similiarly, Iraq's heritage could be despoiled by postwar looting: since the Gulf War many precious artifacts have been smuggled out and sold to galleries in the West.

Ultimately, the remains of Mesopotamia belong to the world. As inventors of the first cities, the first literature and the first writing, their contribution was priceless. But they were a pessimistic lot, believing that in the end all turned to mud. It is to be hoped they were wrong.
/ENDS