Babylon damaged during US occupation: UNESCO

[Mari333]

we really really broke it. so shameful. sooo shameful.


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Babylon damaged during US occupation: UNESCO

Posted 1 hour 26 minutes ago

Substantial damage was caused to the ancient city of Babylon by a military base set up there after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to a UNESCO report.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said that Babylon now needs urgent renovation work.

"In view of Babylon's historical and archaeological significance, recent allegations of damage to the site during its military use were particularly serious," director of UNESCO's Office for Iraq Mohamed Djelid said.

The damage to the Mesopotamian city, considered one of the cradles of human civilisation, was carried out by "digging, cutting, scraping and levelling", when the military base was there from April 2003 to December 2004.

The Ishtar Gate and Processional Way were among key structures damaged, the UN agency said.









http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/10/2622210.htm

[G_j]

1. they knew, but they could care less..

and probably enjoyed desecrating human history.

[Mari333]

3. jack booted thugs

and they whine about the Taliban blowing up Buddha statues..

[malaise]

2. You think they have ant respect for ancient cities

They'll set up a version at Disney in a few years :sarcasm:

[The Doctor.]

4. "America...

Fuck Yeah!"

I weep for us all.

[omega minimo]

5. I'm so upset by this I don't even want to read it. "The Cradle of Civilization......."

Thank you for posting. B'marked and K/Recced.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Too sad to read, we've known this for years. knr nt

[G_j]

7. ok

who would vote to unrecommend this thread?
:wtf:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Take a bunch of ignorant late teenagers who've never voluntarily opened a book

in their lives and have never set foot outside their home state before joining the military and send them to one of the world's great archeological sites.

All they see is a bunch of old ruins.

At the time of the invasion, I read an article by an embedded Japanese journalist who was in a truck going down the road with some American military personnel. He saw a sign in Arabic and English pointing to the ruins of Babylon and was all excited. The ruins of Babylon!

The Americans had no idea what he was talking about.

[scarletwoman]

13. True about the rank and file, but someone in the officer class/command heirarchy was surely educated

enough to know the archealogical significance of the site. Someone sited a base there on purpose, as a big "fuck you" to Iraqi heritage and to the sensibilities of the rest of the world.

The Iraq invasion was a total smash and grab.

[spanone]

9. let's be honest, bu$h* damaged the world

[Vidar]

10. One of the cradles of civilization, stood for over 3000 years--of course we'd damage it.

[mitchtv]

11. Weren't Polish troops involved

In at least some of the original destruction?

[bertman]

12. Part of the anti-Satanic Christian Crusade devised and implemented by BushCo.

The looting of the Iraqi National Museum of antiquities that will never be recovered and were irreplaceable historical objects, along with the destruction or damage of the ruins of the old Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian civilizations, and the loss of knowledge of our world's earliest great empires, likely were not even given casual consideration by the architects of the Iraq War. For all they cared, those places were not worth saving. If they even knew their historical importance.

The willful destruction of these places are just another example of the evil of the Bush administration and its lackeys.

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