UNESCO: Invasion seriously harmed historic Babylon
“And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations." Rev 17:5
Iraq’s U.S.-led invaders inflicted serious damage on Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites, experts for UNESCO said Thursday.
"The use of Babylon as a military base was a grave encroachment on this internationally known archaeological site," said a report which the U.N. cultural agency presented in Paris.
UNESCO officials stressed that the damage didn’t begin with the U.S. military’s arrival nor fully end after it left. Archaeologists took away some of Babylon’s finest treasures in the 19th century, Saddam Hussein embellished the site with his own structures, and looters returned when the Americans handed the site back to the Iraqis 21 months after the March 2003 invasion.
Now Babylon is the object of turf war between newly empowered Iraqi officials. At the national level, Iraq’s state antiquities office, focused on conservation, is up against officials of the province surrounding Babylon who want to attract tourists. They have already provoked concern by leveling a section of the site to create a picnic area.
UNESCO aims to make the 4,000-year-old city fit for the coveted title of World Heritage site, and will work to enforce international conventions on the protection of historic sites "so that what happened to Babylon can’t ever happen again," said Francoise Riviere, the agency’s undersecretary general for culture.
Source/Full Story: The Associated Press
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