Occupation forces might have to pay compensation for damage to Babylon 
[it's in the Bible]
__________________________________________________________________________________




March 17, 2005.




It was one of the seven wonders of the world, but ancient Babylon attracts
more insurgents 
than tourists these days, with the nearby modern city of Hillah achieving notoriety 
as the scene of the recent bombing in which 127 people died.

Last month, relatives wailed and beat their chests as they read the lists
of dead and injured 
posted up on hospital walls. 

Corpses were loaded into trucks by relatives to be taken away for burial,
and pools of blood 
congealed in the marketplace where a car bomb exploded on February 28.

“I wonder how a city like Babylon could have become a den of terror, when
it used to be visited 
by scientists and educated people from all over the world,” 
said Fayyadh Weleed, 22, from the village of Jumjuma near the archeological
site of Babylon.

Hillah is the heir to Babylon, with many of its buildings made out of
bricks taken from the 
great palace of Nebuchadnezzar.

The ancient city, famed for its immense, fortified walls and the
magnificence of its buildings, 
was at the centre of Mesopotamia, the land regarded as the cradle of Middle Eastern 
and European civilisation. 

But as it lay deserted for two millennia, many believed it was no more than
a Biblical myth, 
a metaphor for wealth and power until its extensive remains were discovered
in the 19th century.

The lawlessness seen in Babil – or Babylon – province in recent days
contrasts with the reign of 
King Hammurabi, living in the 18th century BC, who introduced the world's
first code of law.

By the time Nebuchadnezzar II ruled around 600 BC, the city had become
"the glory of kingdoms". 

It was he who is thought to have built the famous Hanging Gardens, one of
the seven wonders 
of the world, as a gift for his wife Amyitis.

But within half a century, Babylon was to lose much of its political power,
after a two-year siege 
and an invasion by the Persians. 

In subsequent centuries, it was plundered and eventually became derelict.

The ruins cover about 30 square kilometres on the east bank of the river Euphrates, 
about 90 kilometres south of Baghdad.

As well as devastating the lives of present-day Iraqis, the insurgent
attacks are hampering
archaeological efforts at the site.

“It's close to Latifiyah and its Sunni majority, so Babylon has witnessed
many sabotage operations,”
said Babil province governor Waleed Omran al-Janabi, referring to the
Sunni-dominated area in the 
north of the province that has proved a hotbed for insurgent attacks. 
“The poor security situation has stopped the rebuilding of the city. 
Many contractors have been killed and kidnapped, and many workers have been
shot dead.”

Weleed thinks everyone should stand up to the insurgents to stop attacks
harming an area of such
immense value, 
“It is our duty to protect the city [Babylon] against a conspiracy whose
aim is to efface the historical
 identity both of this site and of Iraq as a whole. It is organised crime,
which we should oppose
 vigorously.”

The presence of United States-led international forces, who have set up a
military base called 
Camp Babylon in the area, has been blamed for further jeopardising the
archaeological site.

“Turning Babylon into a military site was a fatal mistake,” 
said Iraqi culture minister Mufeed al-Jazairi. 
“It has witnessed much destruction and many terrorist attacks since it was
occupied by 
Coalition forces.

“We cannot determine the scale of the destruction now. As a first step, we
have completely closed 
the sites, before calling in international experts to evaluate the damage
done to the [ancient] city 
and the compensation the ministry should ask Coalition forces to pay. We
will run a campaign to 
save the city.”

Once a powerhouse of culture, science and urban civilised life, Babylon is
now in a sorry state, 
witnessing attacks that reflect the troubled state of modern Iraq.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_117_4_eng.txt

__________________________________________________________________________________


----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----


--- UseNet To RIME Gateway {at} 3/25/05 8:45:59 PM ---