Damage to Babylon

             Of course, the National Museum of Iraq isn’t the only institution that’s suffered in wake of the American invasion. The tract of land nestled between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers is exceedingly rich in history, having been inhabited by humankind since the first chronologies were depicted upon clay tablets more than six-thousand years ago. Mesopotamia, as the region is often called, has seen civilizations flourish and fall, from ancient Babylon in the southwest to the vast empires of Persia and the Ottomans.

               

                While Saddam Hussein seemed not to well-respect the lives of many Iraqis, his regime did in part solidify itself by both appearing and attempting to preserve sites of historical note. In 1983, seven years before the onset of the Gulf War, Hussein embarked on a particularly ambitious, if ill-advised mission to rebuild the ruins of Babylon. Many archaeologists doubtlessly paled at the thought of a modern reconstruction of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, built atop the crumbling remains of the original. Despite the fact that any new works, walls or ramparts could render their predecessors unavailable to researchers, construction was continued even after the conclusion of the Gulf War.

               

                Babylon was further degraded in 2003 by the erection of an American “Camp Alpha” over-top historic ruins. According to Dr. John Curtis of the British Museum’s Near East Department:

US Forces "caused substantial damage to the Ishtar Gate, one of the most famous monuments from antiquity [...] US military vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old brick pavements, archaeological fragments were scattered across the site, more than 12 trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists [...] Add to all that the damage caused to nine of the moulded brick figures of dragons in the Ishtar Gate by soldiers trying to remove the bricks from the wall."

                This is not to negate or to ignore the immeasurable value of having armed soldiers watching over one of the most fantastic archaeological sites in the entire world – without a military presence in Babylon, it’s likely that the city would have suffered from more looting and vandalism than it already did before reopening to the public in 2009. $800,000 was contributed to the new Iraqi government by the United States for the purpose of rehabilitating Babylon from damages incurred by military personnel. 

                In a relevant United Nations report, it was noted that the American armed forces were not the only group at fault – as was the case with the Egyptian pyramids and Roman coliseum, locals had long been developing the land around Babylon for agricultural and structural purposes.

Night for the Museum: Stealing Iraq's Heritage

                When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, its primary goal, as stated by George W. Bush, was to find and destroy any and all weapons of mass destruction stockpiled by Saddam Hussein. In the years since, not a single hitherto-unknown threat has been uncovered. While Iraq may arguably be better off without its dictator, the country’s heritage has suffered and borne a heavy load of bombings. Central to the American campaign was the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, which was stormed by Marines early on in the war.

                All in all, the United States made quick work of Hussein’s elite troops and anti-aircraft batteries. And, for the most part, sites of archaeological and historical importance were left intact, spared by forethought and the caution of high-level officials. Marines were given instructions to avoid the National Museum of Iraq, home to a treasure trove of ancient artifacts, Islamic texts, and hardly-decipherable manuscripts.

National Museum of Iraq (facade)

                Unfortunately, with war being what it is, the Museum was abandoned on April 8^th of 2003 by facility staff and taken over by Iraqi forces. For the next two days, the US Third Infantry Division swapped bullets with the museum’s new caretakers, eventually forcing out the last of Hussein’s snipers and ground-troops. With the firefight over and further loss of life averted, looters began to move into the compound, snatching up valuables and making off with masks, friezes, and thousand-year old vases. One team of thieves even managed to steal a 4,400-year old headless statue of the Sumerian king Entemena, which weighed hundreds of pounds and was recovered some time later in the United States.

Statue of Entemena

                Despite the best efforts of returning museum staff, over 15,000 unique items were stolen from galleries between April 10^th and 12^th. The United States Armed Forces suffered severe criticism on an international stage, having perhaps rightly been more focused upon preventing casualties than safeguarding artifacts. While a good number of items have been returned to the NMI since 2003, similar and irreparable damages were levied upon other archaeological sites, both in Baghdad and abroad.