Babylon was the center of one of the world’s great powers. Its famous Hanging Gardens were watered by a hydraulic system which, for its sophistication, could be compared to our advanced space technology today. Four thousand years later, the latest global power, the United States, has come to the land of the Babylonians in modern Iraq, with its own awesome technology and power. Yet it seems to be symptomatic of the profound ignorance which has informed Bush’s policy in the Middle East that the US military chose to set up a military depot in the midst of the fragile ruins of ancient Babylon. As a result of this crass decision, immense damage has been caused to the site.
A report yesterday from the British Museum seems at first barely credible. Vast amounts of earth containing tens of thousands of archaeological fragments have been bulldozed into piles to fill up sandbags. Defensive trenches have been dug right through remains. A 2,600-year-old brick pavement has been reduced to dust by tracked military vehicles. Someone has even tried to gouge out the decorated bricks that form part of the dragons on the priceless Ishtar Gate.
Damage to historic monuments in time of war, though deplorable, is sometimes inevitable. But the decision two years ago by the American top brass, during the still relatively peaceful period of the occupation, to establish a base for over 2000 troops in this highly sensitive and historic location is both inexplicable and outrageous. It speaks of the extreme carelessness, bordering upon contempt, with which President Bush embarked upon the United States’ mission to change Iraq into a country to its liking. It is quite clear that nobody even thought to consider the ancient history, let alone the modern history, of the country that Washington was invading.
Tragically we now see the consequences at all levels of this total lack of planning for anything other than the overthrow of Iraq and the supply of PX stores and air-conditioned accommodation for the victorious US forces. From the State and Defense departments through to the Pentagon, someone should have been thinking hard about everything that was going to happen when the last of Saddam’s army stopped fighting. But nobody was. There was just this vague idea that victorious US forces would enjoy a ticker-tape parade through Baghdad, pack their bags and go home.
This boorish stupidity lies at the heart of Washington’s emerging humiliation in Iraq and represents its abject failure to take into account the feeling, fears and interests of the Iraqi people. Yesterday in another example of this woeful neglect, the alleged ringleader of the US guards in Abu Ghraib prison was found guilty of abusing detainees for his amusement. In truth the moral, if not actual, guilt for these crimes goes much higher. It is said again and again that George Bush in his second and final presidential term wants to leave his mark on history. He already has — in the shattered remains of the precious archaeology of Babylon the Great which has fallen to his ignorant and vandal armies.
