US forces pillage, destroy humanity’s most ancient artifacts in occupied Iraq

An-Nasiriyah

Iraqi Resistance Report for 12/1/2007

140,000 ancient relics officially recorded as having been stolen or destroyed since US invasion in spring 2003

In a dispatch posted at 9:54pm Baghdad time Saturday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US forces were continuing to destroy, rob, and smuggle ancient Sumerian and Babylonian artifacts despite opposition by UNESCO, Iraqi intellectuals, and even the attempts by the American-installed "Iraqi Ministry of Culture" to stop such practices.

Yaqen reported that in addition to the devastation inflicted on the Iraqi National Museum at the time of the American invasion in the spring of 2003, hundreds of archaeological sites in Baghdad, Babil, Samarra, Ur, Nineveh, and elsewhere in the country are still targeted by US troops for pillage and destruction.

UNESCO has reported that more than 170,000 Iraqi archaeological artifacts have been stolen since the American invasion of the country. Of those, despite intense efforts, only some 30,000 items have been recovered in Iraq, neighboring countries, and on markets in Europe.

The Chief of the puppet council for al-Qadisiyah Province, Ihsan at-Ta’i, has most recently disclosed that US troops based in their camp, which lies adjacent to an ancient Sumerian site, have been wrecking and pillaging the priceless relics there. The artifacts that US troops have been destroying and stealing, according to at-Ta’i include not only Sumerian items but relics from ancient Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, the Chaldaeans, and also from the Islamic period of Iraq’s history.

The al-Qadisiyah Province puppet Council recently discussed the dangers threatening the ancient heritage. US forces have randomly dug up, destroyed, and plundered the ancient relics which date to the most ancient civilizations in human history. The Council also warned of the threat that US forces could destroy the Sumerian ziggurat and the home of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) in particular.

At-Ta’i called on international organizations, and UNESCO in particular, to intervene to try to protect Iraq’s ancient heritage from American depredations. UNESCO had, he said, promised him that the organization would in fact protect the artifacts. At-Ta’i also addressed a conference on the "Middle Eastern" antiquities market in Italy, telling attendees of the threat posed by random digging and destruction that US troops in Iraq are carrying out on ancient sites.

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
http://www.freearabvoice.org

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