more of bush's legacy

Cradle of civilization being looted and destroyed

It was so much different back when it was the Taliban destroying the Buddhas of Bayan in Afghanistan. The world was outraged and Colin Powell even referred to it as a "crime against humankind. Now that centuries of history are being looted and damaged across Iraq, we hear so little. We can add this to the list of history sites that the US has destroyed such as My Son and Hue in Vietnam. Who needs history anyway?

"There are 10,000 archaeological sites in the country. In the Nassariyah area alone, there are about 840 Sumerian sites; they have all been systematically looted. Even when Alexander the Great destroyed a city, he would always build another. But now the robbers are destroying everything because they are going down to bedrock. What's new is that the looters are becoming more and more organised with, apparently, lots of money.

"Quite apart from this, military operations are damaging these sites forever. There's been a US base in Ur for five years and the walls are cracking because of the weight of military vehicles. It's like putting an archaeological site under a continuous earthquake."

Of all the ancient cities of present-day Iraq, Ur is regarded as the most important in the history of man-kind. Mentioned in the Old Testament – and believed by many to be the home of the Prophet Abraham – it also features in the works of Arab historians and geographers where its name is Qamirnah, The City of the Moon.

(Americablog)