Cultural Cleansing in Iraq

It is a superb effort exerted by a number of specialists who studied, according to the book, the destruction of Iraqi historical sites. The authors concluded that the war planners quite consciously and deliberately aimed for the destruction of the Iraqi state. Why that happened? The answer was clear and straightforward: The allies have failed to protect Iraq>s incomparable cultural treasures. Ironically enough, Iraq>s occupiers had little interest in preserving the priceless human resources represented by Iraq>s educated elite, while oil mattered, and Oil Ministry records were protected. The cruel fact, as stated in the book, is that «priceless archaeological artifacts and leading scholars faced the looters and the assassins alone undefended».

In a simple statement, the book was published for one direct and clear aim: « to demonstrate to the world in the most precise and accurate way that conditions created by occupiers enabled the cultural destruction of Iraq».

The book came as a result of collective Iraqi and international efforts exerted by scholars, specialists and experts to provide a record of what Iraqis, and all civilized world in fact, have lost. Readers will be examining a pattern of avoidable, protective actions that were not taken deliberately. Occupiers, however, facilitated on ground the cruel devastation of the cradle of civilization in the world. Worse, according to the book, was «the calculated neglect has left crimes against culture unreported, the dead unnamed, and all the crimes of cultural cleansing uninvestigated».

Iraq with no History
Cultural cleansing began in the very early days of the invasion. Museums, archaeological sites, palaces, monuments, mosques, libraries and social centers all suffered looting and devastation. It is reported that no less than 15,000 invaluable Mesopotamian artifacts from the National Museum in Baghdad, and many others from the 12,000 archaeological sites that the occupiers left unguarded were disappeared. Many treasures, however, were smuggled out of Iraq and auctioned abroad. According to a recent update on the number of stolen artifacts by Francis Deblauwe, an expert archaeologist on Iraq, it is widely believed that no less than 8,500 objects are still truly missing, in addition to 4,000 artifacts said to be recovered abroad but not yet returned to Iraq.

Such disaster was terribly compounded by actions that severely damaged the Iraqi cultural heritage. Since the invasion in 2003, US-led forces have transformed at least seven historical sites into military bases or camps. These sites included Ur, one of the most ancient cities in the world, which is said to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, the father of the three great monotheistic religions. The same happened to Babylon where a US military camp has damaged the ancient city.

What Should Be Done?
International organizations working to enforce or defend international humanitarian law should work together to put these crimes high on their agendas. The UN human rights system, the UNESCO and other international organizations and agencies are responsible for ensuring general respect for the laws of war, and the conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, should ensure that their mandates are fulfilled. An independent international investigation should be launched immediately to probe those acts of war crimes whether related to devastating the historical sites and cultural cleansing in Iraq or to the killings of academics. This is the least that should be done to protect the civilized sense of humanity and to keep for the future generations something to remember about how the ancient glorious pillars of civilizations were built. Iraq>s history and its great civilization do not belong to Iraqis only. They are the great historical civilized record for all mankind.