We have turned Iraq into the most hellish place on Earth (UK)

[katty]

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0%2C%2C1930687%2C00.html

Simon Jenkins
We have turned Iraq into the most hellish place on Earth

Armies claiming to bring prosperity have instead brought a misery worse than under the cruellest of modern dictators

Simon Jenkins
Wednesday October 25, 2006
The Guardian


British ministers landing in Aden in the 1960s were told always to make a reassuring speech. In view of the Arab insurrection, they should give a ringing pledge, "Britain will never, ever leave Aden". Britain promptly left Aden, in 1967 and a year earlier than planned. The last governor walked backwards up the steps to his plane, his pistol drawn against any last-minute assassin. Locals who had trusted him and worked with the British were massacred in their hundreds by the fedayeen.

Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, was welcomed to London by the BBC on Monday with two documentaries recalling past British humiliations at the hands of Arabs, in Aden and Suez. It was not a message Salih wanted to hear. His government is retreating from its position in May, when it said that foreign forces should withdraw from 16 out of 18 provinces, including the south, by the end of this year. Tony Blair rejected this invitation to go and said he would "stay until the job is done". Salih would do well to remember what western governments do, not what they say.

Despite Suez and Aden, British foreign policy still lurches into imperial mode by default. An inherited belief in Britain's duty to order the world is triggered by some upstart ruler who must be suppressed, based on a vague desire to seek "regional stability" or protect a British interest...

[ShortnFiery]

1. Yes Iraq's destroyed, but the Right Wingers think that it's better to

trash THEIR country rather than having the Terrorists come-on over here to bomb us. What moAns! Our borders, especially to the south are free for them to cross any damn time they wish. But oh, it's cool to destroy "the cradle of civilization" rather than inconvenience Ma and Pa American to really THINK about our true security issues. :(

[babylonsister]

2. Dimson' biggest failure ever-too bad it doesn't bother him. nt

[glitch]

3. Not dimson's. It's the failure of the entire conservative idealogy.

They've been saying for years they could do better with their economic principles than the Marshall Plan. Iraq was going to be their proving ground. It is a dismal failure for them.

Dimson and Dick just smiled, used their plans as a cover and took the loot. PNAC is a failure if it was meant to be anything more than cover for massive looting.

[grassfed]

4. total success

The invasion of Iraq went precisely as planned. The US and Israel wanted to punish Hussein for providing money to the families of suicide bombers and destroy Iraq socially and economically. Bush may not have known about the Shia/Sunni split but the Israelis have viewed it as a golden opportunity for decades. The looting of the museums is another gift to US oil and the Israelis. A deracinated, ignorant population is easier to dominate, especially when they're killing each other for you.

International archaeologists' plea to Iraqi government
A group of leading international archaeologists has written to the Iraqi authorities, expressing strong concern over suggestions that the collection of Baghdad’s National Museum might be broken up. The letter is addressed to president Jalal Talabani and top politicians.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=478

September 23, 2006
H. E. Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq
H. E. Nouri Kamel al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq
H. E. Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs
H. E. Dr. Asaad Al-Hashimi, Minister of Culture
Mufid Mohammad Jawad al-Jazairi, Chair of Cultural Committee, Iraqi Parliament
Maysoon al-Damluji, Member of the Iraqi Parliament

Your Excellencies:

We, the undersigned, would like to express our concern for the present and future state of
antiquities and cultural heritage in Iraq. As individuals who have done research for years in
Iraq, who have taught its great history and culture, and who have made great efforts to call
attention to the potential and real damage to Iraq's cultural heritage due to war and its
aftermath, we ask you to ensure the safety of the museums, archaeological sites, and standing
monuments in the entire country.

Most immediately we ask that the holdings of the Iraq National Museum be kept safeguarded and
intact as one collection rather than subdivided. We also ask that the Antiquities Guards, who
have been recruited and trained to protect the ancient sites in the countryside, be kept as a
force, meaning that they continue to be paid and equipped and their numbers increased. This force
is the key to halting the illegal digging of sites and damaging of monuments that has been
occurring since April 2003. We furthermore ask that Iraq’s cultural heritage be treated as part
of the rich culture of the Iraqi people, to be preserved for present and future generations.
Therefore we ask that cultural heritage either be independent or that it be administered by the
Ministry of Culture, which in the past has made preservation and interpretation its highest
priorities, implemented by a professional, unified State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.

Antiquities and heritage are so important to Iraq that it would be justifiable to make the State
Board of Antiquities and Heritage into a new ministry or to connect that Board directly to the
cabinet general secretariat, as has been done with the Iraqi Academy of Sciences.

Iraq's cultural heritage is an unparalleled one, and as the tradition from which many other
civilizations are derived, it is of great concern to all peoples in the world. It is too
important a heritage to be sub-divided and should remain under a national administration. The
State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, as part of the Ministry of Culture, has had a record of
good administration, and it has been in the past the best Antiquities organization in the Middle
East. For years, with its strong Antiquities Law, that made all antiquities and antiquities sites
the property of the state, Iraq protected its antiquities sites better than most countries in the
world, and it should rise to that level once again.

All persons who work in Antiquities should be above politics and allegiance to any party, and
definitely should have no connection to the antiquities trade. Too much of the ancient treasures
of Iraq have already been lost through looting and smuggling, and the damage done especially to
the great cities of Sumer and Babylonia has been very extensive. Only a strong, national, non-
political State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, backed fully by the force of the state, can
preserve the heritage that is left.

You are in positions to save the Cultural Heritage of Iraq for everyone, and we hope that you will
act to do so.

Sincerely yours,

Prof. McGuire Gibson, President, The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq
Prof. Robert McC. Adams, Secretary Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
Dr. Lamia Algailani, Hon. Research Fellow, University College London
Prof. Kenneth Ames, President, Society for American Archaeology
Prof. Harriet Crawford, Chair, British School of Archaeology in Iraq
Prof. Leon DeMeyer, Rector Emeritus, University of Ghent, Belgium
Prof. Patty Gerstenblith, President, Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage
Preservation
Dr. Cindy Ho, President, SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone
Prof. Antonio Invernizzi, Scientific Director, Centro Recirche archeologiche é Scavi di
Torino per il Medio Oriente é l’Asia.
Dr. Michael Müller-Karpe, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany
Dr. Hans J. Nissen, Professor emeritus of Near Eastern Archaeology, The Free
University of Berlin, Germany
Dr. Roberto Parapetti, Director of the Iraqi-Italian Centre for the Restoration of Monuments
Prof. Ingolf Thuesen, Director, Carsten Niebuhr Institute, University of Copenhagen
Prof. Jane Waldbaum, President, Archaeological Institute of America


cc Samir Sumaidaie, Ambassador to the United States, Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
cc. Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
cc Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations
cc Koïchiro Matsuura, Director General, UNESCO
cc Mounir Bouchenaki, Director General, ICCROM
cc Michael Petzet, President, ICOMOS
cc C. David Welch, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State.
cc R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary, Political Affairs, Department of State
cc. Alberto M. Fernandez, Director, Press and Public Diplomacy, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs,
Dept. of State
https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/iraqcrisis

[glitch]

5. Yeah, the looters definitely scored a win on this one. Idealogues, not so much.

I hope the looters' win is temporary, I still think we can bring them to justice. I would love to see some kind of reparations operation get back for Iraq all that's been looted. Or as much as possible.

The loss of the historical treasure hurts a lot more than the money and the oil.
:grr: