from NPR
U.S. Base Damages Ancient Babylonian Temple
listen to audio report

War and heritage preservation simply do not mix. No further comments.
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4 comments:

  1. Lawrence Chin5:15 pm, June 26, 2004

    Or maybe it does - but after the fact - and in the case of the Frauenkirche Cathedral in Dresden, it has been more than 50 years in the making! Perhaps, better late than never ...
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3830135.stm

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  2. iota_muse10:03 pm, June 26, 2004

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  3. iota_muse10:13 pm, June 26, 2004

    It's kind of ironic. What started out as good intentions to prevent looting in the archeological site eventually result in damage through a lack of consciousness or deliberate negligence to preserve the cultural heritage. War has certainly never been a good friend to heritage preservation and in this case, perhaps the military should never have been put in charge of protecting that site against looters.

    As for the Frauenkirche Cathedral in Dresden, it's interesting to imagine what the pile of ruins initially signify to the natives in Dresden and what the effort behind the restored building now means for the people. Do the perceptions of the people really change significantly by such an act of so-called atonement? A time lag of fifty years...perhaps it's necessary to facilitate such a reconciliation. We, others see it as heritage preservation but it surely extends to more than that for both the peoples (British and the Germans

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  4. Lawrence Chin7:44 am, June 27, 2004

    Another (self-serving?) take on the effect that the American Occupation in Iraq has on historic sites:

    from Army News Service"Soldiers help preserve Iraq archeological sites"
    http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/print.php?story_id_key=6076

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