Theft of a nation

What happens when the vandals are the US military? Nothing, writes Azmi Ashour*

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Who is responsible for the looting of Iraq's national museum, ransacked in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad in 2006? Are the occupation authorities to blame for failing to provide protection on the spot, the Iraqi state for failing to anticipate what would happen or the international community for watching from the sidelines?

The British Museum's John Curtis has no doubt Iraq's occupiers must shoulder most of the blame for what he describes as the systematic destruction of the country's national collections. Doors were kicked down, papers and computer discs removed and files were shredded, all of which suggests a degree of premeditation.

These acts of vandalism appear designed to erase the memory of Iraqi civilisation, and more significantly of the unity that prevailed under the Babylonians, the Sumerians and the Assyrians. Mesopotamia, as an entity, is clearly something we are intended to forget.

A team of British archaeologists visiting the site of the ancient city of Babylonia (or Gate of God), 55km south of Baghdad, was appalled by the destruction wrought by US troops. The ancient road on which Nebuchadnezzar reviewed his army as part of the Babylonian celebrations of the new year had been crushed beneath advancing US tanks. Hills containing unexcavated ruins had been bulldozed. The Americans might want us to believe they are building a new Iraq, but did they really need to destroy the old one?

International law offers guidance on the protection of cultural property during wars. Article 5 of The Hague Convention of 1907 prohibits the destruction of historic monuments, works of art or places of worship that "constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples [or]" or their use "in support of military efforts".

The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property is more detailed: Article 3 states all countries must "prepare in time of peace for the safeguarding of cultural property situated within their own territory against the foreseeable effects of an armed conflict". Article 8 offers extra international protection for "cultural property entered in the International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection". Similar provisions are included in the Protocol Additional II of the Geneva Convention.

The Interpol, UNESCO, customs authorities and the International Council of Museums convened urgent meetings in the aftermath of the invasion to determine their responses to the disaster. In May 2003 the representatives of police services in 181 countries met in Leone, France, to examine ways of recovering stolen Iraqi artefacts. A data base listing thousands of items stolen from the Iraqi museum was compiled with the help of UNESCO and the world's major museums, to be placed at the disposal of Interpol and circulated to galleries and auction houses around the world.

The international community undertook as much damage limitation as it could. Yet until today no legal action has been taken against the US in connection with the looting of the Iraqi national museum and the destruction of Babylonia.

* The writer is managing editor of the quarterly journal Al-Demoqratiya published by Al-Ahram.