US Soldiers Loot and Damage Babylon

BBC News

A senior US marine officer says he is willing to apologise for the damage caused by his troops to the ancient Iraqi site of Babylon.

US forces built a helicopter pad on the ancient ruins and filled their sandbags with archaeological material in the months following the 2003 invasion.

Well, at least he said he was sorry.

Do you think they were looknig for something in particular? Some ancient artifact that had special meaning or use for those in charge? Or were they just being disrespectful thieving hooligans who care nothing for anyone but themselves?

i think im going to go with the thieving hooligans. i cant believe that they would do that to such an important historical area.

Indeed, bad choice of a site for helicopter pads, and anyone that picks up artefacts from such a site to make them fill sandbags is a moron.

On the other hand, if there were no troops guarding the site, it'd've been worse. And now that the country isn't ruled by a dictator, researchers can have more access to these materials.

But still, what a bunch of idiots.

Are there any other sources besides the BBC thats reporting the US Marines did this? If not then I wouldn't put to much belief in it.

Why would they fill sandbags with KNOWN artifacts? Knowing that all it would do is bring more hatred towards the soldiers and marines over there. When we got over there we were chasing people down that was looting artifacts from museums and trying to return them safely.

I'm sure they landed there and saw all these so called artifacts and said "hey lets put these in our sandbags. We can apologize later."

Originally posted by Shadowmonkey
Are there any other sources besides the BBC thats reporting the US Marines did this? If not then I wouldn't put to much belief in it.

I'm not even going to look, because BBC is one of the most credible news outlets in the world. Would you prefer to hear it from FOX NEWS?





Mod Edit: Please Don't Quote Entire Posts

[edit on 4/17/2006 by Majic]

I think some of you are oversimplifying the issue. Do you know the circumstances present at the time the Marines allegedly did this? For all we know it could have been an emergency and temporary heli pad, or a temporary fire base built out of immediate necessity. Unless of course you are of the opinion that the loss of US Marines is less then the loss that occurs when one places ancient dirt on sand bags or when one lands a helicopter on it? Put things into perspective and don't always assume that the ignorant Americans are always out looking for something destroy or ruin.

One more thing, the title is misleading, your article says nothing about US Soldier looting anything from that place. I’m sure an unintentional mistake, correct?


[edit on 17-4-2006 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by Shadowmonkey
Are there any other sources besides the BBC thats reporting the US Marines did this? If not then I wouldn't put to much belief in it.

how about these then

US marines offer Babylon apology Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey

US Colonel Willing To Apologise newswire.co.nz, New Zealand

US colonel willing to apologise for damage to Babylon Radio New Zealand, New Zealand

US Colonel Offers Iraq an Apology of Sorts for Devastation of Babylon AINA, CA

US colonel offers Iraq an apology of sorts for devastation of Babylon Independent, UK

Originally posted by WestPoint23
One more thing, the title is misleading, your article says nothing about US Soldier looting anything from that place. I’m sure an unintentional mistake, correct?
[edit on 17-4-2006 by WestPoint23]

After reading the article, I assumed that the soldiers were filling sandbags with archaeological material for the purposes of looting. I didn't think that anyone would fill sandbags with Babylonian artifacts just to be used to stop bullets. That seemed a little dense to me. I figured they must be trying to steal them. Why else would someone destroy ancient ruins that are more important than any current military action in the area.

I can certainly understand your mistake. And you can't really edit your title now :|

It seems intesely stupid to me that they would mistake sand and ancient artifacts.

And i dunno, is it just me.. or does "Sorry" just not cut it?

Of course, there was also the Looting of the Baghdad Museum which the US allowed to happen under their watch. :|

I still haven't seen an appology for that one.

Ok, I did some looking around and found a few articles about this. They all pretty much say the same thing. So, I was wrong for not believing it.

As far as the filling sandbags, i still find it hard to believe that they knowing and willingly tried to loot these items. I can understand a few people trying to bring one back to the states with them as a keepsake. But, i don't buy that they were loading up these bags because they knew what the items were.

[edit on 17-4-2006 by Shadowmonkey]

Well - I guess you guys missed it, but here is my thread about this anyways:

US Colonel Offers Iraq an Apology of Sorts for Devastation of Babylon

Archaeological Cost of Invasion:

• US Marines from the First Expeditionary Force first set up camp in Babylon in April 2003
  
  
• Soldiers filled protective sandbags with sand containing ancient artefacts
  
  
• 2,600-year-old pavements were crushed by heavy military vehicles
  
  
• Landing helicopters caused structural damage to some of the city's ancient buildings and sandblasted fragile bricks in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar
  
  
• Archaeologists say gravel brought in to build car parks and helipads has contaminated key sites
  
  
• US troops have also been accused of causing damage to the 5,000-year-old city of Kish by the Iraqi Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities

Carry on!

[edit on 17/4/06 by Souljah]

What is particularly irritating about this is that anthropologists, archaeologists, museum curators and a lot of scientists tried to present the military with a list of sites that they asked to be protected... including the national museum.

These important places were deemed "unimportant" (as was stated) and no effort was made to protect them. That's when the museum and the zoo were looted and destroyed (along with other cultural sites.)

The academic community screamed and raged about it at the time, but the government and military deemed that the preservation of artifacts (national treasures) was inconsequential.

Originally posted by Byrd
The academic community screamed and raged about it at the time, but the government and military deemed that the preservation of artifacts (national treasures) was inconsequential.

Thats craziness. These are things that can never again be reclaimed or reproduced. It reminds me of all the idiots in Lebanon during their Civil War, they were using ancient fortresses as modern day fortresses shooting missles into the walls and artillery, and using ages old, naturally formed beautiful caverns as ammo dumps. All it would have took was 1 fire to wipe out natures work of millions of years. War is just crazy.


Pie

This is the first I've heard of the topic that is the subject of this thread. This is historical murder. An apology is in no way sufficient. In their arrogance they've destroyed things that are absolutely priceless.

Very sad.

Originally posted by Shadowmonkey
Are there any other sources besides the BBC thats reporting the US Marines did this? If not then I wouldn't put to much belief in it.

!?

The BBC is perfectly reliable, as much as any normal news outlet.

Why would they fill sandbags with KNOWN artifacts?

Have you talked to the american youth lately? They're jibbering morons.

ras
Why else would someone destroy ancient ruins that are more important than any current military action in the area.

Its possible that what actually happened was that they were digging dirt for sandbags in a section that might've or was otherwise known to have artifacts, and then using it as sandbags, not bothering to sift the dirt for artifacts.

Thats craziness.

Guys. We're talking about the military. Occupying an entire country. THey aren't going to do much to protect these sorts of sites. Ever. I think its nuts, we all thinks its nuts, but I doubt that any of the guys on the ground there knew wtf "babylon" was, outside of being something in the bible or something. Its dissapointing, but at least its not unusual.

If they were british, they'd've cut the temples up and shipped the peices back home.

I wonder if it's being protected now to rectify what they did? I can't find anything about it.

Originally posted by NygdanHave you talked to the american youth lately? They're jibbering morons.

on behalf of the american youth, I'd like to offer this rebuttal

but, the artifacts fit in the bags and it was much easier to use them than to go and haul sand and rocks from farther away and also, we had a big xbox competition coming up and nobody wanted to risk damaging their thumbs and fingers.



I love the av - President Logan is increasingly evil and moronic and I'm waiting for the day he pulls off his mask to reveal his true identity (dubya)

Originally posted by Nygdan
If they were british, they'd've cut the temples up and shipped the peices back home.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

too right! Gotta love the British Museum!

Q

I wonder if the artifacts can be recovered if the american soldiers can remember where they dumped the sandbags.