Was «Ziggurat of Ur» on the outskirts of the city of Nasiriyah (350 km southwest of Baghdad) again a few days ago, to the fall of the rocket was aimed at an air base used by U.S. forces located in the vicinity of the ziggurat, which is the oldest temple in Mesopotamia and built by King Ur growth in by 2050 AD.
With repeated rocket attacks during the past three years on the place, which also includes the historic shrine of the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) had announced American troops fear «collapse of the ziggurat of Ur of the historical result of the fall of the missiles in the form of near constant».
In spite of that site ziggurat archaeological able to attract visitors from around the world and it can be a resource economically powerful city of Nasiriyah, the exposure to rocket attacks did not face the local government (the province of Dhi Qar) and the central government in Baghdad orientation critical to hand control of armed groups that launch rockets and believed It followed a militant force.
Seems a series of attacks on the historical site of this, related incidents of many attacks on archaeological sites since the 2003 war, forces the Polish and U.S. use of ancient Babylon (the center of the country), what the cause of serious danger to the memorials are in the phenomena of many, not least of looting some of the soldiers precious priceless historical, view many of them for sale in art auctions and antiques in the old Europe and America.
These indicators came after the issuance of an international report warns of the dangers facing the serious consequences of Iraq, and believes that «the conflict in Iraq and since 2003 had a negative impact, especially in Iraq's cultural heritage, with the looting, which was subjected to important sites and museums. The damage to the Baghdad Museum, as well as the looting of a large part of the group that is priceless ...Indication of the greater damage of the right of multiple areas of the country. Also affected other museums found in the provinces, and by looting due to lack of maintenance ».
The report draws the «international partners in Iraq» and titled «Summary of the situation in Iraq» that «the archaeological sites were vandalized, despite the efforts of the Iraqi security forces and international to preserve it. And often are sites sponsored by local tribes, but they do not have the requisite authority to enforce the law effects.They stopped drilling operations conducted by the former Iraqi archaeologists in cooperation with leading international centers because of security conditions in several areas. As a result, most locations experiencing a state of neglect and abandonment ».
As the report makes clear that he was «smuggle a lot of artifacts across the border, while the Iraqi Government succeeded in establishing collaborative relationships with partners, friends to recover some pieces of precious ancient art», but that what was recovered «is only a small fraction of the actual number of artifacts in abroad ».
In addition, the side that suffered by the historical legacy of Iraq, it seems to decrease the experience is also an important issue, since a lot of prominent archaeologists have left the country, did not occur enough to transfer the experience to the next generations of Iraq's historical treasures concerned.
The report draws an implicit criticism of the Iraqi government action, as «not only allocated budgets are limited to the actual needs of the sector to maintain the culture.The Government should provide adequate funding for operations and maintenance, not only to the Baghdad museum, but museums in the provinces as well, and it will be important to allocate more resources to protect and revitalize the thousands of archaeological sites that boast of Iraq. Should be specifically increase the number of units allocated to the security guard on the number and capacity, allowing to improve the security situation in the locations and the resumption of drilling operations and maintenance, it is necessary to provide a reliable database and comprehensive artifacts are missing. It is essential to increase the awareness of the Government in this regard, for more effective cooperation with countries and other international organizations in regard to a request to restore artifacts ».
With continued looting of Iraqi antiquities sites poor protection by several groups, announces the government authorities for the arrest of members of these groups in their possession At archaeological were planning to smuggle them, as well as do a lot of «squatters» on state lands for the construction of shops and industrial areas fall within the prohibitions of historical sites, which call him the international report, which stresses the development of «15 ban on building new structures near the sites of cultural sensitivity, identifying a buffer zone around the sites can not penetrate».
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