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thedrifter
04-23-06, 07:58 AM
April 22, 2006, 12:27AM
Ancient city bears scars of war
But Babylon may become a cultural center if Iraqi and U.N. leaders have their way

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
New York Times

BABYLON, IRAQ - In this ancient city, it is hard to tell what are ruins and what is just ruined.

Crumbling brick buildings, some 2,500 years old, look like smashed sand castles. Famous sites, such as the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, are swallowed up by river reeds. Signs of military occupation are everywhere.


Babylon has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, paved over and roughly occupied. Archaeologists said American soldiers even used soil thick with priceless artifacts to stuff sandbags.

But Iraqi leaders and U.N. officials are working to restore Babylon and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even a theme park.

Ancient Babylon sits just outside the modern-day city of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Emad Lafta al-Bayati, Hilla's mayor, has big plans for Babylon. "I want restaurants, gift shops, long parking lots," he said. God willing, he added, maybe even a Holiday Inn.

The U.N. is pumping millions of dollars into restoring Babylon and a handful of other ancient ruins. "Cultural tourism could become Iraq's second biggest industry, after oil," said Philippe Delanghe, a U.N. official helping with the project. Before Iraq becomes the next Egypt, he said wryly, "a few little things have to happen."

One of those, of course, is better security. The American military still maintains bases near Babylon, but next month most troops will head north to Baghdad.

Occupying forces have been blamed for much of Babylon's recent demise.

Donny George, head of Iraq's board of antiquities, said Polish troops dug trenches through an ancient temple and American contractors paved over ruins to make a helicopter landing pad.

"How are we supposed to get rid of the helipad now?" George asked. "With jackhammers?"

Babylon. Its name has had a magical ring since Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. and is credited with handing down one of the first sets of codified law. The city flourished again under King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled from 605 to 562 B.C. and is best known for the hanging gardens.

The problem was, most of this splendor was made from mud. As years passed, rivers swelled and desert sands shifted, Babylon crumbled. To make matters worse, colonial powers carted away some of the most precious artifacts. The Germans took the Ishtar Gate, the French grabbed ceramics and the Turks used the bricks, some of which still bore Nebuchadnezzar's name, to build dams on the Euphrates.

Then Saddam Hussein arrived. He started in 1985 with a project that was part restoration, part new construction and all ego. Today, the site is dominated by two kitschy palaces, mud ruins and barbed wire.

American Marines stormed up the Euphrates River valley on their way to Baghdad and turned the area into a base. Their graffiti is still scrawled on the walls, including, "Hi Vanessa. I love you. From Saddam's palace."

Ellie