Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 29. April 2005 / Time Line April 29, 2005
Version 3.028. April 2005, 30. April 2005
04/29/2005
The US Native American Holocaust Memorial Day.
04/29/2005
The Plunder of Iraq's Treasures
http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/articles.php?id=P2637
CARACAS - One million books, 10 million documents and 14,000
archaeological artifacts have been lost in the US-led invasion and
subsequent occupation of Iraq - the biggest cultural disaster since
the descendants of Genghis Khan destroyed Baghdad in 1258,
Venezuelan writer Fernando Baez told Inter Press Service (IPS)
"US and Polish soldiers are still stealing treasures today and
selling them across the borders with Jordan and Kuwait, where art
merchants pay up to $57,000 for a Sumerian tablet," said Baez, who
was interviewed during a brief visit to Caracas. (A Sumerian tablet
is pictured at right.)
The expert on the destruction of libraries has helped document the
devastation of cultural and religious objects in Iraq, where the
ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms of Sumer, Akkad and Babylon emerged,
giving it a reputation as the birthplace of civilization.
His inventory of the destruction and his denunciations that the
coalition forces are violating the Hague Convention of 1954 on the
protection of cultural heritage in times of war have earned him the
enmity of Washington. Baez said he was refused a visa to enter the
US to take part in conferences.
In addition, he has been barred from returning to Iraq "to carry
out further investigations", he added. "But it's too late, because
we already have documents, footage and photos that in time will
serve as evidence of the atrocities committed," said Baez, the
author of The Cultural Destruction of Iraq and A Universal History
of the Destruction of Books, which were published in Spanish.
IPS: What do you accuse the United States of doing?
FB: In first place, of violating the Hague Convention, which states
that cultural property must be protected in the event of armed
conflict. That is a criminally punishable offence, which is why
Washington has not signed the convention, or the 1999 protocol
attached to it. And perhaps it is one reason the administration of
George W Bush is seeking immunity for its soldiers. But it is not
only the United States; the rest of the coalition forces are also
guilty.
IPS: But according to the reports, it was Iraqi civilians and not
US soldiers who looted libraries and museums.
FB: But the US Army was criminally negligent, failing to protect
libraries, museums and archaeological sites despite clear warnings
from UNESCO [the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization], the UN, the University of Chicago's Oriental
Institute and the former head of the US president's Advisory
Committee on Cultural Property, Martin Sullivan. The Iraqis who
went out to loot interpreted the negligence as a green light to act
without restraint.
IPS: So the sin committed by the US was one of omission?
FB: Not only that. There was also direct destruction and looting.
In Nassiria in May 2004, a year after the formal end of
hostilities, during fighting with [Shi'ite cleric] Muqtada
al-Sadr's militants, 40,000 religious manuscripts were destroyed in
a fire [set by the coalition forces]. And when soldiers found out
that the Sumerian city of Ur [in southern Iraq] was the birthplace
of the prophet Abraham, they took ancient bricks as souvenirs.
IPS: You also accuse soldiers from other countries, besides US
troops.
FB: That's right. In late May 2004, the Italian Carabinieri were
caught trying to smuggle looted cultural artifacts over the border
into Kuwait. And the British Museum reported that Polish forces
destroyed part of Babylon's ancient ruins, to the south of
Baghdad.
IPS: Can we suppose that these events are part of phases of the
conflict that have already been left behind?
FB: No. More recently it was found that Polish troops drove heavy
vehicles near the Nebuchadnezzar Palace, which dates back to the
sixth century BC, and then covered large areas of the site with
asphalt, doing irreparable damage. There were also attempts to
gouge out bricks at the Gate of Ishtar. To that is added the
collapse of ancient walls due to the continuous passage of US
trucks and helicopters, and walls spraypainted with graffiti, like
"I was here" or "I love Mary".
IPS: Can we expect the situation to improve with time?
FB: Another accusation that can be made against the United States
is that it has created a less safe country overall, by generating
the conditions for cultural destruction, which will be even worse
in future years, due to the situation of legal insecurity. In the
days of the looting of Baghdad, US Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld went so far as to say that looting "isn't something that
someone allows or doesn't allow. It's something that happens."
Today Iraq is like a golf course for the world's terrorists, and
its cultural treasures will not be safe in the future.
IPS: What impact has there been on the United States?
IPS: One of its reactions was to rejoin UNESCO, which the US had
withdrawn from during the era of [Ronald] Reagan [1981-1989] on the
pretext that the UN agency served as "a communist front". Experts
at the US State and Defense departments are trying to mitigate the
damages. US military police helped Iraqi police track down the Lady
of Warka, dubbed the "Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia", (pictured at
right) a 5,200-year-old marble sculpture that is one of the
earliest known representations of the human face in the history of
art.
IPS: How significant are the losses?
IPS: The Lady of Warka may be worth $100 or $150 million. A
Sumerian cuneiform tablet or an Assyrian stela can fetch $57,000 at
the border. Some Iraqis have been purchasing books at used-book
markets in Baghdad to return them to the libraries. But the damage
is incalculable. In the Baghdad National Library, around one
million books were burnt, including early editions of Arabian
Nights, mathematical treatises by Omar Khayyam, and tracts by
philosophers Avicena and Averroes.
IPS: Thousands of relics were also lost from the National
Archaeological Museum.
FB: The initial reports spoke of 170,000 objects, but 25 major
artifacts as well as 14,000 less important ones actually
disappeared. An amnesty for the looters led to the recovery of
around 3,500, according to the US colonel who led the
investigations, Matthew Bogdanos. But besides the national museum
and library, the al-Awqaf library, which held over 5,000 Islamic
manuscripts, university libraries and the library of Bayt al-Hikma
also suffered. At least 10 million documents have been lost in Iraq
altogether.
IPS: Do you believe military forces have been the worst enemy of
books?
FB: No, actually I don't. I believe intellectuals are the worst
enemies. Intellectuals have burnt books in the name of the Bible or
the Koran. Vladimir Nabokov [1899-1977] burnt El Quixote in front
of his students. Destroyers like Adolph Hitler or Slobodan
Milosevic were bibliophiles. Saddam Hussein himself, an
archaeologist and philologist, published three novels. Joseph
Goebbels, the genius of Nazi propaganda, was a philologist. And
many of those who have led the US to war in Iraq are academics. It
is a paradox: the inventors of the electronic book returned to
Mesopotamia, where books, history and civilization were born, to
destroy it.
Baez has said his research into the destruction of libraries and
archives was first motivated by his painful childhood memories of a
flash flood that wiped away the library in his hometown, San Felix
in southeastern Venezuela. He cherished the municipal library
because since his parents worked, he had often been left with
relatives who worked there, and spent his days reading.
His research culminated in A Universal History of the Destruction
of Books, which documents the catastrophic loss of books during
wars, like the Library of Alexandria, which burnt down in 48 BC, or
the burning of millions of books by the Nazis.
04/29/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Northrop Grumman PRB Systems, Hollywood, Md., is being awarded a
$24,000,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract. This
objective of the Joint Air Space Management and Deconfliction
program is to design, develop, test, and field a single joint
service airspace management and Deconfliction network centric
information service/system, to be included in the force employment
(Air and Space Operations Center Weapon System (AOC WS)) and/or be
included in the mission capability package in the Joint Command and
Control Capability resident on the global information grid. The Air
Force can issue delivery orders totaling up to maximum amount
indicated above, although actual requirements may necessitate less
than the amount above. At this time, $1,113,837 of the funds have
been obligated. This work will be complete by April 2011.
Solicitation began February 2005 and negotiations were completed
April 2005.
04/29/2005
Alcatel and Finmeccanica receive approval from the European
Commission
Paris/Rome, April 29, 2005
- Alcatel and Finmeccanica are delighted with the decision of the
European Commission which has given its approval for the creation
of the two companies, Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio.
Obtaining this agreement is linked to licence granting commitments
in areas which the European Commission considers that both
companies have strong competitive positions. This refers to
Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TTC) and radar altimeters.
Now that this major step has been concluded, the legal and
financial activities relating to the creation of both companies can
be completed. This creation should occur on 1st July 2005. Senior
manager nominations and the detailed organization of the company
will occur following implementation of the new organization.
This major project will allow Alcatel Alenia Space to become one of
the leading international companies in the field of satellites and
Telespazio to play a preeminent role in space services
activities.
About Finmeccanica, S.p.A.: Finmeccanica is Italy's leading
high-tech company, operating in the design and manufacture of
helicopters, civil and military aircraft, aerostructures, space
satellites and infrastructure, satellite services, command and
control systems, defence electronics and systems, communications,
security and IT. Finmeccanica participates in some of the largest
international programmes in the sector through well-established
alliances with European and American partners. Finmeccanica also
boasts significant manufacturing assets and skills in the transport
and energy sectors. With operations in Italy and abroad, it employs
around 51,000 staff in total. Finmeccanica spends 16 % of its
revenues on research and development. For more information, please
visit http://www.finmeccanica.it About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication
carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery
of voice, data and video applications to their customers or
employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile
broadband networks; applications and services, to help its partners
and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of
EURO 12.3 billion in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130
countries.
 |
 |