US troops in Iraq are actively involved in reconstruction projects there. But some Iraqis question their presence in the city of Babylon. Some historians claim that U-S troops there were not sensitive to archaeological treasures, and may have caused much damage when they set up a military encampment in Babylon. The US military defends its presence, and says that their occupation was preferable to opening the area up to looters. In this documentary produced for the BBC World Service, Jonathan Charles looks at Babylon from an archaeological perspective.
Cybele Arnaud
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The city of Babylon, once the centre of ancient civilisation, has fallen victim to the ravages of modern warfare. Now in modern-day Iraq, Babylon has been occupied by foreign troops since 2003. In this edition of The Changing World, we examine the impact the Iraqi war has had on the legendary city of Babylon. Today Babylon is located about sixty miles south of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. But at one time, Babylon was the home of an extremely advanced society. It was here that the wheel was invented, the first laws were conceived, and the Hanging Gardens were created by King Nebuchadnezzar. Jonathan Charles looks back over Babylon’s thousands of years of achievements, and explains why it is a symbol of the extraordinary and prosperous history of Iraq.
Cybele Arnaud
Posted in Uncategorized