U.S. Military Using Islamic Landmark as Sniper Tower
The story is here. Given the U.S. military's rap sheet with the war in Iraq, this should come as a shock to no one. The landmark is a 172-foot-high, spiral minaret of the al-Mutawakkil mosque in Samarra. Built between 849-852, the structure is one of six monuments in Iraq on the list of nominations for UNESCO World Heritage Site listing. According to the article, its significance is such that it is even depicted on the new 250 dinar banknote. Knowing full well the historical and cultural significance of the landmark, the U.S. military has decided to use the structure as a military outpost. According to U.S. military sources, insurgents were using the minaret to mount attacks against allied forces, and now the presence of U.S. troops on the tower is drawing fire from insurgents. In January, the Washington Post reported that the landmark was being shot at regularly. Included in the article was a photo of the minaret with a large crater on one side of the structure from a rocket propelled grenade or mortar (Click on the first link for photo). One of my favorite quotes from the article is from the sniper team leader, Capt. William Rockefeller, who said "You only have to wonder why the Iraqis shoot at their own minaret." Hmmm...could it be because they're being shot at FROM the minaret?
The article unnecessarily points out that U.S. occupation of the minaret breaches Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Since the U.S. never ratified the Hague Convention, this is a moot point. Ah, but surely they are in breach of Article 53 of the 1977 Protocol Additional to the 1949 Geneva Convention! Nope. Although the U.S. ratified the original Geneva Convention, they have never ratified the Additional Protocols.
The article concludes with a U.S. military spokesman coming up with a lame excuse for disregarding Iraqi cultural property that involves some fancy footwork around concerned questioning, not unlike your typical Bush administration response to real issues. It's important to note that this is not the first instance of the military's disregard for Iraqi cultural property, just the latest. Past acts of negligence include a lack of protection of Iraq's National Museum, from which thousands of objects were either stolen or destroyed and an ongoing lack of protection around excavation sites where looting is rampant.
The article unnecessarily points out that U.S. occupation of the minaret breaches Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Since the U.S. never ratified the Hague Convention, this is a moot point. Ah, but surely they are in breach of Article 53 of the 1977 Protocol Additional to the 1949 Geneva Convention! Nope. Although the U.S. ratified the original Geneva Convention, they have never ratified the Additional Protocols.
The article concludes with a U.S. military spokesman coming up with a lame excuse for disregarding Iraqi cultural property that involves some fancy footwork around concerned questioning, not unlike your typical Bush administration response to real issues. It's important to note that this is not the first instance of the military's disregard for Iraqi cultural property, just the latest. Past acts of negligence include a lack of protection of Iraq's National Museum, from which thousands of objects were either stolen or destroyed and an ongoing lack of protection around excavation sites where looting is rampant.
posted by Corey Wyckoff at 1:30 PM
1 Comments:
I wrote a post about that tower back in April; evidently the top floor was bombed around that time, probably by insurgents. The U.S. military and the Bush Administration seemed, er, unconcerned.
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