果冻影院

BY Bill Law

Summary: Iraq has a deep and enormously rich history that was heavily damaged by the 2003 war and occupation, the insurgency that followed and by the聽brutal predations of ISIS; a new minister of culture is working to try and set things right but he faces daunting challenges.

At a Chatham House session on 16 February, Iraq鈥檚 recently installed minister of culture Dr Ahmed Fakak al-Badrani was asked how he was managing to deal聽with the culture of corruption that has flourished under the聽muhasasa聽system which sees government departments allocated along ethno-sectarian lines. Dr al-Badrani a Mosul academic with a distinguished聽cv (dean of 4 colleges and president of 2 universities) replied by speaking about a 鈥渢riangular鈥� effect:聽muhasasa聽caused corruption and the corruption created terrorism.

He spoke, too, about the terrible predations that the 2003 war, the violent insurgency that followed and the subsequent invasion by ISIS had inflicted on聽Iraq鈥檚 rich store of antiquities and ancient sites. 聽The country had paid 鈥渁 high price,鈥� from the聽聽in Baghdad in 2003 to the destruction carried out by ISIS in Nineveh and Mosul. 鈥淒aesh,鈥� the minister said 鈥渉ad tried to wipe out history.鈥�

He said the strategy moving forward was to 鈥済et the full picture鈥� and reshuffle personnel on the basis of merit and productivity. The ministry鈥檚 3 pillars聽are tourism, heritage and culture. Obstacles will be eliminated, in order to 鈥減ut the train on the right track.鈥�

But what about corruption and powerful groups pressuring him to meet their demands, how was the minister handling that? His reply was revealing both about聽the current culture of cronyism and his efforts as an individual minister to move beyond it. Where previous ministers may have been weak and succumbed he was in a position of strength thanks to the fact that he was 鈥渁 dissident who came from a wealthy family.鈥澛燞e is well known and respected in Iraq 鈥渁s an academic, a poet, a novelist and an historian.鈥� He had never sold a post, nor had the need to do so. His wealth and academic reputation 鈥減rovides a barrier between myself and previous ministers.鈥�

The task he faces is a huge one. In addition to work that has been ongoing over several years to return looted artefacts to Iraq and to restore the National聽Museum, the minister has an ambitious plan to build a series of regional museums 聽in the country鈥檚 18 provinces that are intended to celebrate Iraq鈥檚 diversity.

He wants to 鈥渃lear out corruption鈥� and exert control over excavations to prevent further looting. Law 55, the 2002 antiquities legislation needs to be amended.聽There are 6 world heritage sights to rehabilitate and 鈥渘ew blood鈥� to recruit into heritage and antiquities pursuits. Mosul and Ninevah need to be restored and the effort on returning looted artefacts redoubled.

The minister described the destruction of the聽聽in Baghdad in 2003 and of the University of Mosul聽聽- the largest in the country - by ISIS in 2017 as a catastrophe. Many original ancient manuscripts were lost, although some survive in digital copies. Other manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts are in the US,聽the UK 鈥渁nd other countries in the East and the West.鈥� 鈥淲e are,鈥� he said 鈥渜uite confident our friends will help to bring these manuscripts back to their home.鈥�

On the artefacts front, a staggering 15000 were looted from the National Museum in 2003 with US occupation forces doing little or nothing to intervene.聽Other sites of enormous antiquity were vandalised, among them Babylon鈥檚 Ishtar Gate south of Baghdad, built in 575 BC. A 2018聽聽describes what happened to the site when US troops seized it:

About 300,000 square meters were covered with gravel, contaminating the site. Several dragon figures on the Ishtar Gate were damaged. Trenches were聽cut into ancient deposits, dispersing brick fragments bearing cuneiform inscriptions. One area was flattened to make a landing pad for helicopters; another made way for a parking lot; yet another, portable toilets.

Belatedly realising the damage the war and occupation had done, the US has in recent years led an effort to return looted antiquities. In 2017 Customs and聽Border Protection (CBP) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) brought a successful prosecution against a Washington museum, Museum of the Bible, established by a family of wealthy evangelicals. It came to be known as the Hobby Lobby scandal, so-named聽after the chain of arts and crafts stores the family owns in America.

5500 artefacts were returned and a fine of US$3 million paid with the American authorities聽for a job well done.聽聽were turned over by the Museum of the Bible in 2021.

The UK, too has done some聽, though Minister al-Badrani did make reference to 6000 antiquities looted from Iraq at the end of the First World War while it was under the British Mandate, antiquities that he wants to see returned:聽鈥淭hey were taken from Iraq 100 years ago for research purposes.鈥� Among those excavating, the minister noted, were 鈥淢iss Bell and the husband of Agatha Christie鈥� (Gertrude Bell and Christie鈥檚 first husband Archibald Christie.)

While those negotiations are ongoing and clearly important to the minister鈥檚 vision to link Iraq鈥檚 rich cultural heritage to the tourism sector, he faces聽a daunting task. In order to build the museums in which he hopes to place restored antiquities he will inevitably come up against not just聽muhasasa聽but Hashd al-Sha鈥檅i, the PMU militias deeply involved in smuggling and in the construction sector. (For more on the PMU see Renad Mansour鈥檚 February 2021 Chatham House paper聽)

The Chatham House researcher聽聽who was assassinated in Baghdad in July 2020 had uncovered evidence of 聽the PMU controlling tenders, gravel and sand quarries as well as using border posts they command to both smuggle goods out and extort聽bribes for incoming goods.聽 The minister wouldn鈥檛 be drawn on the extent to which the PMU may be involved in smuggling looted artefacts out of Iraq.

The other challenge Dr al-Badrani faces is that though he may secure the return of many artefacts as Western museum guilt takes hold and though he may build聽the museums will the tourists come? The issue now, as it has been for the past twenty years, is security. An attendee when asked, after the meeting, about visiting Iraq as a tourist to experience its undoubtedly rich and gloriously long heritage said聽 鈥淚 would聽go to KRI (Kurdish region of Iraq) but the rest of Iraq no. It is too dangerous.鈥�