IW&A Blog

November 14, 2006

Rumsfeld & the Lion of Babylon

"Moayyed Mohsen likes to paint great figures from Iraq's past like the mythical hero Gilgamesh. But this year he turned his talents to another larger-than-life subject in his country's history -- Donald Rumsfeld. Dominating the wall of a Baghdad art gallery in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah is a massive mural that is no tribute to the outgoing US defense secretary. Rumsfeld is depicted leaning back reading papers, with combat-boot-clad feet propped up on a ruined building. Beside him is a weathered image of the Lion of Babylon -- potent symbol of Iraq's illustrious past -- atop a ruined plinth. The US official is surrounded by whirling bits of paper that morph into birds and fly off into the distance. The artist's image is striking and it was conceived in anger -- not just over the occupation of Iraq but also over what Mohsen sees as the humiliation of a nation that once taught mankind how to write."



"His resignation on November 8 -- the first casualty of the Republican defeat in mid-term congressional elections last week -- met with almost universal acclaim across Iraq's divided communities, who seem to agree on little else than the situation in their war-ravaged country is getting worse by the day. Many Iraqis feel the US defense secretary's handling of the war showed arrogance and disdain for their country -- tellingly symbolized by his famous quip that 'stuff happens' when asked to comment on the looting of Baghdad, including its museum, in the invasion's aftermath." "In the Middle East, showing the soles of one's feet is considered very poor manners, so the Rumsfeld in the painting automatically offends the viewer. The Lion of Babel atop a ruined perch sends another message. 'I decided to make the base of the statue a bookcase containing volumes on the arts, literature and knowledge left by Iraqis,' he said. 'Then I destroyed the base to symbolize the repeated wars and showed the papers flying through the air and changing into white birds showing love and peace to the world.' By juxtaposing his subject with ancient monuments, Mohsen sought to pit the endurance of history against the fleeting nature of man ..."

Reference
• A. Abboud, "Iraqi artist paints Rumsfeld gloating over ruins of Iraq," in Yahoo! News, online, November 14, 2006

# posted by Francis Deblauwe @ 8:08 PM

Site links

• • Home page of the web site
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• • Editor's online articles

A few web links

• • Lost Treasures from Iraq (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
• • Iraqcrisis (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
• • The Threat to World Heritage in Iraq (Oxford University)
• • Informed Comment (Dr. Juan Cole, University of Michigan)
• • The Guardian, Iraq section
• • The New York Times, Iraq War section
• • The New Yorker, From the Archive: The War in Iraq
• • Iraqi Press Monitor(Institute for War & Peace Reporting)

IW&A Documents series

• 1 - A. Riedlmayer, Yes, the Oil Ministry Was Guarded!, May 7, 2003, updated May 17, 2003
• 2 - D. George, Iraq Museum Policy for Access to the Collection for Study, December 8, 2004
• 3 - J.M. Russell, Notes from Iraq session at AIA meeting in Boston, 1/8/05, January 10, 2005
• 4 - F. Deblauwe, Attending RAI 51. Observations on the 51e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Chicago, July 17-23, 2005, August 5, 2005, last updated September 16, 2005
• 5 - R. Teijgeler, "So Yesterday Was the Burning of Books" — Wartime in Iraq. ..., October 5, 2005
• 6 - F. Deblauwe, Note on John Russell's Lecture 'Recovering Iraq's Past' in St. Louis on November 5, 2005, November 16, 2005
• 7 - An Appeal for the Release of Susanne Osthoff, December 4, 2005, updated December 8, 2005
• 8 - R. Parapetti, Partial Reopening of the Iraq Museum, Work in Progress, March 27, 2006
• 9 - F. Deblauwe, The State of Preservation of the Neo-Assyrian Reliefs at Khinnis/Bavian, May 14, 2006
• 10 - F. Deblauwe, Donny George's Exile and the State of the SBAH, November 11, 2006

Running tally of sites looted and damaged in the course of the Iraq War

(very preliminary and grossly incomplete list based on the articles listed on this web site; modern name followed by possible variants between square brackets and, if known, by ancient name(s) between parentheses; initial "el-" does not count for alphabeticizing; look up names with and without an initial "Tell") ($ = looted; # = damaged)

1. Abbas el-Kurdi $
2. Abu Shahrain (Eridu) #
3. Abu Skehr $
4. Adr el-Sa'id $
5. 'Ana #
6. Babil (Babylon, Babel) $#
   → Bavian - see Khinnis
7. Birs Nimrud (Borsippa) $
8. Bismayyah (Adab) $
   → Chokha - see Tell Jokha
9. Dahaileh $
10. Dair Mar Elia [St. Elijah's Monastery] #
11. Dhahir [el-Dhaara?] (Dubrum) $
12. Drehem (Puzrish-Dagan) $
13. Fara (Shuruppak) $
14. Farwa $
15. el-Hadr (Hatra) $#
16. Ishan Bakhriyyat (Isin) $
17. Khinnis [Khines, Khuns, Bavian] (Khunusa) #
18. Kirkuk [Kerkük] (Arrapha) #
19. Kuyunjik [Koyunjuk] (Nineveh, Ninua) $
20. el-Meda'in [Madaen, Salman Pak, Sulman Pak] (Ctesiphon, Tisfun) $
21. el-Medinah [Tell el-Meda'in] (Bad-Tibira) $
22. Nimrud (Kalkhu, Calah) $
23. Nuffar (Nippur) $
24. el-Qusair $
    → Salman Pak - see el-Meda'in
25. Samarra (Souma, Sumere, Sumra, Surra Man Ra'a) #
    → St. Elijah's Monastery - see Dair Mar Elia
26. Tal Afar [Telafar] #
27. Tell Abu Antik [Abu Antiq] $
28. Tell Abu Duwari (Mashkan-Shapir) $
29. Tell Ibzeikh (Zabalam) $
30. Tell Jokha [Chokha] (Umma) $
31. Tell el-Lahm [Tal Laham, al-Lham] (Kisiga) $
32. Tell el-Muqayyar (Ur) $
33. Tell el-Namil [Tell Naml/Neml, el-Namel] $ *
34. Tell Senkereh (Larsa) $
35. Tell Shmid [Shmet] $
36. Tell Sifr (Kutalla) $
37. Tell el-Wilayah (Larak) $
38. Telloh (Girsu) $
39. Umm el-Aqarib [Um el-Ajareb, Um Alkarab] $
40. Umm el-Hafriyyat $
41. Umm el-Hashin $
42. Warka (Uruk) $
43. el-Yusufiyyah #

• • ? (subsite of Kish excavated by a Japanese team; possibly Akkad) $
• • Unidentified sites in the Diyala province $
• • Early historic village site near Tell el-Ubaid $
• • Smaller sites a few km from Warka (Uruk) $
• • Fisk June 3, 2003 also mentions "Tukulti, Tel el-Zabul, ... Tel el-Jbeit, Tel el-Dihab and Kulal-Jabr" but I can't identify or place them properly
• • Note: good maps for sites in southern, northwestern and northeastern Iraq can be found at the The threat to world heritage in Iraq site

Please join in these e-mail writing / petition actions:

• 1) Handelsverbot für Hehlerware aus Raubgrabungen (Prohibition of trade in looted artifacts)
• 2) Statement read at the Workshop 'The Threat to Iraq’s Cultural Heritage – Current Status and Future Prospects' (July 23, 2005)(at the occasion of the 51st RAI in Chicago)

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