Saving a Patrimony of All Humankind

Italian professor Giovanni Curatola attempts to safeguard Iraqi treasures amidst chaos

Two all-terrain vehicles, sporting U.S. insignia, were returning to Saddam Hussein's former presidential palace Saddam in Baghdad, where the Civil Provisional Authority is headquartered. It was just after noon, in the Iraqi capital striving to go back to a "normal" life. Suddenly, an explosion shook the noon air. A remotely controlled bomb had detonated, seconds after the two vehicles had passed. The vehicles did not blow up, but their windows were shattered. A shard pierced the neck of the only woman on board, killing her on the spot. She was the only victim of that attack.
"That woman, Nahla, was my interpreter," says Giovanni Curatola, one of the targets of that bomb. "An exceptional woman; to me, it's as if I had lost one of my students. One cannot die like that at 24 years of age, when hopes are beginning to take shape."
Giovanni Curatola, professor of Archaeology and History of Muslim Art at the University of Udine, had been sent to Baghdad by Italy's Foreign Ministry as an aide to Ambassador Mario Bondioli Osio, in charge of culture and of safeguarding Iraq's archaeological treasures.
Professor, evidence points to you being one of the targets of that bomb.
"Not personally. The attackers are not hitting U.S. forces only, but also anyone collaborating with them. On that occasion, they were targeting me as well as the other people working with me at the Ministry of Culture. I avoided the attack because I wasn't riding in the vehicles: I was attending a meeting. One who risked his life was Major Michele Facciorusso, who commands the Carabinieri unit protecting Iraq's cultural patrimony and works in very close connection to our group. He was on the same vehicle with Nahla, but he came out unwounded. That wasn't the first time, either: a few weeks earlier he had come out unscathed from the Nassiriya massacre."
Soldiers aside, how is Italy helping Iraq?
"Italy having the third most numerous presence in Iraq should say something about our commitment, not just in military assistance, but also in economic terms and in civilian personnel available for the reconstruction. Many Italians are working for the various branches of the Civil Provisional Authority. Every branch is de facto controlled by Paul Bremer, Bush's trustee in Iraq, even though the top officials are Iraqis. Don't imagine huge bureaucracies, though: at the Ministry of Culture, for instance, the Ambassador is assisted by me, three more Italians and an American. There's huge work to do, and we are doing it by working tirelessly."
What have you done to date?
"Over four months we catalogued about 10,000 sites of great archaeological value. That's just a tiny fraction, because the sites are estimated to be about 100,000. Let's not forget that Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia, is where human civilization was born."
What happens after a site is identified?
"We protect it, and that's the role of Major Facciorusso's men. We have to defend the sites from looters and create a prevention network. Every site is linked with the rest and with a central post. Today, this position is manned by our Carabinieri; in the future, they will be relieved by a specialized unit of Iraqi police that we are training. If an alarm is triggered, we shall already know where to go and how to respond. The project is being defined at the Ministry right now. It entails an investment of $2.5 million. After that, restoration will begin."
This is a job for Italians...
"Yes, it is. We have the expertise, the know-how. We also have the sensitivity required, and the stubbornness. The Americans handle the money, but we draw the projects. This $2.5-million project was advocated for by Ambassador Bondioli Osio, who managed to convince Paul Bremer to accept it."
What sort of a relationship do you entertain with U.S. officials?
"A very good one. Bremer is a very smart man, and he's betting his political future in Iraq. There are rumours in Baghdad that, should Bush be reelected, Bremer will have excellent chances of getting a prestigious post in the new administration, possibly even the vice presidency. If Bush will lose, Bremer could be the natural Republican candidate for the 2008 election. I said this to show that U.S. officials at the highest level are, how can I say this, very careful not to act like cowboys. At those levels we deal with top people whom you can discuss with."
How aware are the Americans of occupying what is universally recognized as the cradle of human civilization?
"At certain levels, as I said, they are very much aware of that. However, we should be clear about that awareness. We should not think that Saddam, who was born there, had any such awareness. In Babylon, one of the world's most important archaeological sites, Americans built a military base. But Saddam did no less: he built a Hollywood-style palace with Disneyland overtones, and put his own image everywhere. Our work cannot be limited to identifying and protecting archaeological sites..."
What else should it include?
"Giving back to these people the awareness of living in a land that is truly a patrimony of humankind."
People say that human civilization was born in "The Land Between Two Rivers", the Tigris and the Euphrates. You added that the ancient Mesopotamia, today's Iraq, is a patrimony of humankind. What does this mean?
"That everything started there, in Mesopotamia. Monotheism, for one thing: Ur, where an imposing ziggurat (tower-temple) still remains, was the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of all three great monotheistic religions: Hebraism, Christianity, and Islam. This is where the idea of the megalopolis, a city built circularly and therefore with extraordinarily modern criteria. If you think that Abraham lived between 20 and 22 centuries before Christ, you can understand how remote these things are. Here lived the Sumerians, the first people that wrote down their customs, their laws, and their hopes: thousands upon thousands of clay tablets bearing cuneiform inscriptions. Sumerians invented city states 25 centuries b.C.: that form of government reappeared in Greece a few hundred years before the Common Era, and in Europe in the Middle Ages. And it was no chance occurrence that Alexander the Great died in Babylon: he had found that land much more civilized and thrilling than his native Macedonia. I'll give you just one figure: Babylon at the time had over 100,000 inhabitants. For the time, a real megalopolis."
How aware are today's Iraqis of all this?
"Most Iraqis have, like in the past, more pressing problems to address. They had to fight for survival. But some of them have a great awareness. I'll tell you a story: I was discussing with an Iraqi about how different his people appear from so many other Arabs I had known. He listened to me, then replied, 'Of course! You met mostly nomads. We, on the other hand, have been city-dwellers for the past 5,000 years.' Do you see?"
Why did Western culture forget that its roots were in 'The Land Between Two Rivers'? Just think of the Crusades that opened the first great rift between East and West, generating resentment that still lasts, or of the Enlightenment. One has the impression that by exalting reason it forgot the strong spiritual component that the Western civilization derived from 'The Land Between the Two Rivers'. We could also look at the unfortunate declaration of Italy's Prime Minister Berlusconi, 'the civilization of the West is superior to that of the East.' What about this?
"Let's start from Berlusconi, who voiced something that unfortunately many are thinking. The point is that Berlusconi embodies the mistake of Western civilization, which thinks of itself as the only tree rooted in the 'Land Between Two Rivers'. That's wrong: the same roots sprouted many branches, belonging to both Western and Eastern civilizations, and through the course of the centuries they intertwined, clashed, hated and loved, but could never ignore one another, or do without one another. Maybe Berlusconi does not know this, but he's not alone: too many Westerners share his ignorance. You mentioned the Crusades and the Enlightenment. Those examples are right on, although Montesquieu, an Enlightenment author, wrote his famous Persian Letters, a sort of recognition of Europe's cultural origins; and I would not downplay Napoleon's attitude towards the East. Also, I wouldn't underestimate something else, as dangerous as the Crusades, as the worst aspects of the Enlightenment and as Berlusconi's remarks..."
What is that?
"Colonialism. At one point in time, the Western world decided to bring his civilization to the East: it thus revealed a dangerous attitude of cultural superiority and an abysmal ignorance of the East. Westerners ignored that the East cannot be separated from its culture, including its mysticism."
The West has kept a mysticism of money...
"Exactly. On the other hand, Islam maintains a spiritual dimension. You will rarely see a Christian holding a rosary, while many Arabs do. This is where one must begin to understand Arabs. I strive to do so, even though this sometimes turns embarrassing: often, Iraqis coming to the Ministry ask to confer with me 'and not with the American', despite the fact that my U.S. colleague is a person of the first order. It's not a matter of choosing between him and me, but rather between we Italians, who respectfully and humbly recognize the fatigue of these dictatorship- and war-weary people, and the Americans, who often support their opinions with arrogance. Arrogance is the main characteristic of colonialists. The Arabs have never accepted Western colonists and their arrogance, as they had nothing to learn from them. For instance, think of Muhammad."
What about him?
"He was the inventor of globalization. When he preached for the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, he was calling all believers of the known world to a single place, as they were all equal in front of Allah. What is globalization if not a space without barriers or differences?"
In this office of yours, at the University of Udine, a red banner hangs from the wall behind your desk. It is embroidered in white with an Arabic sentence. What does it say?
"It reads, 'In the name of God, the beneficent, the merciful. There is no God except God and Muhammad is His messenger.' Those are the opening verses of the Koran. The banner was done for me and given me as a gift in Cairo. I'm very fond of it, as receiving it means that the Arabs welcomed and accepted me."

Publication Date: 2004-03-14
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3741