Zainab Bahrani, the international advisor on culture to the provisional government in Iraq, has left the country after just three months. She took over from Professor John Russell in May, but returned to New York in August, to resume teaching at Columbia University.
Ms Bahrani has not responded to queries about her departure, but has been highly critical about the protection of archaeological sites in Iraq.
Writing in the British newspaper, The Guardian, she said that “there is no parallel for the amount of historical destruction that has taken place over the past 15 months in Iraq”. She added: “What we have seen under the occupation is a general policy of neglect and even an active destruction of the historical and archaeological record of the land”—strong words for an administration she has been advising.
Babylon has recently been damaged by the presence of a military base. Bahrani reported: “I have seen the continuing construction projects, the removal of and digging into the ancient mounds over the past three months, despite a coalition press release early in June stating that the work would halt, and the camp would be removed.”
Her article also expressed deep concern over the fate of Ottoman archives damaged in flooding and now vulnerable in frozen storage.
Ms Bahrani has been replaced by René Teygeler, whose title is senior consultant for culture with the Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office of the US embassy in Baghdad. He is a Dutch book conservation expert and is putting special efforts into saving books and archives, which were damaged during the looting and subsequent flooding.