THE SITE OF BABYLON has become the victim of an oil pipeline and the dispute over the Iraqi Jewish archive: Oil and politics are ancient Babylon’s new curse (AP).
The oil pipeline seems to be a matter of putting short-term national interests ahead of long-term ones. And if anyone digs through the site of Babylon and doesn't find any artifacts, they aren't looking very hard.
As for the business about the archive, the phrase "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face" comes to mind.
Background on the 2008 British Museum exhibition on ancient Babylon is here and here and links. Background on Babylon in the Saddam era is here and here, and on the unfortunate occupation of the site by the US and Polish Armies in 2005 here, here, and here.
