Playing cards teach US troops to respect ruins

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Playing cards teach US troops to respect ruins


Simon Tisdall in Washington
Tuesday June 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


The Pentagon is handing out new decks of cards to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of an archaeology awareness programme to prevent damaging historic sites. Photograph: US Department of Defence



American troops fighting in Iraq are being encouraged to identify old ruins before creating new ones.  The programme is part of a belated Pentagon scheme to prevent further war damage to the country's 11,000 archaeological sites.

More than four years after priceless antiquities housed in Iraq's National Museum were looted and much of the country's ancient heritage was despoiled, defence chiefs are trying a new approach.

It involves the provision of 40,000 packs of playing cards to American troops - or roughly one deck for every four soldiers.

The cards are illustrated with pictures of rare artifacts or sites of special interest, in the hope that soldiers will avoid turning them into battlefields.

In one infamous incident in 2003, a site at Nebuchadnezzar's ancient city of Bablyon was used as a helicopter landing pad and a camp for 2,000 troops.

The cards carry handy slogans. The five of clubs says: "Drive around, not over archaeological sites." Another asks: "This site has survived 17 centuries. Will it and others survive you?"

In what may be seen as an optimistic initiative, combat troops are also being asked to consider taking up alternative firing positions if historical treasures are at risk. Likewise, air force pilots are urged to bomb sensitively.

The Pentagon's move, echoing its post-invasion production of a deck of cards depicting "Iraq's most wanted", reflects concern that Iraq's heritage continues to be degraded despite numerous warnings by Iraqi and British experts.

Last year, Donny George, Iraq's most prominent archaeologist, fled the country. Excavation and conservation projects had stalled, he said, and growing insecurity was making preservation work impossible.